As a teenager, I expect my teachers to tell me the truth. So why does my state, Alabama, require by law that my teachers tell me that being gay is a criminal offense?
The Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that being gay is not a crime -- it's incredible that happened so recently. But it's even more incredible that in Alabama, the law requires sexual education teachers to emphasize that "homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense."
I'm a queer teen in Alabama, and I don't think it's acceptable for the law to force my teachers to tell me I'm a criminal.
A bill has been introduced in the Alabama state legislature to repeal this hurtful, outdated law. My friend Adam and I started a petition on Change.org calling on the legislature to repeal the law -- will you click here to sign?
It's bad enough to be a gay kid and hear from your teachers that your identity is invalid. But what's even worse is the way this school forces teachers to sanction anti-gay bullying, even if they don't want to.
Queer kids are significantly more likely to attempt suicide than straight or cisgender kids, partly because society teaches us to think awful things about ourselves -- that we're weird and abnormal and not okay. But we are okay, just the way we are. We need for our teachers and the people in our lives to be able to tell us that we are.
It's been ten years since the Supreme Court ruled that it's not a crime to be gay. It's time for Alabama to stop forcing teachers to lie to students -- and I know that if enough people sign my petition the state legislature will do the right thing and take this hateful law off the books.
Click here to sign Adam's and my petition calling on the Alabama state legislature to repeal a law that forces teachers to tell students that being gay is a crime.
This kind of thing sends chills down my spine. As long as we (Americans) have laws on the books and continue to tolerate laws on the books which clearly target specific individuals on superficial bases, we will never get rid of this kind of bigotry. It conveniently reminds me of a time not too long ago in a little place called Germany. Yeah, a little group of thugs over there decided that they didn't like a certain group of people... and passed laws making it okay to terrorize said group of people.
I really don't know if it's this, or that in the post-9/11 world people still continue to put up with this kind of intolerance... who are then shocked and dismayed when intolerable acts befall them. I think this society as a whole thinks its better than everyone else because of its material possessions. And I think that's wrong.
This kind of thing sends chills down my spine. As long as we (Americans) have laws on the books and
