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Sexuality: Unacceptable
 In February 2008, 15 year old Lawrence "Larry" King was shot at his middle school in Oxnard, California. Larry was bullied at school for being openly gay and also gender non-conforming -- he wore women's clothing and make-up on occasion -- and it is thought that his identity provoked another student to kill him. Youth Radio's Anne Santos reminds us that it wasn't just Larry King's life that was affected by violent homophobia. Here's her own story of when she was assaulted for being gay, and how her family still feels the trauma.
Click here to find the full script and audio for this story.
Teach Youth Radio
For this month's feature, you will be able to view these strategies and resources:
1. How teachers can align this Youth Radio story to National Standards in the classroom.
2. Suggestions for lesson plans that link the story's content to your classroom's themes and subject areas.
3. Suggestions for lesson plans that explore media literacy, using the story to re-read mainstream media.
4. Bios of the Youth Radio reporters who produced the story.
5. A list of resources and further research related to the story's themes.
6. Links to Youth Radio’s media production techniques as guides and inspiration for your students’ creative media-making projects.
1. NATIONAL STANDARDS: Standards Alignment
Subject: LANGUAGE ARTS
NL-ENG.K-12.1 READING FOR PERSPECTIVE
NL-ENG.K-12.3 EVALUATION STRATEGIES
NL-ENG.K-12.4 COMMUNICATION SKILLS
NL-ENG.K-12.5 COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES
NL-ENG.K-12.6 APPLYING KNOWLEDGE
NL-ENG.K-12.7 EVALUATING DATA
NL-ENG.K-12.8 DEVELOPING RESEARCH SKILLS
NL-ENG.K-12.11 PARTICIPATING IN SOCIETY
NL-ENG.K-12.12 APPLYING LANGUAGE SKILLS
Subject: HEALTH
NPH-H.9-12.1 HEALTH PROMOTION AND DISEASE PREVENTION
NPH-H.9-12.2 HEALTH INFORMATION, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
NPH-H.9-12.3 REDUCING HEALTH RISKS
NPH-H.9-12.4 INFLUENCES ON HEALTH
NPH-H.9-12.7 HEALTH ADVOCACY
Subject: CIVICS
NSS-C.9-12.4 OTHER NATIONS AND WORLD AFFAIRS
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2. NEWS YOU CAN USE: Story content in your classroom, Suggestions for lesson plans
Pre-Listening Activity
Recognizing violence: Before students listen to this powerful piece, have them write the word “violence” in the middle of a piece of paper and circle it. Next have them draw a bigger circle around that. Have students brainstorm what this word means to them. In the second circle have them think about how violence affects their personal lives. They can write names of people, short phrases, etc. Outside of the circle have them reflect on how violence affects their world and how violence is portrayed in the media.
Language Arts:
A tale of two cities: In Sacramento, Anne says even her safe zone, the Rainbow Triangle, was not safe: “Gay bashers would walk by and bang on the windows, yelling slurs, and they even went as far as to break into a bunch of cars parked at a gay club.” She further explains, “Moving to Los Angeles was definitely the right decision. I feel that people are more accepting here of who I am.” This acceptance translates into a feeling of safety. How accepted do your students feel in your town, and in other places where they’ve traveled? What are some of the indicators that a town—or even a block or neighborhood within it—is accepting or not accepting, safe or unsafe?
Days we can’t forget: Anne says her attack happened on Mother’s Day: “I had just gotten off of work when two guys started yelling homophobic insults at me. I drove to the cemetery where my father is buried…” The assault took place on an unforgettable day at an unforgettable place. Have students free-write about times and places in their own lives that hold really strong memories, and about what happens when those associations radically change (they can explore this topic through fiction or non-fiction).
Family voices: Anne’s mom’s response to the attack was: “I want to kill them for what they did to you.” Her sister’s response was: “I tried talking to you but you weren’t talking. Then I started getting mad because you weren’t answering me.” Anne’s response to the police examination was: “I felt violated and I got pissed off.” Students can reflect on an experience that deeply affected their lives. Have them interview parents/guardians, siblings, and friends, just as Anne did. See Youth Radio’s interview tips at: Drop That Knowledge What perspectives did they hear? How and why did those perspectives differ from your students’ own personal experience? How did the involvement of others intensify the original experience?
Health:
Not at home: Sometimes youth want to move out of their homes. Others live away from home, but it is not their personal choice. In Anne’s case, she did not want to leave her family but was seeking a more accepting environment. Now Anne does not live with her Mom and her sister. Can any students relate to this sense of displacement? What is it like to live away from one’s family? Have any students ever wanted to run away? What safety are they seeking?
