Write Your Principal
October 18, 2010 5:23 PM Subscribe
Want to know what your old high school is doing to protect and support its LGBTQ students? Write Your Principal encourages and collects correspondence about anti-bullying efforts between alumni and their alma maters. [via projects]
Well I went to catholic school, so I guess I kind of already know the answer.
posted by saraswati at 6:09 PM on October 18, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by saraswati at 6:09 PM on October 18, 2010 [3 favorites]
(That's not to say that the project isn't great, or that I won't write him a letter anyway)
posted by saraswati at 6:11 PM on October 18, 2010
posted by saraswati at 6:11 PM on October 18, 2010
or the letter would just fall into the inbox like an empty Coke bottle from a clear African sky.
So your principal will go to the end of the Earth to respond appropriately to your letter? Cool!
posted by Salvor Hardin at 6:26 PM on October 18, 2010 [2 favorites]
So your principal will go to the end of the Earth to respond appropriately to your letter? Cool!
posted by Salvor Hardin at 6:26 PM on October 18, 2010 [2 favorites]
Done!
Dear Dr. Thoenes,
I graduated from x High School in 1997. While a student there, I was involved in a lot of activities such as Quiz Bowl, drama and choir as well as student government. I think back on that time with some fondness, partly due to the influence of my teachers, especially Mr. Duffey and Mr. Bartel, whom I see are still teaching there. I was close with Mr. Bowles as well. But it was also difficult for my LGBT classmates, in particular my twin sister, because they were treated badly by other students. I distinctly remember my sister and close friends being openly teased in classrooms and hallways without repercussions. I also remember a classmate wearing a t-shirt that said "Silly Faggot, Dicks are for Chicks" t-shirt and when I raised objections to it, I myself was teased for being offended.
Fortunately, my LGBT classmates and my sister have gone on to have productive and happy lives.
I wish I could say that everything is better for gay kids today, but of course it’s not.
* Gay lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students hear anti-gay slurs about 26 times a day, or every 14 minutes. (National Mental Health Association, 2002) .
* According to a 2005 National School Climate Survey by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, bullying around issues of sexual orientation, non-conforming gender behaviors and dress was the most common form of bullying, second only to issues of appearance (e.g., body size and disability).
* For every lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth who is bullied, four straight students who are perceived to be gay or lesbian are bullied.
* LGBTQ teens are more than twice as likely as their heterosexual peers to be depressed and think about or attempt suicide.
* And of course the recent suicides of Tyler Clementi, Justin Aaberg, Seth Walsh, Raymond Chase, and Billy Lucas add a sorrowful urgency to this situation.
In response to the spate of suicides, many people are speaking out a little more and there is a project called “Write Your Principal” (www.writeyourprincipal.com) in which people ask their principals what is being done at their schools to ensure a safe and friendly environment for all kids, including the gay kids.
I do not live in x, but if I did live nearby, I would offer to help in anyway possible to make this happen.
You were not my principal in 1997, obviously, but you are the principal at my old school, so I ask you to ask you what you are doing to prevent bullying at x, and to make the campus safe for LGBTQ students, faculty, and staff.
I know that x has changed as a community since the late 1990s and I hope that it has become a more tolerant and welcoming place.
Sincerely,
k8t
posted by k8t at 6:53 PM on October 18, 2010 [6 favorites]
Dear Dr. Thoenes,
I graduated from x High School in 1997. While a student there, I was involved in a lot of activities such as Quiz Bowl, drama and choir as well as student government. I think back on that time with some fondness, partly due to the influence of my teachers, especially Mr. Duffey and Mr. Bartel, whom I see are still teaching there. I was close with Mr. Bowles as well. But it was also difficult for my LGBT classmates, in particular my twin sister, because they were treated badly by other students. I distinctly remember my sister and close friends being openly teased in classrooms and hallways without repercussions. I also remember a classmate wearing a t-shirt that said "Silly Faggot, Dicks are for Chicks" t-shirt and when I raised objections to it, I myself was teased for being offended.
Fortunately, my LGBT classmates and my sister have gone on to have productive and happy lives.
I wish I could say that everything is better for gay kids today, but of course it’s not.
* Gay lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students hear anti-gay slurs about 26 times a day, or every 14 minutes. (National Mental Health Association, 2002) .
