Three years ago, a freshman girl had came out as bisexual to a few of her friends. As word spread, people begun to discuss and question her sexuality with hushed tones. Some asked her, “Are you really bisexual? Is it even real?” Others told her that they thought she was just looking for attention.
But she wasn’t just looking for attention. She was, indeed, bisexual. And yes, it is real.
Now, this freshman is a senior. In the past few years, she has now came out as pansexual after research and continued self exploration. Her name is Chelsea Kim.
“To me, being part of the LGBTQ+ community isn’t something that should be special or put a tag on you,” Kim said. “Just because you don’t feel like you’re heterosexual doesn’t mean that you should feel like you’re not part of a community. Honestly, it shouldn’t matter what you are.”
However, much of the SAS community continues to regard LGBTQ+ issues with indifference due to its relevance to only a minority. But just because this is a minority issue doesn’t make it okay for others to continue neglecting this conversation.
While many think homophobia is active opposition to the LGBTQ+ community and its issues, ignorance is also a form of homophobia. “During tenth grade health class, we could do a presentation on anything we wanted. I wrote down LGBTQIA and my group members said: ‘What the hell is that? That doesn’t exist,’” said senior Erica Liu.
Social studies teacher Mr. Jonathan Hubbs recalls a similar example of homophobia. “Last year I was talking to my TOK class about [LGBTQ+ issues], and somebody remarked that they didn’t know anyone [who identified as LGBTQ+] on this campus. The assumption was that they must not go to this school—it wasn’t that they’re not out or not open, it was more like they just don’t go to this school,” Mr. Hubbs said.
It’s sad but true—many SAS students aren’t aware of what consists of their own community. A recent survey that was distributed to 28 high school students showed that around 32% of survey respondents did not know any SAS students who identified as LGBTQ+. However, survey responses conveyed that there were at least 10-15 students who were known to openly identify as LGBTQ+.
The biggest issue that comes with educating the community regarding LGBTQ+ issues is the lack of interest. 42% of survey respondents signified that they did not want to learn more about LGBTQ+ topics such as history or term definitions. Because LGBTQ+ issues are not a tremendous component of many people’s lives, this causes them to feel apathetic toward the topic, which essentially creates a homophobic-like atmosphere at SAS.
“I think it differs in intent,” said junior Ryan Yin. “I think most of it is just ignorance, not knowing what certain terms may mean or the connotations that they hold. For example, people say ‘that’s so gay’ a lot. Most people don’t realize the bad impact it might have on some people.”
The regular occurrence of homophobic slurs such as “gay” or “fag” being thrown around in our student body can make it hard to draw the line between what is acceptable and what is not: while many acknowledge the joking intent behind those comments, others may find it offensive.
“I feel like a majority of the time it’s said jokingly and I know a lot of people have a problem with that area being used as a joke,” Kim said. “Nowadays, because society is so sensitive about that sort of stuff, people need to know when it can be a joke and when it can’t.”
Like any other community, the stereotypical view of homophobia, active hostility, exists at SAS, too.
“People can be really inappropriate about [my sexuality],” said senior Benjamin Ho. “Someone has asked me how large my penis is and what sexual position I prefer.”
Like mentioned before, homophobic slurs are a commonality at SAS. “Nothing goes to the extent of physical bullying, but it’s enough to make people feel safer closeted,” said senior Lauren Cheung.
Even after having a pleasant coming out experience, LGBTQ+ community members can still be a victim of anxiety or paranoia. “There’s this constant sort of fear that dogs at you,” Cheung said. “Being closeted, for many people, just feels safer. You don’t put a target on your back.”
Liu notes that “when our school is confronted with things that we don’t know or are not familiar with, people tend to lash out at it or deny that it exists.”
This reaction has to do with the relatively isolated nature of the SAS community in terms of political views, a result of SAS being an international school located in the rather conservative Asian society. This results in students being less knowledgable or engaged in conversations, including the LGBTQ+ community, that are more openly discussed in various Western societies.
Another factor to consider is the lack of education on LGBTQ+ topics at SAS. Without any discussion of LGBTQ+ topics in SAS’ curriculum, people who are exploring their sexuality have no choice but to rely on other resources as guidance, such as Cheung.
