Strollerderby : diversity

Gay Boy Crowned Prom Queen

JeanneSager — Sat, 30 May 2009 15:08:00 GMT

He's a boy, and he's gay, but Sergio Garcia isn't ashamed to tell people he's a queen. Prom queen that is.

Describing himself as "flamboyant," openly gay Garcia was crowned the queen of his Los Angeles high school's prom this week after deciding he could better identify with being a queen than a king, and campaigning hard for the part.

After reading about the racially segregated proms still allowed in some parts of the south this week, I needed this story. Because Garcia's principal says this is a great example of how successful the school is at driving home the message of diversity. At a school that's offered LGBT programming since for the past twenty-five years, it's apparently working.

The vote wasn't unanimous, but speaking in front of his classmates to campaign for the part, Garcia told them, "I'm not your typical prom queen candidate. There's more to me than meets the eye." Kids who spoke to a local TV station said they were swayed by his words, and they cast their vote for him.

Now we can only hope the same kids start voting in California elections soon - and find a way to send proposition 8 back to pasture.

Image: Twirlit

Students Make Rev. Phelps Followers Run Away

Kelly Mills — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:35:00 GMT

Feel-good story? Members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, gathered a small protest near Omaha Central High School. The church is led by the Reverend Fred Phelps, and I'm sure you know who these folks are. They became famous when they protested at the funeral of Matthew Shepard, and have gone on to protest everywhere it would horrify you to see picketers, including the funerals of slain service members. You know, the "God Hates Fags" people. (Biting tongue now...)

However, when the group held up anti-homosexuality and anti-Obama signs near the high school last Friday, they were met by hundreds of student counter-protesters. The students chanted "Diversity" and "Gay is OK" and even busted out the Pledge of Allegiance. And, well, the kids got a little riled up, and they threw hamburgers and lemonade bottles and milk at the Westboro protesters. Ahem. Maybe I'm supposed to feel bad about the sort of violent reaction, but I really don't.

The police then advised the Phelps folks that the situation was getting a little out of hand and they might want to leave for their own personal safety. And so they did, ahem. So far no students have been disciplined, and the school spokeswoman said, "This hate group came to Central High at dismissal to provoke students... To some extent, we need to understand that these are young people, and we have to take into consideration this kind of extreme provocation." Totally. I'm with you, lady.

Prop 8 Protests Spawn Hope and Great Photos

Morning News: Anti-Gay Church Lays Off Workers (After Spending Gobs on Prop 8)

Babble Talk: Tackling Race

Jen Chaney — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 18:02:00 GMT

The past few days in America have been extraordinary, intense and record-setting, and not just in terms of the number of people who cast votes. I am pretty sure we collectively set a new world record for the number of times the sentence, "I never thought I'd see this in my life time," has been uttered in a one-week period.

All of us have undoubtedly participated in conversations about the historic nature of Barack Obama's election as President, as well as discussions about whether we should be placing so much emphasis on his "blackness." Not surprisingly, Obama's presidency is sparking new dialogue about race, dialogue that will undoubtedly continue, in heated fits and illuminating starts, over the next four years.

Which brings us to our kids, and this week's "Bad Parent" essay, written by Erin Blakely and entitled "Baby Bigot." In the piece, Erin expresses concern about whether her toddler might be prejudiced after what she refers to as "the Laurence Fishburne incident": the time her little boy saw the esteemed "Matrix" star in a New York restaurant, pointed at him and shouted, "Doggie!" She subsequently noticed that he only referred to African-Americans as "doggies," something that worried her and also forced her to do some soul-searching to determine whether she and her husband really embrace diversity as much as they like to think they do.

It sounds like Erin is still working through those issues, as so many of us are. I haven't quite experienced a Fisburne episode yet, but -- to bring this all back to the election -- one of the first high-profile people my son successfully identified was Barack Obama. He could have been helped by the fact that, as this super-awesome video demonstrates, Obama is a really easy name for babies and kids to say. I am sure it didn't hurt that on a couple of occasions, my husband and I pointed to images of Obama and told our son who he was.

But I got that ugly Fishburne-esque wake-up call a couple of times when my son saw other African-American males on television, pointed and said, "Obama." Geez, I thought, does he really think all black people look the same? That can't be, I told myself. He goes to daycare with students and teachers of virtually every variety of race and creed. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't think Obama is one of them.

