Homophobia

In my opinion, sexual education should also have a component involving homosexuality. It should be taught to teens so that ignorance does not fuel the fire that is homophobia. One of the major reasons people think so negatively of homosexuals is because they do not understand them. Any comments/ideas about this?

[Eleanor Rigby]

I do totaly agree.
I 've been trying for years to find appropriate support to talk about homosexuality in class (that I do already, but more on random occasions or in addition when I talk about racial discriminations).
Unfortunatly, very few supports do exists in french for the age I teach to. There are things for younger children, for teens, but I only have been able to find one book for 8 to 10 years old (the story of a little girl who has to moms and doesn't want to know who her biological mom is).
Last year, a movie about homosexuality (called Le baiser de la lune) had been realeased. It would have been totaly adapted to the age I teach to. Unfortunatly, it created a big debate and the movie had been forbiden to be shown in primary schools (wich is a pity if you ask me).
But I'm not giving up !

[maverick]

Originally Posted by silvousplait

In my opinion, sexual education should also have a component involving homosexuality. It should be taught to teens so that ignorance does not fuel the fire that is homophobia. One of the major reasons people think so negatively of homosexuals is because they do not understand them. Any comments/ideas about this?

Yeah, most reasonable people in the United States think there needs to be comprehensive sex education, if for no other reason than that not agreeing with homosexuality doesn't wish the queers away, and you still have to explain them to your kids somehow - may as well let the school do it in a structured compassionate way to make sure it gets done right.

[Revan]

I think self-esteem is probably also a big factor in misunderstanding. Let's face it, bullies are two things. People who don't understand AND people with low self-esteem. I've never met a bully who already felt good about themselves and just decided to bully someone for no reason.

[thedreamwatch]

Originally Posted by maverick

Yeah, most reasonable people in the United States think there needs to be comprehensive sex education, if for no other reason than that not agreeing with homosexuality doesn't wish the queers away, and you still have to explain them to your kids somehow - may as well let the school do it in a structured compassionate way to make sure it gets done right.

Unfortunately, I think that until reasonable people outnumber the hordes of the ridiculous people who ignore stats about teen pregnancy/STIs and other complications of ignorant sexual activity, it's not going to happen.

Not to be pessimistic, but I really don't see this happening since a lot of schools can't talk about CONTRACEPTION because it's "too controversial".

[Aya McCabre]

If nothing else, proper education would let people know what their options are. Too many people don't see things like bisexual or asexual as valid options.... You have to choose one or the other. It would be so easy to legitimise labels by including them in a school sylibus. It could take a long time to happen though..... I went to school in a country that is accepting and had gay teachers..... But when we tried to start a GSA there were so many restrictions put in place that it became pointless. We ended up getting permission to talk to our friends. There's a lot of opposition to get past.

[aidan]

i was lucky enough to have an openly gay headteacher who did a lot to tackle homophobia at my school, including getting sir ian mckellen to give a speech in assembly.

there's absolutely no good reason to not include it, and quite a few excellent reasons to include it.

[wallrose]

I don't think that they should specifically teach about tolerance and whatnot. But kids should be taught that it is normal. Not so that they won't be homophobic (that's an added benefit), but so that kids won't worry about being gay themselves.

[partietraumatic]

I was having a discussion with a friend about sex ed the other day. Looking back I realised that there was never any mention of homosexuality in my sex ed classes. Even ignoring the social aspect that education about homosexuality could increase its acceptability, this seemed ignorant on the part of safety. Sex ed is supposed to teach you how to be safe when having sex, yet I do not recall one mention of what gay people should do to ensure they are practising safe sex. This seems like a huge oversight, since the chances are in a class at least one kid is going to be gay. What use is their sex ed going to be. They'll know all about safe straight sex, but nothing about how to be safe themselves when having gay sex.

It's just seems a bit irresponsible.