User talk:Kaihoku/Laualoha's GLBT Kids story

The story is that I was a Music and Hawaiian Culture teacher at an at-risk school in 'Ewa. I had one very small (10 kids) class that was really awesomely full of strong, beautiful spirits. 2 of these were a bisexual boy and a lesbian girl who were also extremely talented musicians.

Though neither was Hawaiian nor even really interested in Hawaiian music (which was the theme of the class), they got really into my class and afterschool workshops; this was probably mostly because of their musical inclinations (which were awesome but kind of um, strange, and therefore not really appreciated overall) and because they needed someone around whom they could feel safe, since they were "out" at school, and not being emotionally protected very well (my unofficial "supervisor" actually told me, when a group of kids threatened to beat up the boy, "if S. chooses to be gay in school, then S. is going to have to learn to face the consequences, because lots of people in society are not going to accept him, either", and "we need to protect the rights of ALL the students to express themselves; if S. has the right to express his identity, then the other students have a right to express that they don't like gays, too.").

The situation developed into a crisis when the kids, on their own, became activists. It is true that I did make them aware of an AFSC youth group, because I felt it would be a positive activity for them, but I did not expect them to quickly become the leaders of the group, which they did. However, I was very proud of them, and let everyone know that I was. That got me in trouble, especially since the boy came out to his parents around that time, who freaked. His dad said that he was going to "beat him straight" and his mom (who already knew) was very upset at him. He ran away to my house, but I convinced him to talk to his mom & go home, which he did.

The real crisis came with Chapter 19. Do you remember when this was being proposed, and all the debate around it? My 2 students became the primary youth spokespersons for the bill, which just made violence based on sexual orientation a school no-no -- not exactly radical, but necessary. My students (mostly the boy; the girl graduated around this time, and though she was active too she was considered a young adult already) had to go up against the Gabbard gang over and over again, and did amazingly well, even though they were quite shaken at times.

Then one day, in the middle of the campaigns, the TV news showed up at the school to interview the young man there, and take shots of the school. I had nothing to do with it. The school was enraged, and made it known that they wanted me out.

I tried to dance around for a while, but I was very involved with lots of the students (some gay, some straight, some outright homophobic, and all different cultures and styles), who really needed caring adult support; most of them were kind of at a loss for adults who would or could spend time with them, one way or another. So the thing I finally got fired for, technically, was taking a bunch of kids to the beach, which was not even against the rules. But I think there was a bit more to it than that.

And that's the story. Oh yeah, except that S. eventually went to school in Oregon and is an awesome Freeform Jazz musician now. And the other kids are doing great too, as far as I know. But the school is still the same...