Bloomington High School North, Nikean, 2014, Page 68

Description:	UNITED STUDENTSUNI I tU b I UUbIN I b ^ ^TOGETHER WE STAND »> (from right) Junior Casandra Plantz, sophomore Parker Knight, senior Alyssa walls and English and Special Educationteacher Crystal Wyeth showed their support for LGBTO students during the National Day of Silence April 25.» photos by Kiah WeaverSTANDING TALLwith Greg Chaff in» photo by Kiah WeaverWhy is United Students important?A gay/straight alliance in any school isimportant because some of ourstudents who identify as LGBTO forlots of reasons, societal reasons, arestudents most at risk. In fact, they saythat students who identify in thoseareas are four times more likely tothink about or attempt suicide. I thinka support group for students whoneed to come together and feelheard, supported and all of thosekinds of things, and even to just haveannouncements of groups like this.Was it hard to establish this group?There were some definite bumpsalong the way. Everyone from unionreps to the administration were reallyworried about how the public mightreact to this group. There wasntbumps with students. The first yearwe had about 150 to 180 students.How would you respond to theopposition?I would have a discussion with themabout why they feel that way. I wouldtry to get at helping them understandthat in a society that is a democracyand built on individual liberties and thepursuance of life liberty andhappiness, that one of the values wehold dear in this country, and in thiscity, and school is to value thedifferences of others around them. Iwould point out to them whoever theyare, that Im sure they have things thatare different about them that theywant valued.How has the way LGBTQs are viewedin society changed since you werea youth?When I was young there was a lot ofhomophobia in society, a lot of feararound sexual orientation issues. Infact, this is really sad to say, I canremember playing a game in PE, in theschool, called smear the queer. ThePE teacher called it that, thats howbad things were back then. There werea lot of really difficult things at thattime for kids who may have consideredthemselves to be gay. It was almostthe unspoken huge thing. Now thisschool is run by the students. The mostimportant leaders for gay rights arenow the students. The youth of theday, whether they are gay or straight,have come a long way.What advice would you give to youthstruggling with sexual orientation?The biggest thing is to find support,people who care about you and loveyou for who you are. Its incrediblyimportant to feel good about who youare. I would suggest going online to thewebsite It Gets Better. They havedone some really amazing videos withgay supporters and gay people who areprominent, including stars andpoliticians. They talk about how theystruggled as young people, but theystood up, they stood strong. Theyfound people to support them even iftheir family didnt or their church orsynagogue, or whoever. They foundsupport, and grew to be happy people.» 68
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomnorth/id/7760
Collection:	Bloomington High School North

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