We need to talk about the gay kid School of Rock | Dazed

Contents:

• CHILD STAR STGGLED TO E OUT AFTER PLAYG ‘THE GAY KID’ ‘SCHOOL OF ROCK’
• WHAT'S LIFE LIKE FOR GAY KIDS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS?
• MATTHEW SHEPARD: THE LEGACY OF A GAY LLEGE STUNT 20 YEARS AFTER HIS BTAL MURR
• COLORADO MOM SAYS 9-YEAR-OLD SON WHO CAME OUT AS GAY DIED BY SUICI AFTER SCHOOL BULLYG
• THE RIGHT TO EXPEL GAY CHILDREN OM SCHOOL ISN'T ABOUT EEDOM; 'S ABOUT CELTY
• AFTER PLAYG THE GAY KID SCHOOL OF ROCK, AN ACTOR ADJTS TO LIFE OFF CAMERA
• ‘SCHOOL OF ROCK’S’ BILLY WR ABOUT BEG LABELED “THE GAY KID”
• AS FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW TAK EFFECT, SCHOOLS ROLL OUT LGBTQ RTRICTNS
• KENNY ORTEGA SAYS RYAN OM HIGH SCHOOL MIL WAS ‘PROBABLY’ GAY
• WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE GAY KID SCHOOL OF ROCK
• IS YOUR CHILD GAY?

CHILD STAR STGGLED TO E OUT AFTER PLAYG ‘THE GAY KID’ ‘SCHOOL OF ROCK’

Former child actor Brian Falduto says that he wasn’t able to e out until his senr year of llege bee of the stggl he faced after beg dubbed “the gay kid” om “School of Rock. “I was so much nial [about my sexualy growg up], ” he said on the “Cooper and Anthony Show, ” “Thk about : I was the fifth gra when this movie me out and I was lled gay, and then someone told me that’s not ol, so I was jt like, ‘Oh, ok, then I’m not gay’.

WHAT'S LIFE LIKE FOR GAY KIDS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS?

“So by the time I realized I was potentially gay, I was already homophobic towards myself, sentially, ” Falduto, who is now an actor, filmmaker, mician and life ach said.

MATTHEW SHEPARD: THE LEGACY OF A GAY LLEGE STUNT 20 YEARS AFTER HIS BTAL MURR

No, but uld be former child actor said he was receivg negative msag surroundg gayns so often that his nial grew before he even unrstood what meant to be homosexual or queer. Each year, seems, we hear the stori of the clash of culture and genr when a high school stunt who is gay is banned om attendg the prom, or pays a price for gog.

COLORADO MOM SAYS 9-YEAR-OLD SON WHO CAME OUT AS GAY DIED BY SUICI AFTER SCHOOL BULLYG

This year is no different, om a Mississippi unty school board banng 18-year-old Constance McMillan, who wanted to wear a tux and brg her girliend, to the Miami gay senr who was crowned prom queen -only to be disowned by his own fay.

Today, we hear om a Los Angel school admistrator charge of equy and diversy, and om an advote whose anizatn has helped gui gay kids through the maze of high school life. COX: One of the areas that has been an issue the gay, lbian, transgenr muny, as far as public schools are ncerned, is whether or not to tegrate the stunts to the mastream populatn or to some way segregate them, even if is jt for their safety.

THE RIGHT TO EXPEL GAY CHILDREN OM SCHOOL ISN'T ABOUT EEDOM; 'S ABOUT CELTY

COX: Is possible, Judy, to tablish wh a school settg, let's say, a program that will benef stunts who are lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr - not discrimate agast them but at the same time, allow them to have the fort of beg an area where they n feel fortable? You know, so we would do some kd of supprsn terms of the anti-gay harassment that you experienced and plement that wh tnal terventns bee is through tn that we n really end bias.

We are talkg about gay stunts and high school, public high school, and we are talkg wh Judy Chiasson wh the Office of Human Relatns, Diversy and Equy the L.

Those are the clear non-discrimatn and anti-bullyg, anti-harassment polici that explicly clu sexual orientatn and genr exprsn and genr inty as among those tegori of protectn; havg supportive faculty and school staff available to young people to help them when issu arise; the prence of stunt clubs, monly known as gay-straight allianc, or GSAs, and other stunt advocy to improve school climate; and the prence of clive curricular elements that accurately and appropriately pict LGBT people, history and life.

AFTER PLAYG THE GAY KID SCHOOL OF ROCK, AN ACTOR ADJTS TO LIFE OFF CAMERA

I am a queer teacher Columb, and the big thg I've noticed, the big problem that I have had, is I live a state where is still legal to fire someone for beg gay. I thk Judy embodi what I thk is bt all people who go to tn, but I do have to pot out that there are ser stutnal barriers across the untry for teachers, gay or straight, who wish to reach out and help stunts who are havg a hard time. And I thk the key thg - thkg about that first email - is that this is about the fact that 90 percent of stunts, gay and straight, report that they hear anti-gay ments, anti-LGBT ments at school every sgle day.

Stunts we asked - a natnal sample of sendary school stunts, middle and high school, the - gay and straight - about the most equent bas for bullyg and harassment their schools, and the top three that were listed were physil appearance and body size, actual or perceived sexual orientatn, and whether a stunt was perceived to be, quote-unquote, mascule or feme enough.

‘SCHOOL OF ROCK’S’ BILLY WR ABOUT BEG LABELED “THE GAY KID”

Primarily, is about rcg the sea of anti-LGBT sentiment that fuels a lot of bullyg that has nothg to do wh a specific personal anim agast a gay dividual. Sendarily, of urse, is about those stunts an environment who may or may not be gay, maybe thkg about whether or not they are LGBT, and are wnsg the price that they will have to pay.

AS FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW TAK EFFECT, SCHOOLS ROLL OUT LGBTQ RTRICTNS

Our guts are Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lbian and Straight Edutn Network, also known as GLSEN; and Judy Chiasson, wh the Office of Human Relatns, Diversy and Equy, Los Angel Unified School District.

KENNY ORTEGA SAYS RYAN OM HIGH SCHOOL MIL WAS ‘PROBABLY’ GAY

Unified School District; Eliza Byard, as - serv as executive director of the Gay, Lbian and Straight Edutn Network; and someone who joed by phone who - Stanley, who was om Massachetts, print of the PFLAG chapter there. And then there were others the class - and this was so spirg - they said, you know, I never realized when I said "that's so gay" that I was really hurtg somebody. Unified School District; and Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lbian and Straight Edutn Network - otherwise known as GLSEN - jog om our New York bure.

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE GAY KID SCHOOL OF ROCK

Don’t get me wrong – I am lovg all the new and excg sounds that are out there the days, particularly much of what’s g om emergg queer artists who are phg the envelope, ” Falduto said of his work on the upg Gay Country EP. Twenty years ago, Matthew Shepard was a "smart, funny" 21-year-old, no different than any other young man that was an "ordary kid who wanted to make the world a better place, " his parents October 1998, that all changed, when the openly gay llege stunt was abducted, beaten and tied to a fence life end a few days later, and wh me a wispread awarens of the dangers that members of the LGBTQ muny face every day.

IS YOUR CHILD GAY?

The homophobic btal killg also served as a talyst for progrs Ameri's laws and the two s that have passed, however, remas batable how far the untry has e sce the shock of that crime. (MORE: 'Gay panic' fense still ed vlence s may be banned by new feral bill)McKney h Shepard about 20 tim the head and face wh the end of the pistol, Marsn said, before the two stole Shepard's sho, got their tck and drove back to town.