Diversity in the Media

I grew up in a very small liberal high school in St. Louis, Missouri. John Burroughs High School to be more specific. Burroughs was a school where diversity was encouraged and discrimination was outlawed. Clubs such as Gay Straight Alliance and Diversity Club were rampant around campus and if you didn't support these clubs, YOU were the outcast.

I remember specifically one day when we had a gay speaker come to our morning assembly to give a speech on discrimination. At the end of his talk, there were people handing out rainbow ribbons at the door and everyone was encouraged to pin them onto their shirts or blouses as a support mechanism for gay rights.

I chose not to take a ribbon and the responses I received were astounding. Just because I chose not to support gay rights did not mean that I looked down on those who chose to be gay. It also did not mean that I would have treated them any differently given the opportunity.

Media is diverse. So diverse in fact that we have an entire section in the AP style book dedicated to sexuality and gender.

For our AP style presentation we chose a different celebrity for each category.

Ellen Degeneres for 'lesbian':

Elton John for 'gay':

Thomas Beatie for 'transgender':

And Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez for 'boy' and 'woman'