[In case there's some of you who are like me & have never heard of Youth Pride Inc (YPI) before: it is a safe place for members & supporters of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning youth to come and feel accepted and work together.
The speaker was a transman (female to male). He shared his story with us and he gave a presentation, similar to the one Chris gave when we covered LGBTQQ issues; he did the spectrum with us like we did in class:
Men-------------------------------------Intersex-------------------------------------Women
Male----------------------------------Transgender----------------------------------Women
Masculine---------------------------Androgynous--------------------------------Feminine
Gay--------------------------------------Bisexual------------------------------------Straight
He talked a lot about using the correct vocabulary and trying to watch what you say so you don't offend anyone. This part of his presentation really hit home for me---my sister battles a pretty serious eating disorder (Bulimia) she's in & out the hospital & outpatient clinics and living with this for the past 7 years has made me really cautious (for lack of a better term) about what I say. Certain things you say or names you call her can affect her differently than if you were to like say them to me or something. I thought it was really important that he stressed that name calling, not just for LGBTQQ kids, but for kids and people in general isn't acceptable.
He also talked a lot about acceptance, that although Rhode Island has come a along way there is of course still a long way to go---it's a work in progress. And the (I could have this out of sequence so don't quote me) "Stop it, Name it, Claim it"...if you say something you think or know is offensive or you hear someone else do it...stop, acknowledge it, own up to it, apologize and move on. He said it's better to acknowledge the fact that you offended someone and apologize than just pretend like you never said it and it never happened----i thought that was really cool
And of course he invited everyone to stop by Youth Pride Inc (:
It's right across from Classical High School in case anyone wants to check it out!
SOOO throughout his presentation & at the end he asked questions about our knowledge on these topics, I am so proud to say I was basically the only one who could answer his questions with enough confidence to feel like I knew what I was talking about, thanks to this class (: A lot of kids were asking questions & I kept saying to myself "THE ANSWER TO THAT IS _____"
*I was really excited to see my two favorite classes actually intersecting; it was interesting to see the issue from a psychological perspective with my knowledge of the feminist perspective lurking in the background (:
