There is widespread homophobia on the DMAE campus. Every day, people on our campus use homophobic language to communicate with others. It seems as if the use of such terms has become normal in our school. In an era when the LGBTQ+ community is portrayed in the media as established, and with the legalization of same-sex marriage through the 2015 Supreme Court case, these displays of homophobia and ignorance on this campus are unacceptable. We need to combat these blatant bouts of homophobia.

At DMAE, those most fearful of main homosexuals are heterosexual males. They seem to not understand the magnitude of the word “f****t” when using it with their friends. Throughout my years of school, whether it be a joke or to offend me, people have called me a “girl” and a “f****t” interchangeably. Such charged language and the actions people take because of stigmas around homosexual people can be detrimental to teenagers just coming to terms with their sexuality.

Sophomore Jeffrey Guardado agrees. “Homophobia isn’t uncommon. And I’ve seen and experienced quite a bit of it on this school campus: from hurtful comments being made to the way people stop and stare,” he explained.  

Jeffery added that when he hears gay being used as an adjective, such as in the commonly used expression “bro that’s so gay,” he feels disgusted.

“I don’t understand why guys feel the need to use those words. It just makes me see the school as such a low environment because people can say and express such careless actions,” he said. “Every negative action has its negative outcome. Homophobia fights to break a person. And I can say, that with all the homophobic encounters I’ve had in Dwight Morrow High School, I will always struggle to gain the full confidence I’ve been striving for because of the constant bad pull people take me down with,” he added.

Others might say that we all fear what we do not know or understand, but this is a cop out.

Though it seems understandable for someone to have a prejudice against gay people if he or she has never met anyone from the LGBTQ+ community, such ignorance today is not tolerable on a campus as diverse and pro-active as ours. Even though a student may not have had any experiences with gay individuals, blindly forming judgments on gay people is not acceptable. Yes, there may be social pressure, misinformation from parents, or even the influence of false or negative biases promoted in social media against homosexual people, but it is not excusable.

Additionally, we have the ZONE actively educating our DMAE community with workshops on healthy masculinity and the Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA) Club.

Thus, the anger from people like me stems most from when heterosexual students meet people from the LGBTQ+ community yet contine to hold these biased beliefs and use language that is hurtful.

There’s power in your words and actions, and making the right choices will make DMAE and the world better. Being aware of the world around us is an important choice we must make regardless of our individual preferences. So, hesitate before you speak and respect our diversity.