“Honestly the biggest thing that the school can do right now is educate,” Cheung said. “In middle school, when I started to question [my sexuality], I had absolutely no resources. We never broached the topic in classes I never had an adequate understanding of the LGBTQ+ myself.”
This lack of discussion also fosters an environment in which more uncomfortable topics that should be explored are contrastingly avoided.
The first step to helping people become more comfortable with talking about LGBTQ+ issues is integrating this discussion into the school’s health curriculum. One unit can be dedicated to LGBTQ+ issues in which LGBTQ+ history, terms and definitions, as well as guidance advice to both those part of and not part of the LGBTQ+ community in dealing with difficult situations.
Of course, this change should not be a responsibility of the school administration itself. “It’s a hand in hand partnership,” high school counselor Mr. Eric Motzko said. “You have students that need to change a climate. And I think in order to do that, they need to start standing up for people, they need to stop using derogatory terms, they need to treat people with respect, regardless of what the issue is.”
With more publicity and active measures, SAS’ Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA) could begin to push for more discussion on LGBTQ+ issues within the student body. While most have heard of or even participated in GSA’s activities such as Sea of Pink, Day of Silence, and Free Hugs Day, many students do not actually understand the meaning and relation of those events to the LGBTQ+ community.
Sea of Pink is a tradition in honor of Cambridge freshman boy who was bullied for wearing pink. Two seniors at the school bought pink shirts to wear the next day and gathered a crowd of students in support.
Similarly, Day of Silence and Free Hugs Day originate from incidents in the LGBTQ+ community that ultimately fostered a more supportive, accepting community away from homophobia.
According to GSA’s vice president YingTing Ng, these events and many more help achieve GSA’s mission to “raise awareness and support for the LGBTQ+ community.” With more knowledge on and participation in these events, perhaps the SAS community could take a step closer to a less homophobic community that GSA promotes.
At SAS, the counselors should play an obvious part in supporting students in issues that they struggle with, LGBTQ+ included. “As a counselor here I represent every single student here in 11th grade,” said Mr. Motzko. “It doesn’t matter what their race is, what their religion is, what their sexual orientation is.”
Students can also refer to online resources to look for guidance or information. For Kim, it helped her realize that she was in fact pansexual, not bisexual. “I did a lot of research online and I realized that for me, gender isn’t an issue in terms of whether I like that person or not.”
Kim recommends online sources that include multiple perspectives describing others’ experiences, which can help people to understand what’s out there and what certain terms may mean.
Similarly, Cheung relied on the internet as her main source of guidance. “On Instagram, I would go on LGBT history because they have a very comprehensive list of important figures within the LGBT community.” She also found websites that advertised pride month to be helpful.
Of course, acceptance and support do exist in SAS’ otherwise largely ignorant or apathetic community.
“My coming out experience has been actually quite pleasant,” Cheung said. She came out to her closest friends and family first, who, according to Cheung, were okay with it due to the previous conversations they’ve had regarding LGBTQ+ issues.
Cheung said she thinks that what made her coming-out process much easier was support from her closest friends and family.
Yin came out through writing a fictional narrative in eighth grade named “True Colors” that describes the coming out story of a boy named Hunter Clark.
One of the narrative’s opening paragraphs describes the troubling thoughts of Clark’s exploration of his sexuality:
“To be honest, I came to this realization not too long ago myself. I always assumed that I was normal. I know I’m not anymore. I still love who I am though, I am actually pleased with my situation. I constantly remind myself, I would never want to be anybody else. I am 13 years old and I don’t know where this choice will take me in my life. My name is Hunter Clark, and I’m gay.”
While the original prompt of the assignment was a personal narrative, Yin decided to use a pseudonym since using his name would have made him “a bit uncomfortable at that time,” according to Yin.
“It was a part of myself I felt like expressing,” Yin said. “Whether or not people wanted to read it, I just wanted to put it out there, more for my own sake than for anyone else.”
Yin found his coming out experience to be quite smooth compared to others’ in different communities. “People commented that they really liked my story and found it cool. They were pretty accepting and I didn’t see many people shocked by it.”
