St. Louis University High Presentation: A Look at Heterosexism
On April 24, 2008, 5 members of the Association for Cultural Enrichment at SLUH, SLUH Director of Diversity of Diversity Robert Evans, and Mrs. Tina Evans
boarded a very cramped, 60 seat United Airlines passenger jet for a two hour flight to Denver, Colorado for the Second Annual National Jesuit Conference for Diversity. Since this was my third Jesuit Diversity Conference, I was very confident that the schools present would have some very eye-opening and groundbreaking conversation and action plans to bring back to their prospective schools. Some of the schools present were: Jesuit Portland, Seattle Prep, Bellarmine Prep, St. Ignatius-San Francisco, Regis Jesuit, Rockhurst, SLUH, St. Ignatius- Chicago, Loyola Academy-Chicago, University of Detroit Prep, St. Xavier-Cincinnati, Brebeuf Jesuit, Marquette Prep,St. Joseph's Prep, and others. Driving into the mountains on that cold Thursday night, the 125-plus students and teachers would be in for a challenging weekend.
After a Friday inwhich the topic of the day was sexism, SLUH presented "A Look at Heterosexism." For the topic of heterosexism, we were assigned to collaborate with St. Joseph's Prep from Philadelphia. Our job was to define the topic of heterosexism and jsut show it in our society, while St. Joseph's job was to show the Catholic Position on the topic.
For the first part of our presentation, we framed the topic of heterosexism by giving two stories, the story of Matthew Shepard, a college student at the University of Wyoming, and a private e-mail addressed to a Brother in a Philadelphia Catholic High School. While the Matthew Shepard Story addressed the tragic murder of a gay teen, the private e-mail exhaled hope by a former student in the Philadelphia High School and his admittance to his teacher of being gay. The purpose of the stories was to show two extremes on the topic of heterosexism. After, the stories, we asked the group to journal for 10 minutes on what they just experienced with the stories.
After the journaling, we came together in order for the group to share its thoughts from the journal and after that, we gave the definition of: heterosexism, oppression, homophobia, and stereotypes.
After the definition phase, we went into a small-group phase inwhich we were able to talk about and discuss the key issues involving the topic. The important thing to point out is that you cannot change you feelings towards any topic of such magnitude with just a 30 minute discussion or weekend conference, these topics are always being talked about and there is always something to learn about the "isms" of the world.
When we convened for the large group discussion, the main argument was the church's viewpoint on heterosexism and does the Catholic Church allow it? Even though that was not our topic, we still managed to talk about that for an hour. The basic message from the presentation was to be aware of the evils of heterosexism in the prospective schools. The challenge presented to us was how do we prevent heterosexism from happening in our own schools?
From the presentation, I see the Church's position on Heterosexism as a Catch-22. The church allows homosexuals in the church, but asks them not to pursue an active lifestyle. The only way for a homosexual to show true love for someone is to engage in sexual activity with their partner, but the church condemns it because it does not fulfill Christ's circle of life and procreation. Also, a homosexual cannot be married in the Church because the Church states that matrimony should be between a man and woman. Homosexuals and transgendereds are trapped in the Church because they are not able to show true love towards another without breaking an absolute sin. This presentation has helped me to see the complexity of the issue of heterosexism in the church. But more importantly, we should treat those who are homosexual, bisexual, or transgendered with respect and love, just as Jesus would have done.
On April 24, 2008, 5 members of the Association for Cultural Enrichment at SLUH, SLUH Director of Diversity of Diversity Robert Evans, and Mrs. Tina Evans
boarded a very cramped, 60 seat United Airlines passenger jet for a two hour flight to Denver, Colorado for the Second Annual National Jesuit Conference for Diversity. Since this was my third Jesuit Diversity Conference, I was very confident that the schools present would have some very eye-opening and groundbreaking conversation and action plans to bring back to their prospective schools. Some of the schools present were: Jesuit Portland, Seattle Prep, Bellarmine Prep, St. Ignatius-San Francisco, Regis Jesuit, Rockhurst, SLUH, St. Ignatius- Chicago, Loyola Academy-Chicago, University of Detroit Prep, St. Xavier-Cincinnati, Brebeuf Jesuit, Marquette Prep,St. Joseph's Prep, and others. Driving into the mountains on that cold Thursday night, the 125-plus students and teachers would be in for a challenging weekend.
After a Friday inwhich the topic of the day was sexism, SLUH presented "A Look at Heterosexism." For the topic of heterosexism, we were assigned to collaborate with St. Joseph's Prep from Philadelphia. Our job was to define the topic of heterosexism and jsut show it in our society, while St. Joseph's job was to show the Catholic Position on the topic.
For the first part of our presentation, we framed the topic of heterosexism by giving two stories, the story of Matthew Shepard, a college student at the University of Wyoming, and a private e-mail addressed to a Brother in a Philadelphia Catholic High School. While the Matthew Shepard Story addressed the tragic murder of a gay teen, the private e-mail exhaled hope by a former student in the Philadelphia High School and his admittance to his teacher of being gay. The purpose of the stories was to show two extremes on the topic of heterosexism. After, the stories, we asked the group to journal for 10 minutes on what they just experienced with the stories.