Ultimately, I concluded that he's not even two and is still figuring things out. When he sees vague similarities between people and items, he tends to refer to them using words he knows, then waits for one of us to correct him. This explains why he often refers to any thirty-something-ish woman he sees in a book or on TV as "Mommy" -- regardless of her skin color, hair style or general demeanor --or why he thinks that any elongated object is a "tenn-y racket." (Actually, that might just be because he likes to hit crap.)

The key phrase, though, is that he waits for one of us to correct him. Which means as parents, we always have to be there, steering him on the right path. Like Erin, I strive to encourage him to treat all people equally, without regard to their skin color. I strive to make him a warm-hearted, open-minded young man. That process starts now, but the hard work will come when he gets older. The touch challenges will arise when he really begins to understand that there are differences between people and that, sometimes, those differences bring out the ugliest sides of human nature.

In the meantime, I take some comfort in the positive signs I see. Like this one: A few weeks ago, my son walked into our house and spotted a penny on the floor. He picked it up, the head-side gleaming in his hand. He looked down at the copper profile of Abraham Lincoln, then he looked at me and -- completely unprompted -- said, "Obama." A few days later, he did the same thing with a quarter: Took one peek at a silvery George Washington and declared, "Obama."

For some reason, he saw those founding fathers and perceived them as being the same as the presidential hopeful from Chicago. One could see that as a sign that he looked at something beyond race. It's a nice thought, and maybe it's true. But I didn't even think about race at the time. All I thought was, "Wow, that kid knows a president when he sees one."

Related Links:

Obama's Friday Schedule: Tackle Global Economic Crisis, Parent-Teacher Meetings

Bringing Some Color to Capitol Hill

Balancing Work and Parenting—When You're the First Lady

How to Keep Your Kid From Pissing off The McCain Supporters

Image: Daly & Newton/Getty Via Babble.com

Counseling Over Transgendered Third Grader

Kelly Mills — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:35:00 GMT

When a third-grade boy in Pennsylvania decided to transition to being female, his parents asked the school for assistance with peer acceptance. The school consulted with experts on transgender children and asked a school counselor to hold sessions with 100 third graders to explain why their classmate would be taking a different name and wearing female clothing. The idea was to help the kids with acceptance and to prevent them from saying mean things.

So what's the kerfuffle? I bet you can guess. The school sent letters to parents the day before the sessions informing them of what would be happening. And clearly the parents need the counseling more, because while both the guidence counselor and the mom of one of the boy's friends say the kids are pretty cool with the whole thing, the adults are irate. One wrote an interesting and critical commentary of the school, saying, "Introduction of sexual abuse prevention programs over the years should have taught these educators that most parents like to have a say in all aspects of their children's sexual education--particularly one that could be controversial." Is this sexual education? I guess it is in one biological sense of the word 'sex', but it seems to me it's more about diversity, communication, basic decency, and not being an asshole just because your parents are. Then again, I live in California, which the author of the commentary seems to think is nut-land.

Should an "Overweight" Beauty Pageant Contestant Be a Role Model for Young Girls?

Kelly Mills — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:02:00 GMT

Monica Grenfell is horrified. Why? Well, see, this year's Miss England contest has a fairly unique finalist: Chloe Marshall, a size 16 (about a size 14 in U.S. sizes.) Seventeen-year-old Marshall has been quite outspoken about wanting to be "an ambassador for curves" and demonstrate to young girls that it isn't necessary to be a size zero. She says she eats healthy food and exercises regularly. Grenfell, however, is a dietician and she hopes Chloe doesn't win. "It would send an appalling--and very dangerous--message to other young women that it's OK to be fat." She adds that Chloe is a terrible role model and says charmingly, "Who on earth does she think she's kidding? What she's demonstrating isn't bravery but a shocking lack of self-control. Instead of flaunting her figure, Chloe ought to own up to the truth. She is fat and she got that way by over-eating." Nice.

Grenfell makes the point that we don't have an anorexia epidemic, we have an obesity epidemic, and that the last thing girls need to hear is that it's okay to be overweight because it puts you at risk for health problems like Type 2 diabetes and heart attacks. Mmm hmm. Well, we could debate that one all day, but there is certainly no consensus among researchers that obesity itself is the cause of the problems. In other words, the real issue is poor eating habits and a lack of physical activity, not the weight itself. And we certainly have a plethora of extremely thin role models for girls right now, role models whose bodies are not a realistic goal for many of the most active, healthy-eating girls in the world.