When these success stories become the norm for LGBTQ+ members, that’s when we will know that we have helped build a more accepting, supportive environment.
The ultimate goal is that every student can feel safe being themselves at SAS. “It’s our job to make sure that we foster that,” Mr. Motzko said. “The staff and the counselors are here to set an example and are here to support every single student that feels they can walk down [the hallway] and feel safe.”
LGBTQ+ is an “invisible minority,” coined by Mr. Motzko. “You can be sitting next to someone and you may think you know what their race is, but you don’t know that with LGBTQ+, so you could be sitting next to someone who identifies.”
Bringing a community more in terms with minority issues such as LGBTQ+ is no easy task. But there are small changes that anyone can and should make in order to help move forward and away from a society that promotes tyranny of the majority.
Other than possible implementations into the school’s health curriculum, education can happen slowly but surely through promotion of the community and distribution of information through videos, for example, during assemblies.
Ultimately, what will instigate change more than anything is communication and visibility. “It is important for people to have dialogue, it is important for people to be visible and to show people that LGBTQ+ people who identify as that are just like you and me,” Mr. Motzko said. “They are part of this community.”
For one, faculty and teachers can direct conversations on LGBTQ+ in classrooms. Students should also direct conversation regarding the issue, especially if they identify, with the people around them.
Similar to the progression of the global #MeToo movement, once someone kickstarts the outspoken nature of a once hidden community, others will follow. “Once more students become openly LGBTQ+, it’s almost like a snowball effect—now, all of a sudden, LGBT+ isn’t something that we just hear about, it’s something that we know,” Mr. Hubbs said. Students who are openly out can also learn to support each other with their common experiences.
At the end of the day, the issue of LGBTQ+ comes down to a matter of respect. “Think before you say things,” Mr. Motzko said. “You don’t have to accept everyone else’s opinions 100%, but you have to be able to respect that. To the SAS Community, LGBTQ+ issues are everyone’s issues and you never know who identifies as that.”
Allison Ma
But she wasn’t just looking for attention. She was, indeed, bisexual. And yes, it is real.
Now, this freshman is a senior. In the past few years, she has now came out as pansexual after research and continued self exploration. Her name is Chelsea Kim.
“To me, being part of the LGBTQ+ community isn’t something that should be special or put a tag on you,” Kim said. “Just because you don’t feel like you’re heterosexual doesn’t mean that you should feel like you’re not part of a community. Honestly, it shouldn’t matter what you are.”
 |
| LGBTQ+ flag with white heart (via Massage Magazine) |
However, much of the SAS community continues to regard LGBTQ+ issues with indifference due to its relevance to only a minority. But just because this is a minority issue doesn’t make it okay for others to continue neglecting this conversation.
— In the Shadows —
While many think homophobia is active opposition to the LGBTQ+ community and its issues, ignorance is also a form of homophobia. “During tenth grade health class, we could do a presentation on anything we wanted. I wrote down LGBTQIA and my group members said: ‘What the hell is that? That doesn’t exist,’” said senior Erica Liu.
Social studies teacher Mr. Jonathan Hubbs recalls a similar example of homophobia. “Last year I was talking to my TOK class about [LGBTQ+ issues], and somebody remarked that they didn’t know anyone [who identified as LGBTQ+] on this campus. The assumption was that they must not go to this school—it wasn’t that they’re not out or not open, it was more like they just don’t go to this school,” Mr. Hubbs said.
It’s sad but true—many SAS students aren’t aware of what consists of their own community. A recent survey that was distributed to 28 high school students showed that around 32% of survey respondents did not know any SAS students who identified as LGBTQ+. However, survey responses conveyed that there were at least 10-15 students who were known to openly identify as LGBTQ+.
 |
| (via SurveyMonkey) |
The biggest issue that comes with educating the community regarding LGBTQ+ issues is the lack of interest. 42% of survey respondents signified that they did not want to learn more about LGBTQ+ topics such as history or term definitions. Because LGBTQ+ issues are not a tremendous component of many people’s lives, this causes them to feel apathetic toward the topic, which essentially creates a homophobic-like atmosphere at SAS.
 |
| (via SurveyMonkey) |
“I think it differs in intent,” said junior Ryan Yin. “I think most of it is just ignorance, not knowing what certain terms may mean or the connotations that they hold. For example, people say ‘that’s so gay’ a lot. Most people don’t realize the bad impact it might have on some people.”