After the journaling, we came together in order for the group to share its thoughts from the journal and after that, we gave the definition of: heterosexism, oppression, homophobia, and stereotypes.
After the definition phase, we went into a small-group phase inwhich we were able to talk about and discuss the key issues involving the topic. The important thing to point out is that you cannot change you feelings towards any topic of such magnitude with just a 30 minute discussion or weekend conference, these topics are always being talked about and there is always something to learn about the "isms" of the world.
When we convened for the large group discussion, the main argument was the church's viewpoint on heterosexism and does the Catholic Church allow it? Even though that was not our topic, we still managed to talk about that for an hour. The basic message from the presentation was to be aware of the evils of heterosexism in the prospective schools. The challenge presented to us was how do we prevent heterosexism from happening in our own schools?
From the presentation, I see the Church's position on Heterosexism as a Catch-22. The church allows homosexuals in the church, but asks them not to pursue an active lifestyle. The only way for a homosexual to show true love for someone is to engage in sexual activity with their partner, but the church condemns it because it does not fulfill Christ's circle of life and procreation. Also, a homosexual cannot be married in the Church because the Church states that matrimony should be between a man and woman. Homosexuals and transgendereds are trapped in the Church because they are not able to show true love towards another without breaking an absolute sin. This presentation has helped me to see the complexity of the issue of heterosexism in the church. But more importantly, we should treat those who are homosexual, bisexual, or transgendered with respect and love, just as Jesus would have done.
On April 24, 2008, 5 members of the Association for Cultural Enrichment at SLUH, SLUH Director of Diversity of Diversity Robert Evans, and Mrs. Tina Evans boarded a very cramped, 60 seat United Airlines passenger jet for a two hour flight to Denver, Colorado for the Second Annual National Jesuit Conference for Diversity. Since this was my third Jesuit Diversity Conference, I was very confident that the schools present would have some very eye-opening and groundbreaking conversation and action plans to bring back to their prospective schools. Some of the schools present were: Jesuit Portland, Seattle Prep, Bellarmine Prep, St. Ignatius-San Francisco, Regis Jesuit, Rockhurst, SLUH, St. Ignatius- Chicago, Loyola Academy-Chicago, University of Detroit Prep, St. Xavier-Cincinnati, Brebeuf Jesuit, Marquette Prep,St. Joseph's Prep, and others. Driving into the mountains on that cold Thursday night, the 125-plus students and teachers would be in for a challenging weekend.
After a Friday inwhich the topic of the day was sexism, SLUH presented "A Look at Heterosexism." For the topic of heterosexism, we were assigned to collaborate with St. Joseph's Prep from Philadelphia. Our job was to define the topic of heterosexism and jsut show it in our society, while St. Joseph's job was to show the Catholic Position on the topic.
For the first part of our presentation, we framed the topic of heterosexism by giving two stories, the story of Matthew Shepard, a college student at the University of Wyoming, and a private e-mail addressed to a Brother in a Philadelphia Catholic High School. While the Matthew Shepard Story addressed the tragic murder of a gay teen, the private e-mail exhaled hope by a former student in the Philadelphia High School and his admittance to his teacher of being gay. The purpose of the stories was to show two extremes on the topic of heterosexism. After, the stories, we asked the group to journal for 10 minutes on what they just experienced with the stories.
After the journaling, we came together in order for the group to share its thoughts from the journal and after that, we gave the definition of: heterosexism, oppression, homophobia, and stereotypes.
After the definition phase, we went into a small-group phase inwhich we were able to talk about and discuss the key issues involving the topic. The important thing to point out is that you cannot change you feelings towards any topic of such magnitude with just a 30 minute discussion or weekend conference, these topics are always being talked about and there is always something to learn about the "isms" of the world.
When we convened for the large group discussion, the main argument was the church's viewpoint on heterosexism and does the Catholic Church allow it? Even though that was not our topic, we still managed to talk about that for an hour. The basic message from the presentation was to be aware of the evils of heterosexism in the prospective schools. The challenge presented to us was how do we prevent heterosexism from happening in our own schools?
From the presentation, I see the Church's position on Heterosexism as a Catch-22. The church allows homosexuals in the church, but asks them not to pursue an active lifestyle. The only way for a homosexual to show true love for someone is to engage in sexual activity with their partner, but the church condemns it because it does not fulfill Christ's circle of life and procreation. Also, a homosexual cannot be married in the Church because the Church states that matrimony should be between a man and woman. Homosexuals and transgendereds are trapped in the Church because they are not able to show true love towards another without breaking an absolute sin. This presentation has helped me to see the complexity of the issue of heterosexism in the church. But more importantly, we should treat those who are homosexual, bisexual, or transgendered with respect and love, just as Jesus would have done.