FIRST LGBT+ (A blog by and about LGBT+ people in FIRST)

[sean-from-5113]

Originally Posted by Mr_Moko

My friend (and co-founder of the blog) had to be stuck in his own room because he's trans and his school/the parents of his team saw him as a liability.

Imagine hearing all your friends giggling in their hotel rooms while you are alone and lying awake. No one on the team wanted me to room by myself, my mentors didn't want me by myself, but at the end of the day, the school administration decided for me. I wasn't told about my rooming situation until the day of.

[Road Rash]

Originally Posted by sean-from-5113

Imagine hearing all your friends giggling in their hotel rooms while you are alone and lying awake. No one on the team wanted me to room by myself, my mentors didn't want me by myself, but at the end of the day, the school administration decided for me. I wasn't told about my rooming situation until the day of.

That's very sad. Unfortunately for you, administrators will often base their decisions out of the fear of the unknown. Unless your lucky to have an administrator willing to take a stand, they will often take the safe route. It's better to isolate the member than to take the potential heat from some angry parents, for example.

I'm not claiming to know what exactly went down in your particular situation, but it seems that the whole situation could've been avoided. If you have friends on the teams with parents willing to fight for you, perhaps they can bring the issue to school administration on your behalf.

[MysterE]

Originally Posted by sean-from-5113

Imagine hearing all your friends giggling in their hotel rooms while you are alone and lying awake. No one on the team wanted me to room by myself, my mentors didn't want me by myself, but at the end of the day, the school administration decided for me. I wasn't told about my rooming situation until the day of.

This - this, my friends, is the reason that these issues have to be discussed. I remember when I received a call from a parent who had a student that was trying to understand their sexuality.

"Is it ok that they stay in a room with someone of their same gender - especially if they are attracted to them?"

This question, asked by a parent trying to understand their own child, is only the beginning.

I have had students on my team from a large spectrum of the LGBT+ community, from the student seeking to understand their gender to students who had been gay for years. There is one thing that they have in common - they all have experienced some form of discrimination, bullying, or prejudice. They have had to suffer under ignorance and fear. They have had to hear their lifestyle choice used as an obscenity or as a description of something that is 'stupid' or 'wrong'.

FIRST is NOT just about robotics. It is about the growth of leaders - of Gracious Professionals that understand how to deal with differences with grace and with a lack of ignorance. It is to expand on the idea that everyone should have a superhero in STEM; someone that they can look to and say "There is someone who is like me and is successful." It is not an organization that avoids issues but one that should run to them because the best innovation happens when there is clarity, transparency, and understanding.

Whether it is by blog or by talking among our own teams, I think it is incumbent on FIRST teams as incubators of innovation and designers of leaders to help create people who can adapt to social changes with understanding and skill.

After all, when any student is isolated because of a difference - because of race, gender, social beliefs, or ideological concepts - we all lose.

Thanks.
Daniel.