Tristan's Essay!

Tristan Yerkes
Mr. Salsich
Honors English 02
19 November 2008
“Green and Yellow:
An Essay About Heterosexism and Stump Olsen’s Talk”

"That's gay." This statement, while commonly used, is also derogatory. This statement, being derogatory, is very offensive to most gays, so when teenagers say, "That's gay" lightly, they really don't know how much pain and suffering these words cause. Ms. Olsen mentioned this when she came to talk to us about heterosexism and Youth Pride. Heterosexism is bad, and homosexuals are just as good as heterosexuals.

Even though people should be tolerant of others’ sexualities, they aren’t always, and when they aren’t, Ms. Olsen and youth pride are there to help. Ms. Olsen has the personal experience needed to have a complete understanding of how the kids who come to youth pride feel and are treated. “I would rather be called a […] than a lesbian because of how the term lesbian has been used against me” said Ms. Olsen, showing how badly she had been made fun of in school, talking of how she had been beaten up, shoved in lockers, and spent every living moment praying the bullies would "Beat the gay out of [her]." Today, things are much better, but still pretty bad, and with Ms. Olsen’s worst case scenario, she can understand how kids being made fun of at any level would feel. Ms. Olsen and Youth Pride also have the right feeling, without forming a cult, Youth Pride has become a close-knit community mainly because of the openness of everyone there. As Ms. Olsen talked to us, she wasn’t withdrawn, she wasn’t held back about anything, but most importantly, she wasn’t faking it. This attitude was great, and it helped us all open up with our questions and comments about the topic as it probably helps many other teens open up about their sexuality. Youth Pride also lets in teens, any teens. The fact that all teens are allowed in at Youth Pride makes it so much more helpful to the community, because not only do homosexual teens get educated, but “straight” teens can also glean understanding from visits. This acceptance of all teens also acts as a way to keep homosexual and heterosexual teens together, not forcing them apart or spacing them out. What Youth Pride does is great, and if there were more places like it, the world would truly be a better place.


Heterosexism is the very bad belief, with shaky foundations, of heterosexuals being better than homosexuals. Most heterosexist people have one basic flaw, they are scared of difference, making them scared of homosexuals, causing them to consider homosexuality as wrong. This belief is demonstrated countless times in human history, with the enslavement of colored people, the holocaust, 9/11, and the list keeps going. All of these events have been for specific reasons, varying, but all with the underlying concept of difference being wrong. Heterosexists may also be heterosexist because they were raised that way. In these cases, it is hard to decide who is at fault, while you cannot blame the person in question entirely, you still partially blame them for not seeing the light. With this situation, it is best to just try to help these people see how wrong their ways are, and to try to guide them away from that hate. Some people are heterosexist because of their religious views, and how they think that religion dictates how sexuality should be handled. This is one of those sticky situations when peoples rights collide, when the best that can be done is to decide which right is more inalienable. Love is inalienable. No matter what anything or anyone says, I think that love is the one most noble, most inalienable right anyone can have. Heterosexuals really, honestly have no acceptable, legitimate reason for how they feel, and if any of them were to lay down the facts and take a good look at them, they would feel like fools.

Heterosexists really don't have too much sense, but they can still hurt feelings of gays and make them feel horrible. So when people say, "That's gay" I just want to say to them, "So what? Does that make it bad?" I think that just because people love a different gender, they shouldn't have to wear a green tie and yellow handkerchief (Green And Yellow, GAY) to keep their preferences a secret. My heart beating, my head swimming with thoughts, I left the room that we listened to Ms. Olsen with a new perspective.