Have fun, but remember that CNN is only one source. Find others, get the whole story. I’ll chime in with more eventually.
That is such crap. If it is true, and I can easily see it being so, I hope she gets them in such a way that there is a lasting effect.
Anybody else notice that the school is in Banning, CA.?
I have some questions about this story.
#1. How did the other girls in the locker room know that Ashly was gay?
#2. Why did the girls feel uncomfortable?
#3. How did the teacher find out?
#4. In my experence 14 seems a little young to come out. Is that a normal age for someone to fully understand their sexuality? (I am basing this on my own experence with my gay friends. I could be wrong but none of my gay friends came out that early)
I am not stating that one side or the other is correct. I just need more information to make a valid judgement. If Ashly was outed by gossip and the girls in the locker room felt uncomfortable then I agree with Ashly. On the other hand if Ashly outed herself and behaved inappropriately in the locker room I can see it going the other way.
I’d also like to point out that Middle school students are at an awkward age. What freaks them out my not freak out an adult.
Slee
<shrug> I came out when I was 13. Badandi came out when she was 12. Between the two of us we’ve got a lot of merry gym class stories to tell… I always had to keep my back to a wall because I would get a lot of things thrown at me if I didn’t.
The age is actually lowering nowadays, sleestak. Coming out tends to happen in waves, and for those who do it in their teens it seems to be moving down from 15-17 to 13-15. That’s just a casual observation; I do a lot of work with gay youth.
Also, if she outed herself or was outed shouldn’t even be an issue. And speaking from personal experience, gay kids just don’t “act inappropriately” in a locker room. I’ve nearly been beaten up by people who assumed that because I was within ten feet of them that I was hitting on them; actually hitting on someone would have been an open invitation for great violence.
Not quite sure if I agree with this. I know some rather flamboyant gay people, and they have no problem making sure everyone knows their sexual preference. Definitely not saying that this is the case, as I don’t know, but I could see how this situation could go either way, pending more information.
The only reason I could see for banning this girl from gym would be if she had been obviously behaving inappropriately. I doubt that was the case. This sucks, big time.
Speaking as one of said people… really, that’s something you work up to. Not at 13. I would be shocked if she had actually acted inappropriately; 99% of gay teens that age are too busy trying to stay alive.
I know a lot of rather flamboyant heterosexuals that have no problem making sure that everyone knows their sexual preference.
Of course, since heterosexuality is the norm, they aren’t flamboyant, even though they can walk hand in hand and snog in public.
We are an invisible minority. We should be able to speak up and be true about our lives without being called flamboyant because we don’t want to hide our lights under a bushel.
Ashley should not have been held accountable for the feelings of the other girls. If they were uncomfortable, then they should have been the ones removed from the class to solve “the problem.”
Hastur, your point about flamboyance is well-taken.
Oh, I know plenty of heterosexuals who are “flamboyant” about their heterosexuality as well, and that is just as bad. I didn’t mean to insinuate that ANY gay person who comes out is being flamboyant, not at all. My point was that I know some who are flamboyant and who do things like make snide comments of a sexual nature or which could be construed as sexual to people of the same sex who they know don’t share their preference.
As I said, I don’t know that that was what was happening here, and I’d be willing to bet that it wasn’t. I was just pointing out the possibility.
The issue might be that the other girls see someone who is attracted to their gender sharing a locker room with them, and they don’t like it.
Would a heterosexual boy be allowed to share a locker room with girls? No—part of the reason is because everyone would know he is attracted to girls, and here he would be—surrounded by a locker room full of them. The rest of the locker room would not feel comfortable with him there, for that reason. And so they also might not feel comfortable with a gay female in the locker room.
But I doubt that this girl is behaving in an inappropriate way. I believe andygirl. I think at that age, gay kids are just struggling to stay alive. And what the hell is she supposed to do? What the hell are her options here? She can’t help being gay. This sucks.
Yeah, I know I was basically stating the obvious there. I do that a lot.
Here’s another report, via 365gay.com
You know, this is really horrible, but part of me thought, “hey, how come she doesn’t have to take gym class! I like chicks, too!”
…however, this is just BS. You can’t kick someone out of class because of their sexual orientation It’s not something they can change, and it’s not reason for discrimination. I mean, jeez…doesn’t that make it so she can’t make the requirements for graduation?
I think yosemitebabe has a point there.
I don’t agree that being gay should ban one from gym class. That’s silly.
But maybe there’s some accommodation that needs to be made as more school age kids are ‘coming out’. If we assume that locker rooms are for changing clothes among a cohort in which students are comfortable doing so because there’s (theoretically) no sexual attraction then having a lesbian girl in the locker room makes the entire locker room ‘concept’ obsolete.
What’s the solution? I don’t know. You can’t put lesbian girls in the boys locker room, for God’s sake. The girl might not be attracted to the boys but she’s in for a rough ride. Could you segregate all the lesbians into a third locker room? It sounds like a ‘B’ movie or some sleazy website. Yuck.
So, like I said, the issue (as so many concerning the place of gay and lesbian people in the world) is structural in the current society. I can spot the problem but I have no idea about the solution.
This is interesting. I hadn’t thought about it much, but I have no issue at all in changing in front of gay (male) friends, being a hetero female. One friend of mine is always joking about the time I allegedly flashed him my breasts - basically because he was gay and by default no “threat” - I changed at his place in front of him without thinking, like I would with a female friend.
So gay guys banned from the men’s changing room… welcome to the ladies’!!
(Hmm… but then again, if you’re sexy gay guys, you might be on the receiving end from some sneaky peeks from us…)
Can I point out that just because she’s attracted to her own gender doesn’t mean that she’s oggling the other girls. I’m queer, out, and I’ve always used the women’s locker room. Never been an issue although maybe it because I’ve been around more enlightened people who knew I wasn’t particulary attracted to them.
The other girls are uncomfortable, that’s fair, but education and integration are probably a better solution than trying to divvy up the locker rooms for “boy,” “girl” and “it.”