Alright, I would love some help. I am doing a presentation in school and I want it to be about Homophobia and Transphobia (although, if I am being honest, I don't believe people are actually scared.. they're just being assholes. pardon my french). I am going to talk to my school principal and ask if I can talk about safe sex between same sex couples and how to respond if someone you know comes out to you. I want to touch on the topics of romantic and sexual orientation.And I would like to talk about transexual people and how they receive lots of hate too. I am going to have to stand in fronnt opf the class and present this presentation. And the teacher is telling me that it would be a good idea to make the presentation interactive. Does anyone have any ideas on what I can talk about or how I can make it interactive or ? I would love any suggestions, comments, and support. & links to sites with information and facts would be really appreciated.
That's great! I talked about trans* issues twice this year in class, and it was awesome. I'm also working on a project on LGBTphobia right now. It's been very rewarding. I don't know if people will be very interested when you talk about safer sex, because I assume most of your audience will not be concerned by sex between two people of the same sex (those who are, though, will certainly benefit from it). But talking about how they (your audience) can react to someone coming out, clarifying the different kinds of orientation, and talking about trans people are definitely all good ideas. Stuff to mention also include the bigger rates of suicide attempts among LGBT youth (you'll find date with Google). To make it interactive... I have a few ideas. 1) This might not be doable where you live and you'd need to ask permission first, but I know it's been done in schools here, but to address homophobia and transphobia you can start by asking your classmates/audience to list all the homophobic, biphobic and transphobic insults. Write them on the board. It can be very painful to hear, and many people won't be comfortable saying them in front of a large group, but it's a very efficient start and will definitely get people listening (and thinking about it!). Then, once you've got a good list, analyze each one, talk about where it comes from and why it's degrading/hurtful/shouldn't be used. Be sure to say they hurt even if they're not actually aimed at a gay person. 2) Start by talking about discrimination in general, and asking your classmates to list -isms (racism, sexism, ableism). Define what discrimination is, why it's harmful, and from there lead on to your specific topic: homophobia and transphobia. 3) Ask them if they've ever seen a homophobic or transphobic act, or heard words. 4) Pick someone and ask them what they would do/say/think if their friend came out as (insert your choice here). 5) Ask them to list stereotypes or clichés they've heard or have about LGBT people (the effeminate gay man who loves shopping and fashion, the butch lesbian who wants to move in together after three dates, the bisexual who can't choose, etc). Then deconstruct them. 6) Ask them to raise their hand if they know someone who's LGBT (a friend, a family member...). Then ask them to raise their hand if they think they're well-informed about the struggles the LGBT community faces. How long can this preentation be? When do you have to present it? Do you have an outline and "transitions" to lead into the diferent topics, or is it still kind of vague to you? Are you out and/or is the topic safe to discuss? I imagine in some places it could lead to some backlash for you from your classmates.
I would say some people are genuinely scared of gay people. Not all of them are assholes, but yes you will run into plenty of those. First of all you are covering a lot of topics. Same-sex sex is a BIG topic with many complexities. Romantic and sexual orientation are also big topics as well. Transgender people are whole category as well. I would narrow your topic down further, a presentation only grants so much time to talk. You could just do a simple LGBT 101 which outlines and defines terms like lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual. One activity a friend of mine does when he does a yearly presentation at the university is have a slide show that has pictures of everyday people. Go through them and ask the class "is this person gay or straight?". Some of the pictures should depict the stereotypes while others do not. The end he always says all of these people are gay. The point being we cannot use appearance alone to tell if someone is gay or not. It also highlights the invisibility a lot of gay people experience which makes things difficult. When our university group did a trans 101 we did our presentation, had a snack break and allowed people to ask questions anonymously but putting them in a question box. Not sure how much time you have to work with but a question box is a good idea if people have questions but are too scared to ask. There is a great youtube video about what the world would be like if gay people were the norm and being straight was taboo. Warning- it shows blood near the end. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnOJgDW0gPI
We always did this with our presentations and it was worthwhile. If I'm remembering correctly, we usually did it near the beginning and used the questions to customize our talk.
Oh god I couldn't even imagine how that would go down in my conservative school. Good for you though! Do realize that many people are very unfamiliar with anything like that though, they may only know of general stereotypes and popular news stories.
I appreciate everyone's comments and suggestions. I'm going to have a question box and I am going to have pictures of people that identify as members of the lgbt+ community... I have everyday people, youtubers, and celebrities in there so people can see that their sexuality shouldn't be something that stops them on their road to success. However, I am wondering if there are any topics that you guys think would be important to encourage them to research outside of school or in their spare time should they get curious. Should I nudge them towards the lgbt+ suicide rates? we had a suicide talk a couple of weeks ago so it is still fresh in people's minds.... I'm also thinking of having the class brainstorm the stereotypes they have heard and deconstruct them. And I will be making sure that everyone gets this little paper that lists inappropriate and homophobic comments like 'that's so gay'. I'm trying really hard to make this presentation good. It is going to be the longest one. All of the rest of my peers are only doing twenty minute presentations and I'm going to have to stand up in front of the entire class for almost an entire hour.
I think you have some great ideas so far for it! I'd also suggest some sort of "definitions" segment, defining different sexualities and genders, and also going over the difference between romantic and sexual orientation. Understanding is the first step to understanding, after all. Also, for the stereotypes thing, you could make it more along the lines of, "things you've heard about LGBT+ people that aren't necessarily true." Because the word "stereotypes" seems to narrow the sort of answers you'll get. There are the "femme gay guy" and "butch lesbian" stereotypes, but that's usually the first things that will pop into peoples heads. Perhaps "stereotypes and social stigmas"?