“On the other hand, some researchers have suggested that participation in a romantic relationship may also increase anxiety and depressive symptoms among youth, particularly if youth are dissatisfied with these relationships, encounter conflict in their interactions with partners, and/or experience difficult relationship breakups” (La Greca and Harrison 2005; Russell and Consolacion, 2003 as cited in Bauermeister et al., 2010).

As an adult who identifies herself as being heterosexual, I didn’t have to think twice about hiding my sexuality when I was a developing adolescent. Yet, I too had an unhealthy, in ways quite traumatizing first relationship as I entered into the dating world, something that many adolescents unfortunately may also undergo- and I cannot begin to fathom how kids who are GLBT or anything that strays from what society has created as a “norm” for us may feel. As mentioned in the article, factors such as internalized homophobia can buffer personal growth and development and cause various types of psychological distress (Bauermeister et al., 2010)- apart from what a relationship alone may bring to the child. We are talking about undergoing life and all of what it has to offer and impeding… crippling some of freely growing into the resilient person they could be because of what society has deemed as normal for far too long. We all may generally know everything is structured and constructed for us- but what is this doing to people? What are we perpetuating? How is it keeping some of us from succeeding and getting to where we want to be/from becoming a healthy proactive and fulfilled member of society? Society itself is a term used to collectively refer to a group of people. Some synonyms suggest all-inclusiveness (such as community, group, club, association, etc) yet so much of what we see or experience on a day to day basis defies the very definition and meaning of what society should represent. As teachers, educators, members of a society rich in diversity, our students deserve to feel motivated to explore their sexuality in healthy and safe ways. Referring to the article by Castro, I.E., & Sujak, M. C. (2014), we can start by not supporting a heteronormative curriculum. Let’s take the topic of “families” for example. Not every family has a father figure, or a mother, or a sibling, or perhaps they have two mothers/ fathers, etc., the question is- how do we bring these topics about in the classroom so that students feel comfortable with however it is their home-life is set up, while also respecting them/ not obligating those students who may not be in a preferable living situation to feel left out or “weird”. As a foreign language teacher (currently student teacher) I have discussed and brainstormed with my colleagues ways that we could introduce the concept of ‘family’ without falling into this cycle of normalizing what is true to actually very few of us. Homophobia is not an outlier of the “prejudice umbrella” and we have to openly discuss the realities of the world we live in and work towards bringing truth to what society even means and practice all-inclusiveness and support.