chapter 22 as

When teaching, we often think of teaching acceptance as only thinking about race and gender. what we sometimes forget, though, is that homosexuals are disciminated against just as badly as people of another race. One thing that I heard from my kids in middle school over and over again was the phrase "that's gay." Everytime I heard one of them say it I would always comment to them that they shouldn't say stuff like that and it usually required a 5 minute explanation afterwards. For some reason, they have a hard time relating discrimination against people of another race to discrimination of homosexuals. When i press them on the issue, it generally always comes down to religious views being behind their feelings. This makes the topic even more difficult because now i am combatting their religion. Though I definately feel like the issue should be raised, I also feel that there is a point where I need to lay off a little bit so as to not belittle their religion. I think the best thing we, as teachers, can do is present real life examples of how homosexuals are discriminated and get them to feel some empathy for them.