Subject: Thanks Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 22:44:46 -0600 Message-ID: <BDD0A3EABE40F04A8C7200805EDE5A6A0488D761@PEPSI.uwec.edu> From: "Nowlan, Robert A." <RANOWLAN@uwec.edu>
Dear Friends,
I want to thank all those of you out there who've taken the time to
write to me, and to call me, to indicate your support of, and
appreciation for me, and for the cause of glbtq equality in this state.
I'm sincerely touched by it. Together we will make it, eventually;
we'll just keep working together--and fighting on. Thanks to all my
straight friends out there who proudly support us, and who couldn't care
less if anyone suggested, because of this support, that you yourself
were, or might be, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer. I'm
proud of all of you, as I have been of my many close straight friends
over the course of many years now, who have repeatedly replied to this
kind of suggestion by declaring, in effect, 'so what if I am' and, even,
'thank you for the compliment'.
One additional comment I want to share now: I know in the past many
people have told me they admire what I do in helping many students
recognize that gay people can be decent, OK human beings 'too'. And,
it's true that over 21 years now of teaching I've had many, many, many
students at the end of the semester write to tell me, or write in their
course evaluations, that dealing with me changed their way of thinking
about and relating to gay people--that previously they feared and
distrusted us, they felt very suspicious and uneasy around us, and even
outright hostile toward and revolted by us, but that, over the course of
the semester working with me, they came to realize that gay people can
be all right, and to realize as well that they--these same students--can
even come to like gay people. Yes, this is something of an
accomplishment, but I've been working with this for 21 years now, and
it's a lot of work, and struggle, to get to that point with people like
that, who start from that place, and it's always harder for someone like
me, coming from where I am, than it is for a sympathetic yet obviously
straight teacher--even a lot harder. And of course with many it doesn't
work, no matter how much--and how hard--I strive to meet them and work
with them from where they're at and where they're coming from; they
simply won't bend at all. I remember less than two years ago showing a
term paper proposal in my English 110 class to my Department Chair, and
Director of Undergraduate Studies--where the student proposed to argue
that 'homosexuality is the greatest evil in the world today and
responsible for doing by far the greatest damage of any factor currently
affecting human behavior'. My colleagues were, predictably, very
sympathetic to me, and even outraged that I had to deal with that kind
of paper in a class I was teaching (as an openly, proudly gay
man)--recommending that I tell the student this was an entirely
unacceptable stance to take in a paper topic for this class. But I
ultimately didn't do so; I told him that if he could make a strong
argument for his position I would read it and work hard to evaluate it
fairly, on its own terms--and I even met with him three times in my
office in conferences to help him put together ideas for this very same
paper in support of this very same argument. Plus he earned a grade of
B for this paper, even when our teaching assistant (student mentor) told
me he couldn't imagine giving this student higher than a C+ at best for
this paper. And, of course, those who find this shocking should know
that this is far from an anomaly--I've dealt with students like that,
and situations like that, again and again and again, every semester,
everywhere I've taught, for twenty-one years now--and many times the
antagonism has in fact been far, far worse than that. But I've now done
(more than) enough of that kind of work myself. I myself can do a lot,
lot, lot more as a teacher without having to spend so much time and
energy working with people like that just to try to convince them to
begin to imagine, treat, and relate to me as an equally worthwhile human
being. It's now time for others out there -- students of mine, faculty
and staff colleagues, administrative supervisors, and community members
with whom I work and interact in many diverse ways -- to do the work
involved in seeking to convince those kinds of people--especially those
kinds of students--that "he's gay and that's OK, and that this is not
'in spite of the fact that he's gay' but rather 'because of the fact
that he's gay'." So for those who wonder what you might do next to
help out, this is one suggestion: (continue to) teach --actively--
against homophobia, and against heterosexism. And you can all do it,
whether or not you are employed as a teacher or not. We need your
help; we're counting on you. I need your help; I'm counting on you.
In solidarity,
Bob Nowlan
***************
Anywhere,
any place or road,
There was you.
So I came back.
The Blood Knot -- by Athol Fugard