The Voice of a New Generation

There is a growing generation gap when it comes to LGBT issues. A recent poll showed a roughly 50-50 split in public opinion over the issue of gay marriage. But when age was taken into account, the results shifted dramatically. Nearly six in 10 Americans [2] under the age of 50 think that gays and lesbians have constitutional right to marriage.

That generational split has been nowhere more apparent than at Mona Shores High School in Muskegon, Michigan. Students there recently voted overwhelming to elect Oak Reed as homecoming king [3]. The only catch was that Oak—whose full name is Oakleigh Marie Reed—was born female. She is living as a boy and plans to have a sex-change operation after high school.

School officials did the safe thing—the thing that would please many older people. They disqualified Oak from the voting. Unhappy students responded with a Facebook page entitled “Oak Is My King” [4] that quickly got hundreds of “likes.” That number exploded to thousands once the story hit the media.

Mona Shores school officials have gotten bad press and may get some legal headaches if the American Civil Liberties Union steps in. But more importantly, they missed an opportunity. Their students were—on their own—embracing a student who could expect to be shunned in many schools. And instead of encouraging that outstanding behavior they tried to shut it down.

Teaching Tolerance has materials about how to welcome and include all students, including transgender ones, here [5] and here [6]. The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network [7] is also a valuable resource.

Price is managing editor of Teaching Tolerance.