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 The freshman class and members of the Gay Straight Alliance
at Arlington High School gathered in Lowe Auditorium to listen to guest speakers who had
been invited by Abbi Holt, the head of the GSA. The purpose of this
assembly was to raise the awareness of people in the community around
us. Segregation occurs everyday; the speakers showed the audience that
they were the same as any average person living in the community. While this event occurred last
November, its messages remain current.
This story was written by
Grace Tinsley, an Arlington High School senior.
This assembly began with a story from a senior, Arlington High
School student Josh Bell, who shared with the audience that he had been
discriminated against for being gay. He was not specific about what
exactly happened to him, but he said that the school's advisers were
very supportive of him.
Miranda Forman and Emily Allen then took the stand and played the
"stand up-sit down game." In this game, they would say things like,
"Stand up if you have a cell phone." Then they asked other
questions, such as, "Stand up if you like the Red Sox." Soon enough,
they asked more personal questions: "Stand up if
you know someone that is gay." Or, "Stand up if one of your friends is
gay." At this point, people at the assembly began to think about what
it was like to be gay, lesbian, etc.,
in our community.
The first speaker was not hesitant at all to stand in front of this
large group of people to tell about her life. Alyssa Marino called
herself a "Latino trite, or transsexual dike." Ms. Marino said she came out to
her mother at the age of 8, to her brother at
18 and to her father the next year. She said that her actual
transition stage was at age 24, when she was going to Worcester
Polytechnic Institute, majoring in civil engineering.
She was very active in the theater community; she acted did set
design, produced, and directed most of the plays. However, she did
start to feel uncomfortable when someone in the theater group asked her
accusingly if she used to be a male and had gotten a sex change.
The
director of the program helped her in this time of difficulty, she said. She said he
threatened the students involved that if this segregation occurred
again, they would be kicked out of the drama department for good.
Alyssa ended her story with words of advice for the whole auditorium.
"What you say can really hurt someone. Always be honest; always be
careful with what you say."
Next, Henri McGill spoke, introduced by an AHS
student. This man began, "I am a straight, white male;
kind of weird that I am here, right?" People in the audience started to
wonder until he informed them that he was a transgender; he had been
born a female and had a sex change.
Henri said he knew he was
different at age 6, "Mom," he said. "I think God hates me."
This is when he told his mother that he was actually a boy. At this
point, however, she jut brushed it off, and it was not discussed
again for 20 years. In high school, when he was still female, every one knew he was
different, he said. His fellow students gave
him the nickname Pat from a "Saturday Night Live" skit; Pat was not known
to be a boy or a girl. "I was like Las Vegas in the middle of the
desert," he said.
While he was a sophomore at Regis College, he "found God at the
Arlington Street Church." One sermon there addressed the
transgender population, and at this point, he knew that's where he fit
in. After having been made fun of all through high school, he ended his
speech with strong words, "Language is powerful."
Chuck Conley lived in Ohio and went to a high school with 500
students. Between the ages 12 and 13, he found out he was gay, and he
never met another gay peer during his childhood in Ohio. "I was
terrified," he said. "Suddenly, I was a monster." This was the mid-1960s, and he had no one to look up to, no role models.
Whenever any of his peers called him queer or a homo, he "felt like
[he] was being punched in the stomach. [He] thought he was evil."
Since he had no one to talk to, he became very isolated, hated his
life, and started to have thoughts of suicide. "I was living in total
secret," Chuck said as he looked back on his life in resent.
At the age of 16, he met a gay 21-year-old law student. He
immediately had a crush on him and ran away from home. "It is
fundamental to be with people 'like you'; it is simple psychology. This
biggest thing in life: what people need is someone to talk to; a
trusted person to talk to." Education is the most important tool to
learn how to accept people for who they are.
The last guest speaker of the Day of Dialogue was Sara Rattigan, an
AHS alumni. She was a straight African-American
woman. When she attended AHS, it was not a welcoming place for people
who were not straight. She witnessed a lot of discrimination and
violence. The reason she came to AHS, however, was to share a positive
experience with these new freshman.
In June 2006, she attended a legal same-sex marriage of her best
friend. "It was the most picturesque wedding I have ever seen," she
said. At first, Sara said she was scared of what her friend's father would
think, since he was not supportive of her at all. To her surprise,
however, he was the one that walked Sara's friend down the aisle and he
looked very pleased. "This shouldn't be a big deal. I loved living in a
state where when I am introduced to someone who is married, I cannot
assume they are married to the opposite sex," Sara said, beaming.
Overall, this audience is a great experience for the incoming
freshman. It gives them a step up in real life; they start to
understand that there is no 'normal' and that everyone is different.
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