Safe Spaces

Quotes

1. "Death should never be an option. Unfortunately, for many young people suicide feels like a better alternative than living with rejection or abuse from peers, family members, or community leaders."
This quote was very sad for me to read. My cousin is a lesbian and fortunately she doesn't get abused or rejected because of it but the thought of that ever happening to her is so hard to think about. This article and especially this quote makes me think of Leelah Alcorn, a transgender teen who committed suicide in December. Her death became public after posting her suicide note onto her Tumblr account. In her note, she blames her death on her parents. It makes me so upset thinking that a parent could cause their own child to commit suicide.

2. "Sexual orientation topics are entirely absent from nearly half our elementary teacher education programs in the United States. It is therefor unsurprising that LGBT people are largely absent from elementary curricula or classroom discussions."
I think that it is very important for more teacher education programs to include sexual orientation topics. I think that one of the reasons why many people are accepting of the LGBT community is because of a lack of education about it. Children are taught at a young age what is considered "normal" in society and if something breaks those norms, they consider it to be weird and probably won't accept it. If children learned more about sexual orientation at a young age, they would lean that sexual orientation doesn't change who they are as a person and doesn't make somebody "weird".

3. "Language is a tool. Such as, we believe speech is performative- it does things. Words invite or exclude, recognize or erase, empower or intimidate, examine or assume."
I really liked this quote. I agree that words are such a powerful thing. I think the old saying "stick and stones may break my bones, but worlds can never hurt me" is wrong. Words have the power to do a lot of things, including hurt people.