Red Bank Regional Students Discuss Gender

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By Elizabeth Wulfhorst
LITTLE SILVER–Red Bank Regional High School (RBR) took a unique approach to its Week of Respect activities this year, focusing on the hot-button topic of gender identity.
The New Jersey Department of Education requires that schools observe a Week of Respect in October of each year “by providing age-appropriate instruction focusing on preventing HIB (harassment, intimidation and bullying).”
RBR partnered with Make it Better for Youth, a Monmouth County consortium for LGBT youth, to bring Samuel Killermann to the school for a presentation on gender. Killermann is an author, activist and social justice comedian who pens the popular blog “It’s Pronounced Metrosexual.”
Killermann’s presentation was both funny and insightful, imparting important concepts to the students, including the complexity of gender identity. Killermann’s fascination with gender and gender identity began in college when a prospective girlfriend assumed he was homosexual. He is not. This misperception occurred often enough in college that he sought counsel at the college’s LGBTQ center. While Killermann admits he is not a “masculine guy,” he was told people were confusing his sexuality with the way he expressed his gender in dress and mannerisms.
Killerman explained that “biological sex (male or female) is the physical make-up of our bodies” while a person’s gender is relative and personal to each individual. He went on to say there are many versions of gender and a variety of ways a person may self-describe their own gender beyond the traditional binary label of male or female – gender neutral, gender fluid, gender queer, transgender.
He also cautioned the students to use these classifications as adjectives and not nouns when describing a person’s gender preference and to do everything in their power to ensure the people in their lives do not ever feel ashamed of who they are.
Students from Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School’s Gay Straight Alliance, as well as the Collier School were also invited to the presentation.
“People need to be aware of the changes around them and advancements for LGBTQ students and society,” said Skylar (Kyle) Eber, the president of RBR’s active Gender & Sexuality Alliance (GSA). “I have heard from a lot of students praising his presentation and saying how good it was, how enjoyable it was.”
Sophomore Tamia Waddy added, “It was amazing. Schools don’t usually do this. They push it into a closet. It is really important to be open-minded about this. I was really proud of my school.”
More information about gender identity and ways to combat HIB can be found at makeitbetter4youth.org and samuelkillermann.com.