Brooke Hauser of The Boston Globe has an in-depth feature story on the high school journalists in Amherst who exposed three transphobic middle school counselors whose idea of support was to pepper trans students with their fundamentalist religious beliefs. As Hauser writes:
The events have shocked and shaken this college town — long considered an LGBTQ-friendly, liberal enclave — at a time when trans rights are under attack across the country. And the picture that continues to emerge is a complicated one, layering issues of gender, religion, and race and forcing a community to reckon with itself.
Back in mid-May I wrote about the 16 students who produced a 4,800-word story for their student publication, The Graphic, overseen by their English teacher, Sara Barber-Just. They did great work, and it’s good to see them continue to be recognized for their efforts.
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I made a couple of comments on this article, pointing out that I was in middle school in the mid 1950s. I had a great time. My childhood was fun. I was a naughty boy and enjoyed being so. Bust I had a gay cousin. His childhood was nightmarish. There was no understanding, nowhere he could turn for help except to his friends–gay and straight–and relatives…but not all his relatives. His father vowed to beat the gayness out of him.
He moved out on his own at an early age. Struggled. His life could have been so much more productive and happy.
His life was not long. It was hard to watch him die. I delivered a eulogy at his funeral…looking his father, straight in the eye.
What was said under the breath by many then is now performed, public, political speech…and hateful.