
“Don’t Be So Gay!”: Queers, Bullying, and Making Schools Safe
Donn Short
Once viewed as an inevitable if unpleasant part of growing up, bullying is now recognized as a serious safety issue – particularly in light of recent teen suicides linked with homophobia in schools.
In “Don’t Be So Gay!” Queers, Bullying, and Making Schools Safe, Donn Short considers the effectiveness of anti-harassment policies and safe school legislation. After spending several months interviewing queer youth and their allies in the Toronto area, Short concludes that current legislation and its approach to school safety and homophobia has generally been more responsive than proactive. He suggests that while effective legislation is vital to establishing a safe space for queer students, other influences – including religion, family beliefs, and peer pressure – may be more powerful. Drawing on students’ own experiences and exploring how their understandings and definitions of safety might be translated into policy reform, this book offers a fresh perspective on a hotly debated issue.
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About Donn Short
Reviews for “Don’t Be So Gay!”: Queers, Bullying, and Making Schools Safe
H M Miller, Mercy College
CHOICE
The book is informed by interviews with queer teens in the Toronto area, as well as interviews with the handful of administrative idealists scattered through the educational system. Conditions for queer teens may be better than they were two generations ago, but they cannot be said to be good, save in highly atypical refuges; that said, progress is possible, Short argues.
Publishers Weekly