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Lesson Plans


art room as refuge for G/L

From: Maahmaah
Date: Fri Feb 11 2000 - 09:21:09 PST

  • Next message: Lawrence A. Parker/OCCTI: "RE: What's going on in our schools.(perspective)"

    Hi,
    I have been following this topic with great interest as I have a best friend
    of 25 years who is a lesbian. (We all knew she was gay when she was 12--she
    has known since she was 3.)

    I am so disheartened to hear the "choice" argument--but that is not an
    argument for this list. What *is* pertinent to this list discussion is the
    fact that the art room is often times a refuge for kids who are different and
    don't fit in well with other school groups. Just from my own highschool
    experience I can tell you that 3 of my peers were gay. (this was close to 25
    years ago!) If these kids didn't have the art room to rely on they would
    have been completely miserable. There is something about the hands-on of
    art, the vision, the search for meaning and truth, the acceptance and
    analysis of things different, the variety of personalities that the art room
    attracts (and the acceptance of these personalities) that make the art room a
    very unique place in schools. Art teachers are in a very good position to
    help students who are g/l sort out their problems, keep their perspective.
    To ignore this issue because it is considered a moral choice by some
    religious segments of our society is turning a blind eye to kids in sometimes
    desperate situations.

    Did anyone see that recent news program (20/20?) that featured the identical
    twin boys? (I think it was featured on Oprah too.) They both went in for a
    circumcision in the mid-sixties. Horrifyingly, the doctor burned off one baby
    boy's penis. So some psychiatrist who was working on the theory of nature
    vs. nurture (betting on the side of nurture) persuaded the parents to raise
    this son as a girl. The results were disastrous. If you are not convinced
    that our brains and our sexual orientation are preprogrammed while in-utero I
    urge you to seek out this story. It may not change your moral/religious
    stance, but it will surely (hopefully) give you pause to think this issue
    over from a different perspective--and maybe open your eyes to those children
    in your classroom who are going through this same type of dilemma.

    -Lee (whose 6 1/2 yo ds initiated a discussion on homosexuality after seeing
    5 minutes of the TV show Frasier last night.) 

    ---

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