Talking Point #3 - Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community by Dennis Carlson

1. "At the level of state educational policy, it is noteworthy that no state currently recognizes gays and lesbians as legitimate minority or cultural groups to be considered in textbook adoption or to be included in multicultural education; and a number of states explicitly prohibit teaching about homosexuality."

- This quote is important because although these statistics are from 1997, it is for the most part still true. And as I think back to the books and literature that was assigned for me to read in high school and middle school, not one book dealt with homosexuality. And only occasionally did we touch upon it when it appeared in subjects such as history and Shakespeare. It was just something that we would brush over and try not to talk about.

2. "Among other things, it involves the constitution of a whole network of support services and organizations designed to help individuals "come out" in a supportive environment and participate in the gay community, including gay counseling services, drop-in centers, support groups, athletic leagues, choruses, and political organizations."

- I totally disagree with this statement. I think that creating this "network" would make matters worse. Yes, it would help gay individuals come out and realize their true identity, but I personally think that these gay community programs would just segregate them even more.

3. "Given the realities of being "out" in high school, this strategic closeting of one's gay identity unfortunately continues to be a safe response, even if it comes at the cost of lying about one's life."

- This quote screams Johnson at me because he said that we can't deal with a problem if we don't name it. And I think that we can't help kids be themselves (especially in high school) if they don't want to be themselves in front of everyone else. On a second glance, I also think of Rodriguez's article in this quote. I think of little Richard, secluded form the rest of his classmates, never expressing himself, and never being himself; all because he wasn't comfortable his own skin. Although who can blame them, among other statistics, 45% of gay males, and 20% of lesbians reported to have been harassed in high school because of their sexual orientation.

Overall I think this article was one of the more difficult to read. Out of all of the subjects we have talked about this article has made me feel the most uncomfortable. There were definitely many areas where I thought of Johnson, and Delpit as well as Rodriguez. These three were the most prominent in the article. There was a whole section where Carlson talked about "silent spaces" in the classroom. Which at the same time obviously speaks of Johnson who said that the more we didn't talk about a subject the harder it became to deal with.