tolerance, respect, support, acceptance, school administration, activism, love, GSA, siblings
Ryan: Because Tay started the first gay straight alliance at her Catholic school board right across the street at St. Pious, and they had to fight some battles to get the group approved...
Max: Sanctioned
Ryan: Sanctioned you know. But administration really wasn’t all that helpful. You know, everything was like pulling teeth getting them to approve you know. In fact, they got a gender neutral bathroom in there as well. But again that was - it opened a week before the end of school. You know. Some of the students would pull posters down off the wall.
Max: And society was still kinda like hmm...
Ryan: She would go to the administration and they would support her saying please don't do that. But with that said, during their graduation, their principal, during his speech did mention how Tay and her friend who also started the group - forcefully educated him on many a topic. He shouted a shout out to her in for of the all the parents and students.
Max: Which was pretty awesome.
Ryan: You know.
Tara: Must have felt great.
Ryan: It did.
Max: There’s a big.. and this is one of the biggest things that I want teachers to think about. There’s a massive difference between tolerance, and acceptance, and support.
Tara: And respect.
Max: Right, yeah, well respect should underpin all of it.
Tara: Tolerance, acceptance, and support.
Max: Yeah
Tara: Which is what you're saying all the time.
Max: I have lived with tolerance from my family all my life but I didn't realize it until I actually felt acceptance. Then I saw the difference. So if we can teach kids what that truly means, how that feels. That’s a big lesson, then you can go through. You’re not really with me are you? And then you can make good decisions. You can like learn interpersonal skills, learning the difference between acceptance and tolerance. That’s a massive switch.
Tara: And support and allyship.
Max: And its just, its huge. Those concepts are very hard to teach unless you've experienced them. And I don't know how you do that. But you know tolerance, okay, well I’ll sit beside you. Okay. Acceptance, I’ll put my arm around you. Support, I’ll lift you up when you can’t get up. There’s things like that, like that’s what I would hope. When we talk to our kids, those little differences in language come with big differences in feeling. So yeah that would be one thing that I’d like to see. Anyways.