The regular occurrence of homophobic slurs such as “gay” or “fag” being thrown around in our student body can make it hard to draw the line between what is acceptable and what is not: while many acknowledge the joking intent behind those comments, others may find it offensive.
“I feel like a majority of the time it’s said jokingly and I know a lot of people have a problem with that area being used as a joke,” Kim said. “Nowadays, because society is so sensitive about that sort of stuff, people need to know when it can be a joke and when it can’t.”
— Shattered Rainbows —
Like any other community, the stereotypical view of homophobia, active hostility, exists at SAS, too.
“People can be really inappropriate about [my sexuality],” said senior Benjamin Ho. “Someone has asked me how large my penis is and what sexual position I prefer.”
Like mentioned before, homophobic slurs are a commonality at SAS. “Nothing goes to the extent of physical bullying, but it’s enough to make people feel safer closeted,” said senior Lauren Cheung.
Even after having a pleasant coming out experience, LGBTQ+ community members can still be a victim of anxiety or paranoia. “There’s this constant sort of fear that dogs at you,” Cheung said. “Being closeted, for many people, just feels safer. You don’t put a target on your back.”
Liu notes that “when our school is confronted with things that we don’t know or are not familiar with, people tend to lash out at it or deny that it exists.”
This reaction has to do with the relatively isolated nature of the SAS community in terms of political views, a result of SAS being an international school located in the rather conservative Asian society. This results in students being less knowledgable or engaged in conversations, including the LGBTQ+ community, that are more openly discussed in various Western societies.
Another factor to consider is the lack of education on LGBTQ+ topics at SAS. Without any discussion of LGBTQ+ topics in SAS’ curriculum, people who are exploring their sexuality have no choice but to rely on other resources as guidance, such as Cheung.
“Honestly the biggest thing that the school can do right now is educate,” Cheung said. “In middle school, when I started to question [my sexuality], I had absolutely no resources. We never broached the topic in classes I never had an adequate understanding of the LGBTQ+ myself.”
This lack of discussion also fosters an environment in which more uncomfortable topics that should be explored are contrastingly avoided.
— The Silver Lining —
The first step to helping people become more comfortable with talking about LGBTQ+ issues is integrating this discussion into the school’s health curriculum. One unit can be dedicated to LGBTQ+ issues in which LGBTQ+ history, terms and definitions, as well as guidance advice to both those part of and not part of the LGBTQ+ community in dealing with difficult situations.
Of course, this change should not be a responsibility of the school administration itself. “It’s a hand in hand partnership,” high school counselor Mr. Eric Motzko said. “You have students that need to change a climate. And I think in order to do that, they need to start standing up for people, they need to stop using derogatory terms, they need to treat people with respect, regardless of what the issue is.”
With more publicity and active measures, SAS’ Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA) could begin to push for more discussion on LGBTQ+ issues within the student body. While most have heard of or even participated in GSA’s activities such as Sea of Pink, Day of Silence, and Free Hugs Day, many students do not actually understand the meaning and relation of those events to the LGBTQ+ community.
 |
| The GSA board (taken by Allison Ma) |
Sea of Pink is a tradition in honor of Cambridge freshman boy who was bullied for wearing pink. Two seniors at the school bought pink shirts to wear the next day and gathered a crowd of students in support.
Similarly, Day of Silence and Free Hugs Day originate from incidents in the LGBTQ+ community that ultimately fostered a more supportive, accepting community away from homophobia.
According to GSA’s vice president YingTing Ng, these events and many more help achieve GSA’s mission to “raise awareness and support for the LGBTQ+ community.” With more knowledge on and participation in these events, perhaps the SAS community could take a step closer to a less homophobic community that GSA promotes.
