School's Out!
01-09 19:43 Caijing
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Bringing gay issues to the classroom.
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In case you’re curious, his answers are ‘yes’ and ‘sometimes’. The charismatic Ammann, 27, is co-organiser of the city’s Speakers’ Bureau, which, in December, gave its first talk to 14- and 15-year-old students in Beijing about everything from coming out to, yes, anal sex. Speakers’ Bureaus – a fairly common phenomenon in the US – are informal groups of LGBT people who talk about their experiences and answer questions about homosexuality at universities and high schools.
‘They are a way to promote awareness of the gay community,’ explains Ammann, who hails from Illinois in the US. ‘They are also about raising awareness and educating people,’ chips in Jason Wang, 25, Ammann’s co-organiser.
At the talks, there are few subjects that are off-limits, Wang explains. ‘We answer questions about anything: religion, our personal life, we would even talk about sex, how we do it and the nitty-gritty details. Some of them don’t even know how it’s possible for two people of the same gender to have sex.’
Despite having years of experience taking part in these talks, Ammann says the sex questions still leave him squirming. ‘I can do it,’ he laughs, ‘but to not use profanities, or words that make me sound like a boring teacher, or make sex sound really cold and scientific is hard. The thing is, it’s super important for some of them that they get the answers to these questions.’
While the topic of sex is important, Wang adds that the key point of these talks is to give teenagers, both straight and gay, a sense that LGBT people can be happy and successful in life too, as well as giving gay students older role models to look towards.
‘I want them to ask: “What is your life like now?”’ says Wang, who works for CET, a study abroad programme for American students in China. ‘I want them to understand that we are happy individuals. I want them to see us in our entirety and to show that our sexuality is very integrated and a positive aspect of our lives.’
Wang, who likewise hails from the US, explains that if the Speakers’ Bureaus are successful, he also plans to start a side programme called ‘Safe Zone’, which aims to train teachers and administrators how to offer valuable support to LGBT students.
‘Safe Zone takes it further,’ says Wang. ‘It’s not so much about awareness, it’s about advocacy and creating support and allies. It’s a training [programme]. We train them in the concepts and history of the LGBT movement; we talk about stereotypes; we offer them resources that they can then share with their students.’
These Speakers’ Bureaus are a first for Beijing’s international schools, but a team of volunteers have been doing a similar programme in Chinese at local universities, says Ammann. The two men say they are approaching international schools, not local schools, because their experiences are more relevant to expat teenagers.
‘These kids can have extremely busy – and also extremely religious – parents, and so a lot of them can be really sheltered,’ says Ammann. ‘This is an audience that could really use this.’
The talks, organised under the auspices of the Beijing LGBT Center, are entirely staffed by volunteers. Ammann says he would love for more people to help out and talk to students. In particular, they are looking for non-white, non-American males. If you would like to join what Ammann terms as a ‘warm and fuzzy’ team, drop him an email at speakersbureau.bjlgbt@gmail.com and you can learn how to answer questions about anal sex without sounding stiff.
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