In October of 2013, Beavercreek High School staged a production of the play Almost, Maine. Almost, Maine is comprised of nine stand-alone stories including a prologue, interlogue and epilogue. One of the stories, entitled They Fell, is between two men, Randy and Chad, who realize their love for each other. When auditions were held in September, Randy and Chad were not included on the cast list. The director was in the process of persuading the principle and school board to allow the scene when he had cast it. He had a back-up plan if the scene was allowed in. It was not. Some of the students asked if we could do the scene but make it a heterosexual couple instead. Our director refused and said that we would do the scene as written or not do …show more content…
The rest of the characters in the play are in heterosexual relationships. Removing They Fell normalizes heterosexuality as the only way to be. It creates a sense of compulsory heterosexuality. It also supports a homophobic and heterosexist environment. Beavercreek High School sends conflicting messages about sexuality because they did not allow the portrayal of a homosexual relationship but they allow LGBT/Allies organizations. This is different from the usual institutional discourse that says “Please do not exist”. Instead, Beavercreek is saying “You can exist, but we do not want to see you”. Members of the LGBT community have been marked as other and are therefore made invisible (“the chief social characteristic of gays”) to the dominant majority (Mohr …show more content…
It does not completely solve all of their problems but it is still very helpful. Because members are marked as other, they are made invisible. This allows heterosexuality and heterosexism to become the norm in society. Visibility combats this. Homophobia stems in part from fear and lack of knowledge of same-sex relationships. Visibility educates people and replaces fear with understanding. It helps to normalize a full spectrum of sexuality and destroy the idea that heterosexuality is compulsory. RJ mentioned that exposing students to scenes like They Fell puts people into the mindset that other sexualities are okay. Acceptance comes from exposure and