But beyond that, do girls really need the message that a diversity of shapes and sizes are lovely? You've probably already guessed what I think about that. Hell yes. And while we may not have an anorexia "epidemic" (curse that word) the extremely adverse health effects of eating disorders are well-documented. And by the way, most eating disorder stats only deal with the most obvious examples, while plenty of researchers are discovering that even young girls are using extreme measures to try and get thin, often unsuccessfully, with lord knows what long-term health consequences. I guess that's why I think Monica Grenfell should go f*ck herself for tearing into a brave teenage girl, and while I don't love beauty pageants, I'll be cheering for Chloe.

Save the Planet; Strangle a Soccer Mom

Adrienne Martini — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Thank Gaia that biologist EO Wilson knows who is to blame for the decrease in biodiversity of species. No, it isn't the destruction of habitats or the introduction of foreign chemicals. No, the answer is much more clear-cut.

The true source for all blame is soccer moms.

Now that we know where to point our fingers, we can start solving the problem.

First step: Pave all soccer fields. If there is no soccer, clearly there can be no soccer mom.

Second step: Deflate soccer balls. See above.

Third step: Isolate every mother from all mention of soccer. Their minds are so impressionable.

Dads, however, can talk about the s-word as much as they want, because they are strong, both in word and deed. Plus, they are biologically unfit to join the blight destroying our natural world.

Next, Wilson will explain the link between soccer moms and global warming. I smell a Nobel Prize.

Illo credit: www.momgadget.com

Wanted: Twelve Pregnant Women for Ballet

Kelly Mills — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:44:00 GMT

The artistic director of a British ballet company is looking for a dozen knocked-up ladies for a new work called "MaEternal". The ballet will feature six pro dancers as well, but the pregnant women don't even need dance experience--the audition ads say this is "a chance to share with an audience the beauty of what it means to carry the life of another within you." All I can say is there better be at least two intermissions for offstage pee breaks.

Director Liv Lorent, who is pregnant herself, says, "You can't get a 25-year-old size 8 ballet dancer type body to move with the weight, the gravitas or the sheer cheerful spirit a pregnant woman." Clearly the "cheerful spirit" requirement would have eliminated me right away (and BTW, I snorted at the idea of a size 8 dancer until I realized she probably was referring to British sizes.) But I like the idea fine, and I always like ballets with non-ballet body types. Power to the pregnant.

Via Jezebel.

Marking MLK Day

Amy Kuras — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:12:00 GMT

Are you enjoying today? We are – everyone except for the sad freelancer (me) doesn't have work or school today for Martin Luther King Day.

We're trying to think of an adequate way to mark today with our three year old – most events in our city would not be kid-appropriate or would shoot right over her head. And I think that's a good thing. Our neighborhood is well-integrated, her school is quite diverse and so is church. I'm not so sure I want to be in a rush to teach her that life was, and still is in many places, otherwise. Right now, she's just exposed to a lot of different people of different races, ethnicities, economic standing and sexual orientation and we hope the "it's a big wide beautiful world out there" message sinks in before a lot of the crap does.

On the other hand, there's still an awfully long way to go even in the most diverse environments. Someday we're going to have to have the discussion, about race and racism and all the other isms that make people who are in the minority stand out. Here in our city, it's us that are the minority, which is an instructive position to be in.

There's a very thoughtful entry on The Juggle today talking about race and parenting from a writer who is raising his daughter as part of a multiracial family. How are you addressing race with your kids? How are you marking today, if at all?

Photo of Martin Luther King Jr. and son Dexter Scott: www.mlkonline.net

Diversity Video Shown at School; Parents Upset

Karen Murphy — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 20:04:00 GMT

The parents of a 9-year-old female student of a New Jersey school says they are angry about a videotape that school officials says teaches children about families and diversity. The tape was shown to children late last year and includes footage of children talking about their same-sex parents. The girl's father reportedly later viewed the video and found it "absolutely appalling". The school claims that "the video makes no judgment about lifestyles...[the purpose of it] is to teach respect for the diversity of all children".

Personally? I'm thinking that maybe such a video should be required viewing for parents as well for children. It's about time that we quit ignoring the fact that we're not in actuality a cookie-cutter society, no matter what lengths we go to pretend that we are. It's time to more fully embrace the wonderful differences that are all a part of the human experience.

What do you think? Should schools teach diversity about various kinds of families, including GLBT families, or should those topics be left to the parents to present in their own way? Would you applaud or be horrified by such a curriculum in your child's school?