Uzbekistan and lgbt citizens

[jutadawg]

My wife and I are both public school teachers in a part of the country where there’s a significant Uzbek population. We’ve both had discussions about LGBT issues in class (we both teach history) and our Uzbek students (generalizing now) tend to strongly believe that gay people don’t exist in their home country. Some react very negatively, others are more reserved.

If I were a college professor I might engage students more on than I already do (I don’t mind challenging my any students’ homophobia or transphobia), but I’d like to pose more personal questions that I’m not comfortable asking my HS students. I’m curious about how a younger Uzbek person might react to hearing about someone in their family being LGBT. Or if they knew any gay people and how this plays out when parents want them to marry.

Anyone out there from Uzbekistan? I studied Russian (and Russian history) in college so я могу разговаривать на русском если вы хотите (although I don’t usually discuss these issues in Russian, but I’d be willing to try!).

 

[JockVamp]

Good luck with your class. I'm not Uzbek just an average American.

 

[MisterB]

@jutadawg Thank you for this posting. What I learn at LPSG never ceases to amaze me!

That said, IMO, this country needs more teachers like you and your wife. Open-minded. Thought-provoking. Challenging students about their thoughts and ideas and yes, prejudices that sometimes we are not aware we have.

I would be proud if my third grader were fortunate to have you as a teacher when she reaches High School.

Hopefully this thread takes off; I look forward to following what could be some great discussion. Learning about and understanding that which we are ignorant is one of my greatest pleasures. Thanks!

 

[jutadawg]

@jutadawg Thank you for this posting. What I learn at LPSG never ceases to amaze me!

That said, IMO, this country needs more teachers like you and your wife. Open-minded. Thought-provoking. Challenging students about their thoughts and ideas and yes, prejudices that sometimes we are not aware we have.

I would be proud if my third grader were fortunate to have you as a teacher when she reaches High School.

Hopefully this thread takes off; I look forward to following what could be some great discussion. Learning about and understanding that which we are ignorant is one of my greatest pleasures. Thanks!

That’s nice of you to say. Especially right now as my kids are driving me a little crazy with it being so close to the end of the school year.

I’m fortunate to be in a pretty progressive (big, urban, underfunded, decaying, public) school with a great principal. We have several openly gay teachers and the students are pretty responsive to being redirected/called out when they say stupid shit like “That’s so gay!” or call someone a faggot. All my kids know I have gay friends and family, a friend who’s trans, and I’m not going to tolerate ignorant comments. Most of my colleagues are like this. I’m nothing special.

Some of my students come from pretty conservative backgrounds, families, counties of origin. I like my Uzbek kiddos a lot. They let me practice my Russian, teach me some Uzbek, and tend to work hard and are interesting students. I’d love to pick their brains on “gay stuff” but it just wouldn’t be appropriate. Some of the things I’ve read about being LGBT in Uzbekistan are pretty horrifying but these kids are so awesome that it doesn’t quite square with me.

In the meantime, MisterB, I hope your own kid has a positive experience in her school with open-minded and supportive teachers. That’s the least we could do for this country’s kids, am I right??

 

[jujube]

I once became acquainted with an Uzbek high school student who put the moves on me very persistently. He was clearly bisexual or homosexual in orientation despite living "straight" in public.

I think one distinction that might be helpful when discussing matters of this sort is the distinction between "gay" as a lifestyle and "homosexual" as a sexual orientation. Through my interactions with people of various countries in Asia, I have learned that there are a great many more "homosexual" people than there are "gay" people. This discrepancy is not so salient in the United States, where it appears that a great percentage of homosexuals live a publicly gay, "out" lifestyle, many of whom are obviously different from the norm in some aspects of their dress, speech, or demeanor. One also should consider the reason why public health authorities have felt a need to create the "men who have sex with men" neologism.

When people vociferously declare that "there are no gay people in our country" (Uzbekistan, Iran, etc.), they may be correct insomuch as it would be extremely dangerous and well-nigh impossible to live an explicitly "gay" lifestyle in such societies. However, there certainly are plenty of individuals in those societies who have a "homosexual" orientation, and many of those who declare that "there are no gay people in our country" probably have at least one "homosexual" acquaintance, friend, relative, or family member (or may even be homosexual themselves).

Of course, because people in these societies are subjected to tremendous pressure to project an outwardly "normal" persona, it is not difficult to imagine that many members of the society might honestly have no awareness of the homosexual orientation of many of their compatriots.