As Students Shed Stereotypes, They Embrace Diversity

October 28, 2002 by Nancy Otto and Debra Chasnoff, San Jose Mercury News

INTOLERANCE and ignorance led to the senseless murder of Gwen Araujo, and we have now discovered that this same intolerance led to her abandoning her studies at Newark Memorial High School.

As activists involved in safe-schools training and anti-bias work in the schools, we fervently hope that the life and murder of Gwen will serve as a tragic reminder of why anti-bias education is the key to violence prevention. It's a fundamental survival issue.

What caused such hatred and violence that led to Gwen's murder? Did young men feel attracted to Gwen and therefore confused about their own sexual orientation when they discovered she was biologically a boy? Did they then believe they had to prove they were ``straight'' by killing her?

We may never know the real reason why Gwen Araujo was murdered. But what we do know is that too many young people have been harassed or violently attacked because of how others react to their real or perceived sexual orientation, or because they don't conform to strict gender roles. And the vast majority of the assailants are other young people, mostly young males.

That's why we strongly believe institutions that work with children and teens must take a pro-active role in teaching a healthy respect for differences of all kinds, including differences in sexual orientation and gender identity. This kind of anti-bias education is not a luxury or a special-interest agenda, and not tangential to academic success. It is a fundamental survival issue, a health issue and the key to violence prevention. And it is essential for learning to take place.
There are many age-appropriate, sensitive ways that institutions can weave these issues into existing curricula or programs. In fact, state law, under California Education Code Section 200, requires schools to protect students from harassment and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

In elementary school, we must support kids whose appearance, behavior and identity don't conform to gender stereotypes; in middle school, build community so that bullying and name-calling seem ridiculous rather than a rite of passage; and in high school, require all students to take classes that debunk stereotypes of all kinds.

Young people are capable of having intelligent dialogue about these complex issues; they need to get their questions answered, their misinformation addressed, their fears allayed. But it's up to the adults in charge to offer leadership, to take the initiative to include these topics whenever the topic of differences arises.

In an effort to keep students safe, we have seen schools adopt zero tolerance policies and all sorts of strict disciplinary procedures. But cracking down only goes so far. It doesn't change attitudes or create welcoming, safe communities. Pro-active efforts to understand and discuss differences of all kinds do.
The adults who run our educational institutions, our churches, mosques and synagogues, our after-school and sports programs and, most importantly, our dinner conversations at home can do much more. Young people, including those who murdered Gwen Araujo, need an opportunity to learn that transgendered individuals are not a betrayal, not a threat, not to be feared, and certainly, not to be killed. Instead, they should be embraced like all members of our communities.

Nancy Otto directs the Howard A. Friedman Education Project for the ACLU of Northern California and has trained over 3,000 faculty and staff about preventing harassment at school. Filmmaker Debra Chasnoff (``It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School'' and ``That's a Family!'') is working on films about bullying and stereotypes for Women's Educational Media's teacher training and media project, Respect for All.