At SAS, the counselors should play an obvious part in supporting students in issues that they struggle with, LGBTQ+ included. “As a counselor here I represent every single student here in 11th grade,” said Mr. Motzko. “It doesn’t matter what their race is, what their religion is, what their sexual orientation is.”
 |
| A GSA poster in the counseling department (taken by Allison Ma) |
Students can also refer to online resources to look for guidance or information. For Kim, it helped her realize that she was in fact pansexual, not bisexual. “I did a lot of research online and I realized that for me, gender isn’t an issue in terms of whether I like that person or not.”
Kim recommends online sources that include multiple perspectives describing others’ experiences, which can help people to understand what’s out there and what certain terms may mean.
Similarly, Cheung relied on the internet as her main source of guidance. “On Instagram, I would go on LGBT history because they have a very comprehensive list of important figures within the LGBT community.” She also found websites that advertised pride month to be helpful.
— True Colors —
Of course, acceptance and support do exist in SAS’ otherwise largely ignorant or apathetic community.
“My coming out experience has been actually quite pleasant,” Cheung said. She came out to her closest friends and family first, who, according to Cheung, were okay with it due to the previous conversations they’ve had regarding LGBTQ+ issues.
Cheung said she thinks that what made her coming-out process much easier was support from her closest friends and family.
Yin came out through writing a fictional narrative in eighth grade named “True Colors” that describes the coming out story of a boy named Hunter Clark.
One of the narrative’s opening paragraphs describes the troubling thoughts of Clark’s exploration of his sexuality:
“To be honest, I came to this realization not too long ago myself. I always assumed that I was normal. I know I’m not anymore. I still love who I am though, I am actually pleased with my situation. I constantly remind myself, I would never want to be anybody else. I am 13 years old and I don’t know where this choice will take me in my life. My name is Hunter Clark, and I’m gay.”
While the original prompt of the assignment was a personal narrative, Yin decided to use a pseudonym since using his name would have made him “a bit uncomfortable at that time,” according to Yin.
“It was a part of myself I felt like expressing,” Yin said. “Whether or not people wanted to read it, I just wanted to put it out there, more for my own sake than for anyone else.”
Yin found his coming out experience to be quite smooth compared to others’ in different communities. “People commented that they really liked my story and found it cool. They were pretty accepting and I didn’t see many people shocked by it.”
When these success stories become the norm for LGBTQ+ members, that’s when we will know that we have helped build a more accepting, supportive environment.
— Moving Forward —
The ultimate goal is that every student can feel safe being themselves at SAS. “It’s our job to make sure that we foster that,” Mr. Motzko said. “The staff and the counselors are here to set an example and are here to support every single student that feels they can walk down [the hallway] and feel safe.”
LGBTQ+ is an “invisible minority,” coined by Mr. Motzko. “You can be sitting next to someone and you may think you know what their race is, but you don’t know that with LGBTQ+, so you could be sitting next to someone who identifies.”
Bringing a community more in terms with minority issues such as LGBTQ+ is no easy task. But there are small changes that anyone can and should make in order to help move forward and away from a society that promotes tyranny of the majority.
Other than possible implementations into the school’s health curriculum, education can happen slowly but surely through promotion of the community and distribution of information through videos, for example, during assemblies.
Ultimately, what will instigate change more than anything is communication and visibility. “It is important for people to have dialogue, it is important for people to be visible and to show people that LGBTQ+ people who identify as that are just like you and me,” Mr. Motzko said. “They are part of this community.”
For one, faculty and teachers can direct conversations on LGBTQ+ in classrooms. Students should also direct conversation regarding the issue, especially if they identify, with the people around them.
Similar to the progression of the global #MeToo movement, once someone kickstarts the outspoken nature of a once hidden community, others will follow. “Once more students become openly LGBTQ+, it’s almost like a snowball effect—now, all of a sudden, LGBT+ isn’t something that we just hear about, it’s something that we know,” Mr. Hubbs said. Students who are openly out can also learn to support each other with their common experiences.
At the end of the day, the issue of LGBTQ+ comes down to a matter of respect. “Think before you say things,” Mr. Motzko said. “You don’t have to accept everyone else’s opinions 100%, but you have to be able to respect that. To the SAS Community, LGBTQ+ issues are everyone’s issues and you never know who identifies as that.”
Allison Ma