* According to a 2005 National School Climate Survey by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, bullying around issues of sexual orientation, non-conforming gender behaviors and dress was the most common form of bullying, second only to issues of appearance (e.g., body size and disability).
* For every lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth who is bullied, four straight students who are perceived to be gay or lesbian are bullied.
* LGBTQ teens are more than twice as likely as their heterosexual peers to be depressed and think about or attempt suicide.
* And of course the recent suicides of Tyler Clementi, Justin Aaberg, Seth Walsh, Raymond Chase, and Billy Lucas add a sorrowful urgency to this situation.
In response to the spate of suicides, many people are speaking out a little more and there is a project called “Write Your Principal” (www.writeyourprincipal.com) in which people ask their principals what is being done at their schools to ensure a safe and friendly environment for all kids, including the gay kids.
I do not live in x, but if I did live nearby, I would offer to help in anyway possible to make this happen.
You were not my principal in 1997, obviously, but you are the principal at my old school, so I ask you to ask you what you are doing to prevent bullying at x, and to make the campus safe for LGBTQ students, faculty, and staff.
I know that x has changed as a community since the late 1990s and I hope that it has become a more tolerant and welcoming place.
Sincerely,
k8t
posted by k8t at 6:53 PM on October 18, 2010 [6 favorites]
I read the other letters and discovered that someone else had a kid with a Silly Faggot Dicks are for Chicks shirt. Weird.
Hope the spam filter doesn't block it.
posted by k8t at 8:13 PM on October 18, 2010
Hope the spam filter doesn't block it.
posted by k8t at 8:13 PM on October 18, 2010
A friend of mine did this last week, sending a letter to the principal of the very exclusive prep school where she was a charity student (and harrassed by both students and faculty for their perception that she was a lesbian) back in the 80s. The principal (not the same one as when she was there) called her a couple of days ago to discuss her letter; she said it felt pretty darn good.
posted by not that girl at 8:39 PM on October 18, 2010
posted by not that girl at 8:39 PM on October 18, 2010
Q? I'm guessing for Queer? What does that cover that LGBT doesn't?
Serious question.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 9:35 PM on October 18, 2010
Serious question.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 9:35 PM on October 18, 2010
Q is for questioning.
posted by lullaby at 9:51 PM on October 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by lullaby at 9:51 PM on October 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
Q can also be for queer. Some people like to identify that way because it allows for a more fluid concept of sexuality. Some people like it because it moves beyond the idea of gender as a binary. It's also an identity with kind of a heritage of radical political activist connotations, which appeals to some people.
Wikipedia's got a pretty decent synopsis on the use of queer "as a contemporary antonym of heteronormative."
posted by sigmagalator at 10:35 PM on October 18, 2010
Wikipedia's got a pretty decent synopsis on the use of queer "as a contemporary antonym of heteronormative."
posted by sigmagalator at 10:35 PM on October 18, 2010
k8t: "I read the other letters and discovered that someone else had a kid with a Silly Faggot Dicks are for Chicks shirt. Weird."
This seems to have been a popular joke around that time. It was actually told by the student MC at the high school battle of the bands one year when I was in school (graduated in '99). My suburban Alabama high school classmates and faculty didn't even bat an eye.
posted by This Guy at 5:34 AM on October 19, 2010
This seems to have been a popular joke around that time. It was actually told by the student MC at the high school battle of the bands one year when I was in school (graduated in '99). My suburban Alabama high school classmates and faculty didn't even bat an eye.
posted by This Guy at 5:34 AM on October 19, 2010
Well, in truth it'd be good if they could prevent bullying for all students.
posted by Sutekh at 6:17 AM on October 19, 2010
posted by Sutekh at 6:17 AM on October 19, 2010
OK, the 'q = questioning' makes sense. 'q = queer' is fine, but odd as an adjunct to LGBT, which it would replace.
Thanks for the insight.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:26 AM on October 19, 2010
Thanks for the insight.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:26 AM on October 19, 2010
The acronym at its most complete is LGBTQQIA = lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, and allies.
OK, I see the appeal of just going with 'queer.'
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 1:12 PM on October 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
OK, I see the appeal of just going with 'queer.'
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 1:12 PM on October 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
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