Speaker shows significance of symbol while giving a face to gay "category."
"These were worn by homosexuals during the Nazi occupation of Europe," he explained. "Homosexuals were one of the first groups targeted for extermination as part of Hitler's grand scheme to purify the human race."
My students had learned about the Holocaust, when Jews and others were forced to wear symbols identifying them for extermination. The pink triangle, however, was something new for them.
To quell a few predictably immature reactions, including a couple of young men who flashed contemptuous smiles at the word "homosexual," my guest identified himself as gay.
"I did not 'choose' to be homosexual any more than I chose to be right-handed or blue-eyed," he said. "I have chosen to be unashamed and unafraid to face the world and, more importantly, myself, with who I am. And now on to the lesson."
He had their attention.
The next day, I had to answer questions from a few angry parents who wanted to know why their children were "subjected to homosexual views in my classroom." One parent wanted to know if I was gay and what my "agenda" was. "No, I'm not, and I'm trying to promote tolerance," I answered. She used words like "pervert" and "abomination" to describe a man she had never met.
For my students, my guest speaker (who happens to be a respected professor at a local college) presented a different picture. By putting a human face and a personality on what was, for some, only a category, the prejudices they had faded.
His homosexuality became a facet of his personhood rather than an all-consuming definition.
When the class stood and applauded at the end of his talk, there was a sense of triumph — one minor battle won in the war against intolerance.
I think I'll invite him back next year.
Daniel Kimber
Hoover High School
Glendale, Calif.
Visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's website for more, or contact the museum at:
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW
Washington, DC 20024-2126
(202) 488-0400
