his week we learned a lot about sexual orientation through the DVD, "Coming Out: What Every Teen (Gay and Straight) Needs to Know", our class discussion, and the LGBT that I didn't know before. Some of my friends are gay so I think it was important for me to know these things.
From the DVD I learned how hard it can be for the gay community to come out in the open and be truthful with themselves. Some of the stories I heard in the video began with them suppressing their feelings and putting them aside maybe dating a sex they don't want to be with. I also learned how straight people can effect gay people through what they say. Using gay to describe something bad and using gay slurs are both very offensive and can hurt someone a lot. The story that really got to me was the story about the little boy who killed himself because of bullies who made fun of him constantly for not acting like the typical boy and being more feminine than the other boys. I don't think people should be harassed for being different.
In our class discussion I learned a lot to. I learned that give percent of American high school students identified as LGBT. It's like being a silent race. People don't know that your gay until you say it. Even if you are a guy and you act more feminine, that doesn't mean your gay. How someone looks or dresses on the outside as it relates to their gender is called gender expression. I also learned that coming out isn't always the right thing to do. I always thought that people should just come out, but I didn't think about how that persons situation might be. Coming out may not be the safest thing to do if their environment isn't safe. People could be harassed or harmed for being different in that way.
A misconception I learned about LGBT people is that people think that they choose to be the way they are. They don't choose to be that way they are born that way.