By Jenn Bowman
(Editor’s Note: Teacher Lyndsey Schlax of the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts (Asawa SOTA) launched the nation’s first on-site high school LGBTQ course in 2015. She continues to teach LGBTQ Studies, a subject that is now also being taught at Mission High School by Jenn Bowman. In this column, Bowman’s students share their thoughts about LGBTQ-related matters, including their concerns, what they have learned in class and more.)
Two Spirit
Marvin, 11th Grade
I was born and raised in the colonized and predominantly Catholic country of Honduras. When I was born, I was given the gender of ‘boy’. When I was little, people dressed me the color blue because that is the color that makes “boys” stronger and more masculine. I didn’t have any choice in getting the gender of ‘boy’ assigned to me. It was just the way it was.
As I was growing up, I knew in my heart that I was two spirit, but I didn’t have a name yet for the way in which I experienced my gender and sexuality. (Two spirits are people in many American indigenous societies who embody both the male and the female.) I was severely bullied from the time I was one to fifteen years old because people thought that being gay was bad. My father also bullied me and justified his abuse with his belief that, “God created men and women to be together.”
While I lived in Honduras, I was always scared because LGBTQ+ people who live there basically have no rights. When I moved to this country in 2012 to live with my mother, I was still scared because I feared that my mother was going to think the same way that my dad does about people whose genders do not conform. Thankfully, this was not the case. My mom turned out to be very supportive, loving and open-minded. She once told me, “I love you no matter what. Even if others attack you for who you are attracted to, I respect you.” Those were the sweetest words I ever heard in my life, because all I had heard before were homophobic words.
I am currently 17 and I have been decolonizing my mind and my soul since I was 16. All my life, western society has taught us that love “should be between a man and a woman” and that “gender is being a ‘girl’ or a ‘boy’. However, that is not the case for me. I am Native American and I know now that many native tribes do not demand the gender binary that the Europeans brought. Negative terms and beliefs were forced onto our people. I identify myself as a two spirit, and to me that is a very important because we are the natives of these lands and we need to reclaim the fact that we are sacred; we are two and that they should be proud of this.
I think back to the way that my father treated me and I understand that he was enforcing the gender binary that the Europeans brought to the Americas. I do not want to blame him for something he had to been forced to learn. Indigenous people have been living through 500+ years of colonialism, and we all experience the negative impact of these ideas.
Most schools teach about boys and girls, but they forget that we sacred people who embody more than one gender are still here. That hurts a lot of students because colonized people internalize the gender binary, and they also teach that to their kids. So for us to advance, we need to start to reclaim our roots so we can live in a world where everyone is accepted. I embody my strength as a two spirit by wearing whatever I want to in order to express my true self. I don’t pay attention to the negative comments people might say about me.
Today in our LGBTQ+ class at Mission High School, we saw a movie about the Hawaiian Kumu Hina, and they talked about what it is like to be in the middle as “trans” human beings. The movie began by describing the negative impact colonialism had on native people. After the movie, we looked at a map that showed the diversity of gender expression and identity around the world.
All students need to learn about cultures that don’t have the extreme gender binary of our own colonial culture. We cannot forget the other identities in the world. This ignorance hurts a lot of students because they internalize the gender binary, and they also teach that to their kids. For us to advance, we need to reclaim our roots so we can live in a world where everyone is accepted.
Love to SF and LGBTQ+ Studies
Angelina, 10th Grade
Gender expression, and playing with gender identity, is a beautiful thing because it allows us to show our unique true selves. I feel so lucky to live in San Francisco; here we have a variety of personalities, looks, and ways to love.
I never thought too much about gender identity until I came to this LGBTQ+ class. We started class by introducing ourselves by name and preferred gender pronouns. I first thought that this was silly, but now I understood that not everyone in the world identifies with the sex they were born into. Being able to say my preferred pronouns and being able to hear from others in the class makes me feel safe and comfortable in our class. We should be heard from the heart, rather than from what society proscribes for us.
Since taking this Gender Studies/LGBTQ+ class, I have looked much more deeply into my own sense self: considering who I am and where I want to be. This class has motivated me into doing things I’d never thought I’d ever do, like going to a protest for sexual and gender equality and writing an article for the San Francisco Bay Times.
Mission High School: https://mhs-sfusd-ca.schoolloop.com/
Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts: http://www.sfsota.org/
LGBTQ Scholarship Opportunities: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/52c7dc91e4b0c06fbd156f6b/t/53b63fb8e4b079c1947dbdfa/1404452792563/LGBTQ.pdf
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