Dear Safe Schools members and friends ...

Student's Column, Anchorage Daily News

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Student's Column - "Gay people deserve polite treatment -- Students must learn to accept peoples' differences"

Anchorage Daily News, Jan 12, 2001
I am a 16-year-old girl at Service High. I do, however, have a girlfriend. I have noticed at this school that having a relationship with someone of the same sex is unacceptable to many students, and I have a problem with that. Being upset with someone because of the gender of who they love does not make any sense. As long as I am happy, why does it matter to anyone else? I have been pondering ways that people who are opposed to same-sex relationships could go through their days here without hurting anyone because of that person's sexual orientation:If people have a problem with others because of their sexual orientation, just leave them alone. Gay people are not threatening - we don't purposefully hit on straight people. There is no difference in having someone of the same sex hitting on you than someone of the opposite sex who you do not like hitting on you. Please calm down if this ever happens.

Violence is never the answer to any problem.
Try to avoid homophobic, slanderous comments that hurt others' feelings.
Try to avoid saying that things are "gay." The literal definition of the word means happy, and when you say that something is "gay," you are implying that it is bad.

Don't suggest that someone is gay based solely on his or her clothing. If you tell someone who is not gay that they are, they might begin to have problems with people who actually are gay, thus creating more people who are a potential threat to us.

If you can bring yourself to do it, have a conversation about being gay with someone who is; don't mock or call them names, and do it in a diplomatic manner. A conversation that is constructive and helpful will help keep people like me from feeling so hated.

My sexual orientation is not what defines who I am. I could be just like 50 other students here. I could be just like your big sister or your best friend, except for that one little detail.

The reason I felt the need to write this article is because while walking out of class one day, I was hit in the face and called a derogatory name, then laughed at by the rest of the people in the hallway. A security guard offered to start walking me to class between the hours of school where most of my problems occurred.

I am no longer being walked to class, and I am on my own. I am still getting called names just for trying to get an education. People need to realize that there are gay students at Service. Some you know about, but some you would never guess, and that is why slanderous, homophobic comments shouldn't be made. I will never tell people that they have to be nice, but I do think that they shouldn't be mean. Nobody deserves the treatment I and many others have received. Those who take part in this sort of demeaning behavior should stop immediately and think about how they would feel if the tables were turned.
Kat Cortez is a junior at Service High.

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