Administrators at Sheridan High School, located just south of Little Rock, Ark., are refusing to include an interview with openly gay student Taylor Ellis in this year’s yearbook. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), is calling on Sheridan Superintendent Brenda Haynes and Principal Rodney Williams to reverse the decision.
Taylor’s bio reads:
“I use to be scared to say that I’m gay,” Taylor Ellis, junior, said. “It’s not fun keeping secrets; after I told everyone, it felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.”
Ellis’s “secret” was first shared in the summer of 2012, with his friend Joelle Curry, junior, and his mother, Lyn Tillman.
“I wasn’t surprised at all,” Tillman said. “I don’t care because he’s my son, and I know he’s happier.”
Ellis, who said he struggles with depression, which has gotten better since he has come out.
However, Ellis waited until spring break of 2013 to tell the rest of his peers; he did so through the social media site, Instagram.
I put it in my bio, and hashtagged pictures,” Ellis said. “When people would ask me about it, I just said ‘yes I am,’ and that was that.”
Although the thought of coming out, and the repercussions of doing so, frightened Ellis at first, he found that most of the student body, as well as the teachers, were very accepting of him.
I wrote about it in Mrs. Williams class; it was when I first came out,” Ellis said. “She told me she was glad I shared that with her. We had a stronger bond after that, I think.”
“He had poured himself into it,” Summer Williams, sophomore English teacher, said. “It was one of the best ones I read. I was just so proud of his openness, and his honesty. It was a risk; sharing that with his classmates, but they were very accepting. It was good for him. I could tell he felt better after writing about it.”
Ellis found that while people do not treat him with disrespect, some do seem to be more distant.
“Some guys are more reserved around me now,” Ellis said. “But not a lot of people have been mean about it, thank God. I’m actually in a good situation. I’m very lucky.”
In a letter to both Haynes and Williams, HRC President Chad Griffin said:
“If not resolved immediately, this act of discriminatory censorship will send a dangerous message to all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students in Sheridan, across Arkansas and around the nation — that they are second-class citizens and their lives are not equally valid. Instead of respecting the wishes of Taylor’s fellow students to recognize him in their yearbook, you have told him and other students who may already feel marginalized that they are not an equally valued part of the Sheridan high school student body.
“As an Arkansas native and a former elementary school student in Sheridan, I was taught the Golden Rule – about treating others as we would like to be treated. Whatever you may say about your intentions, it does not change the fact that you have failed to uphold these values that all fair-minded Arkansans share. Addressing bullying requires stopping bullies, not muzzling harmless free expression.”
The full letter is available here.
HRC’s 2012 Youth Survey reflects the urgent need to ensure schools are welcoming and supportive environments for LGBT youth. The survey found that some of the biggest concerns facing youth include grades and getting into college – but for LGBT youth, their biggest worries were non-accepting families, bullying and harassment, and a fear of coming out. And 92 percent of LGBT youth hear negative messages about being gay.
