Gender, Gender Identity, and Sexual
Orientation
The fact of ignorance leads to
homophobia. My son is in first grade and attends a charter school. During his pre-kindergarten 3 and
kindergarten 4 years at the school, his school uniform consisted of a red polo
shirt and khaki or navy pants. Upon entering kindergarten, he was given the opportunity
to wear navy blue or red polo shirts and khaki or navy pants. Therefore, I
purchased both red and navy polo shirts to give him different options during
the school week. While having him try on the shirts to ensure proper fit, my
sons stated, “he did not want to wear a red shirt to school because, one of his
male classmates had told him that red was gay and only girls wear it.” My first
impression was shock. However, I knew that it was my job to tell and teach my
son the truth. Thus, I explained to him
that he had the option to wear, think, go anywhere he wanted, and be anything
he wanted in life. So, never let others define who he should be. I further explained that “gay” was not a nice
word or term to use and it was often one that bullies used to lash out at
others that they wanted to hurt. To this
day, he is skeptical about wearing read but, he does it if he has to.
My personal reflection of discomfort
that I experienced relating to children, gender, and or sexual orientation were
that prior to the delivery of my son, my ex-husband had expressed to me that a
long term friend I had, who was homosexual, would not be allowed around our son
ever because, “he knew that “gays” like to play and or fondle little boys
because that’s how they became “gay”. I
never indicated this to my friend but, because, I did not divorce my husband
until my son was two, he took every opportunity he could prior to the divorce
to make my friend uncomfortable when he would visit our home or participate in
events that I had invited him to. He eventually stopped visiting, and calling
and I am sure it is because he sensed my ex-husband’s homophobia. Within the last year,
I was able to reach out to my friend who is my sister and first cousin’s Facebook
friend and I am working to make things better.
Reference:
quotesgram.com
