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Photo by Scott Houston Photography Nick, 18 |
Eighteen-year-old Nick remembers coming out as gay in middle school and then facing a lot of harassment during his freshman year of high school. Nick decided to do something about the homophobia at his school; he started a gay-straight alliance. Now, in his senior year, Nick is implementing a Safe-Zone program. The purpose of the Safe-Zone program is to give all students—gay, lesbian, heterosexual, bisexual, questioning or transgender—someone to talk to about sexual orientation and gender issues.
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"There's a big difference between being confused and undecided than being undefined," says Tiffany, 17, from Lebanon, NJ.
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Challenge people when they use derogatory terms or carelessly use expressions like “____ is so gay”. Create a homophobia Free Zone by putting up these downloadable posters: http://www.galebc.org/ThatsSoGayElem.pdf and http://www.colage.org/ylap/posters.html |
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Start or join a GSA (gay straight alliance) at your school or in your community. |
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Participate in Day of Silence. It is really easy, all you have to do is be quiet for one day and you are sending a powerful message about discrimination of people who are LGBTQ. |
The triangle that has become one of the symbols of the modern gay rights movement originated in Nazi concentration camps during World War II when prisoners wore badges to identify the reason for their imprisonment. Originally, a pink triangle identified gay male prisoners, and a black triangle identified lesbian prisoners.
What ideas do you have about how to make your school or community a friendly place for GLBTQ teen? Share them with us!
Are you already doing something to end homophobia? Tell us about it and you might be the next teen in our spotlight!
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