First, I’m not going to reprise what Jeff said. I caught his homophobic rant on yesterday’s feeds. If you’re interested in learning more about his exchange with Kalia, perform a simple Google search.
I obviously dislike what Jeff said and think he’s utterly misguided. I also recognize that roughly half the people in the US share his opinion, because we are all products of various institutions that systematically deny the positive contributions of gays and lesbians. In other words, Jeff–like most people–is programmed to think this way. I’m more angry at the medical and psychiatric communities that, for decades, considered homosexuality a disease in need of a cure; and educational systems that continues to strategically omit the contributions of gay and lesbian people; and legal and legislative institutions that still do not consider gay and lesbian people to be full citizens. It looks like homophobia is an ongoing issue with Jeff. From what I’ve heard, he said a few homophobic things S11, indicating that his disregard and fear of gay people is, at least, somewhat habitual. I hope that he and others involved in this debate will realize that his words are not a reflection of whether or not Jeff is a “good” or “bad” person, and take this as an opportunity to think about the social practices, policies, and institutions that produce people with Jeff’s mindset.
On the flip, I know what it’s like to say something in the BB house and have people bend my words and take them totally out of context. The only difference I see is that my big controversial moment of S12 was intended to be a joke and Jeff wasn’t kidding around. He said what he said with passion and conviction, and even discredited Kalia, whose sister is a lesbian, when she tried to correct him. I’m happy people are discussing how Jeff’s words perpetuate false myths about gay men. For the record,
90% of child molesters are STRAIGHT, WHITE MEN. Additionally,
study after
study after
study prove that teaching gay themes in school helps children have healthier attitudes about gender, sex, and sexual identity. The emergent question I see/hear is, “Why would a gay teacher–even a fictional one in the Harry Potter books–have to bring up his sexuality in the classroom?” This line-of-thought implies that sexuality is only relevant when it deviates from the norm. We live in a culture where heterosexuality and whiteness are constructed as absence of sexuality and race. In other words, we are trained to only recognize sexuality as sexuality or EXCESSIVELY sexual when it’s NOT heterosexuality. Certainly, heterosexual teachers talk about their engagements, spouses, weddings, anniversaries, and family structures on a daily basis. Most of my heterosexual teachers had pictures of their partners on their school desks. Additionally, all students in my school learned about the graphic (e.g., exact mechanics of heterosexual sex), sometimes violent (e.g., detailed accounts of heterosexual rape) characteristics of heterosexuality in Health class. The greater philosophical question is NOT whether or not gay teachers should bring up their sexuality in the class room. The real question is two-fold: First, why DON’T we recognize heterosexuality AS sexuality in the classroom? Second, why do we strategically erase the positive contributions of gays and lesbians in history books and in literature? Gay people are no more “viral” than, say, black men and women. Children don’t become gay by being taught the FULL story of history and literature, just as teaching black-inclusive history and literature doesn’t change the melanin in a child’s skin. Acting as if gay people don’t exist won’t make gay people disappear, even if you’re Harry Potter and holding a book of spells.
Before people grab pitchforks, give Jeff an opportunity to defend himself. I think Jeff is a guy with a few f’d-up thoughts about gay men and women but is, at his core, a good, friendly guy. Everyone, breathe. Jeff is not the problem. The cultural institutions that inform his mindset are what we should fear and fight.