My favorite article

One article (from last year) of mine:
Love,

Liv

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." (Martin Luther King Jr.)

School Board candidate sees diverse road ahead for MCCSC
by Ana Livia Coelho

(Click here if you wanna read this article in the School of Journalism website)

Imagine asking your six-year-old child to draw a picture of a family and getting a drawing of a mom, her female partner and an adopted child. Then imagine discovering that your child in middle-school was able to check out books about sexual orientation confidentially from the school library.

If you are socially conservative, these may sound like unacceptable and even frightening situations.

However, according to Monroe County School Board candidate Geoffrey McKim, it is important to send the message – starting in elementary schools – that all types of families are valued, and to provide resources and support in schools for students to understand and deal with sexual orientation issues.

The School Board’s task is to set the overall policies for the schools, which, according to McKim, should ensure GLBT students are protected and their rights and safety are respected. He believes that should guarantee confidentiality in school libraries and Internet access points. Some schools are considering using filters on computers that screen out content about gender identity or sexual orientation.

“Somebody’s sexual identity is an important part of oneself,” he said, “It’s important that the schools allow that kind of age appropriate material both in the library and the Internet,”

According to McKim a curriculum reflecting a full diversity of families would be positive for students, especially if it started in elementary school. He believes all kinds of non-traditional families must be portrayed and valued, such as blended families, parents with adopted children or single parents.

For IU Second Education student Alex Simmons, a member of the GLBT community, what convinced her to vote for McKim were his views about GLBT rights in Monroe County schools, based on his answers to the Beacon/Bloomington PFLAG 2006 Candidate Questionnaire Results. This questionnaire had some candidates from Monroe county answering questions and expressing their ideas about GLBT rights.

“I like the fact that McKim supports having resources available about sexual orientation in schools in an age appropriate way,” she said.

McKim explained how he thinks Monroe County schools are far ahead of others, with counselors trained on dealing with prejudice regarding GLBT students.

However, if elected, he said that one of the policies he would set would be that any kind of harassment based on sexual orientation would be completely unacceptable in schools. McKim also explained that he would like to see teachers and school administrators being more proactive when dealing with bullying between the students.

“Not just reacting when parents complain, but recognizing it at the earliest possible point,” he said.

Maybe we are still far from having young kids able to see a traditional family the same way they see ones with two “moms” or “dads”. However McKim reminds that similar leaps in consciousness occurred as a result of the Civil Rights Movement. So, it is not hard to believe that in five to ten years GLBT issues – in schools and beyond – will have progressed and that even the marriage distinction won’t make a difference anymore.

“I do believe in my lifetime a lot of old distinctions will be erased,” he said.