No More Homophobia: What a World That Would Be                   

 By Ernie McCray

As an educator,
I can’t imagine
a more hateful idea
than banning the use of the word gay
in schools,
as there can be no better world
if children don’t have a basic understanding
of the world they’re presently in,
what it’s like
and how it became what it is.
In my way of thinking
schools are supposed to be in the biz
of doing just that,
to which I can testify
as I remember days gone by,
the 60’s,
in a classroom
full of 6th grade boys and girls
at Perry Elementary,
in Bayview Naval Housing
trying to make sense
of a presidential assassination,
of dads of my students
off fighting in Vietnam,
of Dr. King’s people
being flushed into the gutter
of the streets
from the forces of firehoses,
so we eased each other’s
fears and anxieties
with poetry and prose
and music
and art
and sketches
improvised from our hearts,
debate,
with comparisons
of other times in our history –

So, if I were in a classroom today
my charges and I would be
doing some heavy looking into
that bunch of homophobic yahoos
who rented a U-Haul truck
bent on
running amok
at a Gay Pride Parade,
and we’d wonder what’s up
with thugs
interrupting a Drag Queen
reading to some moms and dads
and their children at their
public library.

We would, particularly,
question why
networks like Fox News and OANN
fan the winds of hatred against
queer folks,
asking ourselves:
What’s up with all that?
How do folks come to feel like that?
What can be done about such as that?

With no delving into “sexual practices”
and stuff like that,
just creating a space
where children can learn to be
accepting and inclusive,
and dedicated
to creating a social environment
where homophobia would be frowned upon
and LGBTQIA+ communities
would simply be allowed to be.

What a world that would be.