News Articles for the Week of April 26^th

Wong, Curtis. "Students At Pennsylvania's McGuffey High School Organize 'Anti-Gay Day' And Allegedly Target LGBT Classmates." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/20/mcguffey-school-anti-gay-day-_n_7101046.html

            The title of the article says it all: students at a high school in Pennsylvania spread the news to wear flannel shirts and write the word anti-gay on their hands in protest after the school’s Day of Silence activities.  Participants in the organized protest wrote notes to students in and out of the LGBT community, pushing them around and calling them names. The school has been quiet about their response, however the superintendent has said that she has taken note of the harassments and wishes that all students at the school may be educated in a discrimination-free environment.

            I think this organized protest is practically a hate crime and these students should never have been able to go through with this. The Day of Silence is an important day for members of the LGBT community to spread awareness about the effects of bullying of LGBT students and allies. These students harassing classmates because of their association with the community completely defeats the purpose of the Day of Silence and goes against the promise of a safe and equal learning environment at school, “without discrimination.” Regardless of whether one even agrees with the motives of the LGBT community, bullying in general is major problem in many schools and these students should be made to realize that what they did is wrong and can not simply be organized and done to their peers without consequences.

Novogrod, James. "Nepal Earthquake: Major Aftershock Hits Kathmandu as Toll Climbs." NBC News. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/nepal-earthquake/aid-arrives-nepal-after-devastating-earthquake-n348431

            On Sunday April 26^th, after Saturday’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake, which left over 2,500 people dead, a major aftershock hit Nepal’s capital, Kethmandu. Locals were in the process of digging out survivors       and were terrified as the entire earth shook with the tremor. Thousands slept outside in Nepal, and Sunday morning rescuers dug through the rubble, searching for anyone who was alive, and anyone who was not.

            This is, in short, an environmental catastrophe and I believe information about these kinds of disasters needs to be spread and educated, because one never knows when something like this can happen to them. My own cousin happened to be in Nepal at the time of this earthquake; luckily he was unharmed, but many others were not so lucky. Spreading awareness of these natural disasters is vital not only so that those in the devastated area can receive aid, but so that people become curious about the dangers of nature and want to learn more about how to protect oneself in case of these sort of situations. Spreading information about how to protect oneself during an earthquake can save countless lives in the future, and finding ways to support and give aid to the victims of the quake can save lives now. As we live halfway across the world it is difficult for us to perceive that what we see on the news is actually happening to real people, but it is important for us to realize that these people are humans that are in desperate need of help, and we need to be able to have a way to support them as fast as possible, and plan for protection for the future.

Armour, Nancy. "Armour: Applaud Bruce Jenner for Bravery in Opening up." USA Today. Gannett, 25 Apr. 2015. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2015/04/24/bruce-jenner-woman-transgender-diane-sawyer-abc-2020/26340799/

            Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner came out as transgender in a Friday night interview with Diane Sawyer. He says that he had taken growth hormones for five years in the 1980’s and underwent other physical procedures in his transformation, but never went through with it out of fear. He admitted his struggle to the world in his interview, and the article highlights the dangers of the media’s misinformation on transgender people.

            I commend Jenner’s bravery in his decision to open up,  and I think it’s very important for well-known celebrities within the LGBT community to open up about their experiences to let the world know what it is like to live as a transgender person. Because Jenner is an athlete, this also made me think about how different athletics would be with the inclusion of transgender people, regarding the classification of “men’s” and “women’s” sports. I think this opens up a whole new field of possibilities in the world of sports, as well as other gender-related fields, such as fashion. The acceptance of LGBT celebrities and athletes such as Jenner is an important step in integrating transgender people into the modern world of athletics, fashion, social media, etc.