More than two and a half million people ages 13-18 in the United States identify as LGBTQ+. I am one of them.
My experience in a public school district has been filled with mixed emotions. I was always secretly uncomfortable being at school, but once I came out as gay, I became clearly uncomfortable being at school. From LGBTQ+ topics being excluded from the curriculum to facing discrimination and harassment from many of my classmates, I have never felt like I ever truly had a place at Mt. Lebanon High School.
I decided to come out because I was tired of lying to myself and other people about who I truly was. I thought that coming out would relieve me from the years of suffering I experienced while I was trying to figure out who I really was, and it did, but it also gave me some new, hurtful, nicknames, and made me a target for hate.
It’s upsetting to me that at this school, the majority of people don’t know what the Stonewall Riots are, but they know what an f-slur is, and some feel no hesitation to say it. This just shows that excluding LGBTQ+ topics has taught people to hate the LGBTQ+ community before they ever knew anything about it.
This is all because we have only been exposed to the heteronormative in school. This is how it always has been, and most parents and students have no issue with it. I have been fortunate enough to grow up in a household where acceptance is is emphasized and had parents who gave me the freedom to be myself. However, that is not how things are for most people.
We have been around forever, and will always be around, so I think it is time for people to actually start learning about us.
—Will Brubaker, Senior at Mt. Lebanon High School
Many queer students have parents who do not accept their sexual orientation or gender identity, and that is why it would be beneficial for schools to include LGBTQ+ topics in their curriculum.
Me being out as gay has had a really big influence on my senior year, and while I have received very little education at the school on LGBTQ+ topics, I have felt great support from my teachers and my friends as well. My teachers have told me to have hope for the future, and that once I am out of here, my life will actually begin. While this is helpful, it does hurt that I am going to look back at my high school years and remember being the f-slur, and the disapproval I received from many of my classmates.
I would have been able to have a great high school experience if everyone learned at a young age that it is important to accept people for who they are. I would also feel more included if I had more protection at this school, and was actually included in the curriculum.
Being gay can not be indoctrinated, but learning to accept people who are different can be. Acceptance is key in the real world, and closing children off to one way of life will only make them fearful of the real world.
LGBTQ+ topics have been silenced, but the LGBTQ+ community will not continue to be silenced. We have been around forever, and will always be around, so I think it is time for people to actually start learning about us.
Editor’s note: this article was first published on page 14 of The Devil’s Advocate, the student newspaper of the Mt. Lebanon High School, printed on May 20th, 2022. It has been republished here with consent.
