Week 8 - Chloriza Avila - Section A02

Reading Lee's "Teaching Justice and Living Peace.." brought me to reflect on the way that sexuality and religious education in general was taught to me.  My childhood Sundays consisted of attending "Sunday school" at St. Luke's church in Stockton.  This is where I learned about the Ten Commandments, the Our Father, and received my confirmation. I don't necessarily regret going to Sunday school and learning about the Catholic faith.  If anything I still find myself turning to God in many aspects of my life.  However, I feel that as I grew older, the notion that "God is always with you" was used as an excuse to justify actions that my family didn't think was appropriate.

One of my closest cousins always knew that they were queer deep down inside, but felt that they needed to suppress those feelings in order to follow the morals and values of our family. Additionally, they were bullied at school even though they weren't openly queer in school.  I hated that my cousin couldn't fully be their authentic selves because they were afraid that they would "go to hell" as many of my older grandparents would claim.  In most Asian American communities, sexuality is based on the gender binary.  Man. Women. Man and woman together.  Man and women only have children. If anyone defies these rules then it's almost like they are stripped of their existence within that said religion. In the article, Lee discusses the lack of curriculum surrounding the topic of sexuality and religion especially within Asian American communities.  I feel that discourse on this subject is definitely necessary especially because this topic is taboo in most Asian households.  People shouldn't feel forced to keep this "secret" inside of them, especially if it can affect the person both mentally and emotionally. I am grateful that I was able to learn about these things once I got to college and had the opportunities to learn about intersectionality, gender, and sexuality from workshops on campus. Unlearn and relearn.  Take control of your identity because the personal is political.

                                      

https://lgbtqia.ucdavis.edu/educated/ally-training 

Question: Why don't they teach curriculum surrounding gender and sexuality in K-12 curriculum? Why do we always need to shield the youth from reality? 

References: 

Lee, B. (2006). Teaching justice and living peace: body, sexuality, and religious education in Asian-American communities. Religious Education, 101(3), 402-419.