Gay students can feel excluded in classroom
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (U-WIRE) — Rachel Mutter-Leonard hears her students tease one another and joke around as most children do. But when they say things like “this is so gay,” or use words like “faggot,” she doesn’t sit back like some teachers might. She tells them why the words are inappropriate.

Leonard, who has identified as a lesbian for a year now, is a senior and practicing student teacher in Syracuse University’s education program.

The classroom is a place where she can teach open-mindedness and acceptance of diversity, but it can also be a place where she and other gay and lesbian students are silenced, she said.

Addressing the issues with her students is not always easy. Leonard has not come out in her classroom, but assumes her students know she is a lesbian.

Margaret Himley, director of the writing department at Syracuse University, has witnessed the discomfort of many gay and lesbian students in the classroom. Often, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students get left out of classroom conversations because of the heterosexual focus.

These actions automatically place an assumed heterosexuality on the entire class and leave gay and lesbian students “marked by silence,” Himley said, adding that part of the problem is that “gay bashing” is still accepted by many people.

Himley said when gay and lesbian students cannot speak of their experiences freely in the classroom, it affects their academic experience.

— Daily Orange

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