§

   

No Underpants    

ykes who came out as
long ago as I did have
hit “mental-pause.”

We’re at that age when we
need our photo albums and T-
shirt collections from
women’s music festivals,
pride marches, and kd lang
concerts, to remember when

we had which girlfriend, _and 8

how rebellious we were run-
ning around in That Haircut.
We may forget why we just
walked into this room, but we
all remember coming out.

To this day, folks con-
tinue to come out, thank
God(dess). Young people are

No matter how
out and proud

gay kids might

be, their families
still kick them
out, classmates
shun them and
teachers don’t

understand.

l

discovering their sexual ori-
entation and getting out of the
closet quicker and more
gracefully than ever before.
But even though more high
schoolers and college kids are
out and proud — and sport
wilder hairstyles — they still
look to those of us whom the
National Organization for
Women once labeled the
Lavender Menace.

Young queers get per-
spective from us lesbians who
lived through Anita Bryant’s
campaign to Save Our
Children. (but only led to
Anita’s public humiliation
when her own son came out
as a Big Fag.) Gay people
have always known it’s up to
us to save our children. That’s
why we reach out to young
people — and I’m notjust
talking about the miniature ‘
softball glove you’re bringing
to that dyke baby shower. The
new crop of teens and young
adults coming to terms with
who they are need cross-gen-
eration allies.

it’s not like homopho-
bia died. No matter how out
and proud gay kids might be,
their families still kick them

 

out, classmates shun them
and teachers don’t under-

stand. “That’s so gay” is still
the big insult on campus
(that’s so BIGOTED!) Even
in today’s hip and stylin’
scene, blatant, lip-locking les-
bos like the cute Russian duo
t.A.T.u. have to play coy with
the press. That’s why we still
need Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans,
Intersex, Queer and
Questioning guest panels in
high school and college class-
rooms.

When I was a 70s
college student, our women’s
health class brought in gay
people as guest speakers. The
week before, we’d seen a
woman lift her skirt, (hairy
legs and no underpants!)
insert a speculum and show
us her cervix. That was a
great opening act, so to
speak.

The next week a ,
woman and two men came
into our class, sat in front of
us impressionable young
things and talked about what
it was like to be gay. That
was the first lesbian-I-knew- ‘
was-a-lesbian I ever saw,
unless you count Miss

0 Hathaway who I always sus-

pected would have been hap-
pier skinny-dipping in the
cee-ment pond with Ellie
Mae. _

But a real live flesh-
and-blood woman in a for-
credit college classroom said,
‘.‘My name is Harriet and I’m
a lesbian.” She was no suici-
dal pulp fiction character or
deviant prison matron in
some shady film noir. Harriet
was calm, and happy and,
well, gay. That experience
was a major turning point in
my life. Not that the panel
was recruiting. But sitting
across from an honest-to-I
goodness lesbian who was
fine with her identity inspired
me to explore that aspect of
myself. Maybe it would be
OK for me to be one.

Now .I’m a college
instructor — which I think is

hysterical because I feel like I
still am the Youth of America.
But it’s my turn to invite
LGBTIQ panelists to tell their
stories in the classes I teach. I
am amazed at how many of
my college students are as ill-
informed as I was back before
I took that fateful cervix- and
sexuality-revealing class —
until I have the LGBTIQ
panel come in.

It’s fiin to bring in my
own friends for that much-
needed historical perspective,
which many people my age
can actually remember. I also

V like to bring in teens and
' young adults who, as we
knew when we were budding '

homos and homettes our-

5 selves, have a lot to teach

everyone.

M Last week my guest
panel comprised four bright-
_eyed high schoolers from the
local LGBTIQ Student
Alliance, all gelled, pierced,
and ‘blasted (their jeans, not
their brain cells). They sat
there in front of my class and
talked about what it’s like to
be young and queer today.

The class got to hear
firsthand how hard it can be
to come out, even — or espe-
cially — these days. They
graspedwhat a big deal it is
for gay kids to be themselves
and speak out in their
schools. The LGBTIQ youth
panelists also got some of my
students to question them-
selves, to wonder whether

they might be “that way,” too. ,

Shock and awe. v
_ My students were
cool, though. They showed
respect and didn’t freak out,
even if sitting in the room

with a bunch of queers my

have been scarier than han-
dling maggots on Fear
Factor In fact, they were so
open minded that next week
my invited guest panelist will
be a hairy-legged speculum-
wielding woman with no
underpants. ’v

Sally Sheklow teaches at
Portland State University and
performs with WYMPROV/,
Oregon ’s award—winning all-
lesbian comedy improv

troupe. Comments can be sent \

to sal l y@wymprov. com.

 

 

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