No fear: Anne describes Larry King as a young man who “wasn’t afraid to be who he was.” Have students read this article in the New York Times to learn more about King, his community, and the circumstances of his death: Boy’s Killing, Labeled a Hate Crime, Stuns a Town. The article quotes one of King’s classmates making a similar observation to Anne’s: “They teased him because hew as different…but he wasn’t afraid to show himself.” What is the fear that many youth face in wanting to conform? How does peer pressure play a role in the lives of adolescents? Audre Lorde, a black feminist lesbian writer, wrote in Transformation of Silence, “And that visibility which makes us most vulnerable is also the source of our greatest strength.” What does this quote mean to students? How can conformity mean subscribing to values that one does not necessarily agree with? Can conforming to some degree keep one safe?
Can conforming create danger?
Mother’s love: It is a typical feeling to want to harm someone who has harmed someone you love. This situation happened on Mother’s Day. Anne’s mother says she responded to her daughter’s violent experience with a feeling of wanting to kill the people who hurt her daughter. Have students been in similar situations, wanting to retaliate? What are tactics one can use to de-escalate violence? Have your students research resources in their community to deal with violence once it’s occurred.
Support system: Anne says, “…my whole family showed support for my mom, sister and me.” Why is this so important during times of stress and pain?
Power in language: The usage of the word “gay” as a negative word is hurtful and discriminatory. How is this similar to racist and sexist epithets? Students can create a list of different terms based on race, class, gender, sexuality and decide who is in power when the word is used and who is disempowered. How does your class move toward using language that is inclusive of all people?
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Social Studies:
In the news: Anne was inspired to share her story when she heard the news about Lawrence King. Students can find news articles and make them more personal by sharing a related event. Have students search for a news article about a topic of interest and write about how it relates to them, using Anne’s commentary as a model.
Homophobia: Often violence is enacted out of fear, ignorance, and control. Why are people afraid of homosexuality? What is the history of the pink triangle? Where did the rainbow flag originate? Who are some famous people from throughout history who are or have been gay? What does LGBTQ stand for? What is PFLAG? Have your students research the Stonewall uprising in New York City, 1969. What conditions were in place at that historic moment that supported the formation of a social movement supporting gay rights? What role did young people play then, and what role do they play now in LBGTQ politics in the United States?
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3. CRITICAL MEDIA LITERACY: Putting This Story in Context
Personal accounts of violence: Anne describes her encounter with the police in the hospital. “One officer was telling my family to ‘roll up her shirt’ so they could take pictures of the bruises. ‘Roll up her pant leg’ so they could take pictures of my ankles. ‘Let me take pictures of her face.’ It made me feel like I was one of the victims on TV, like on CSI when you see police taking crime scene pictures. And so I felt violated and I got pissed off.” What does using the pronoun “her” do to give an impersonal feel to police dialogue? How would your students re-script the dialogue in ways that would be more humanizing for those who’ve survived a violent event?
Dealing with “isms”: What do students make of bell hooks’ description of the United States as a capitalist white supremacist patriarchal heterosexist imperialist country? What do those terms mean? Students can find news articles or other Youth Radio pieces that show examples of how each “ism” manifests. Students can also create their own terms and definitions based on their own worldviews, which speak to particular types of discrimination they face. They can find examples to illustrate those concepts. How does their definition compare to bell hooks’ description.
Heterosexism: What is the difference between the concepts of “homophobia” and “heterosexism”? What are some examples in popular culture that privilege a heterosexist worldview?
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4. MEET THE COMMENTATOR
Anne is 21 years old and lives in Glendale, California. She was born in Manila, Philippines and moved to Los Angeles when she was 2. When she was 8, she moved with her family to Sacramento. She has two dogs. Anne attended CSU Sacramento for two and a half years, and now hopes to attend CSU LA and pursue a writing career in either film or music and get a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts.
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5. RESOURCES AND RESEARCH
• Oxnard school shooting called a hate crime (www.latimes.com)
• Plannedparenthood.org
• Slain teen remembered as fun, quirky at Rainbow Alliance candlelight vigil
• Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society: 69 finding aids
• Research: Archives and Manuscript Collections
• Parents, Families and friends of Lesbians and Gays
• The Audre Lorde Project Inc.
• www.allaboutbell.com/
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6. MEDIA PRODUCTION FOR LEARNING: Making Audio Narratives
Click here to link to Youth Radio's guidelines for conducting interviews, writing commentaries, and producing features.
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