Talking Points #3

“Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community” by Dennis Carlson

Premise:
Gayness
Discrimination
Confusion
Sadness
Anger
Fear
“normal” vs. “abnormal”
Difference

Author’s Argument:
Carlson argues that gay teachers and students in the school community are “silenced” and discriminated against.

Evidence:
1.) “It no doubt drives many good teachers out of the profession, and it furthers the alienation of gay youth who remain in school.”
2.) “Abuses get tolerated because gay teachers and students operate in an environment where they feel afraid to stand up for themselves, and because any discussion of gay people continues to be absent in the curriculum so that homophobia is not interrogated.”
3.) Throughout this century, one of the primary means of ensuring that gayness was an invisible presence in the school was through the dismissal of teachers who were found out to be homosexuals.”

Questions/ Comments/Points to Share:
I found this article to be very interesting. It raised a lot of important issues that seem to be overlooked in society in our days. I do not agree with a lot of the things that were said/done in this article towards the homosexual society, especially the things Willard Waller said in his book “The Sociology of Teaching” and how homosexuals should not be able to teach. Carlson has a lot of good points that seem to counter attack what is negatively said about homosexuals, which I enjoyed reading. Overall, I liked this article and it gave me a different outlook on what it’s like looking through someone else’s eyes.