‘I’ve Never Been Bashed by an Educated Person’

This election came and went with very little fanfare. Mayor Riordan sailed back into office as predicted. The record number of Latino voters exceeded the pundits’ expectations and helped cause one other surprise: Proposition BB, the school bond measure, was approved by well over the required two-thirds of voters.

But skimming through The Times’ election analysis, I came across an interesting statistic. Of the 18 demographic groups polled, gay and lesbian voters were surpassed only by liberal and Latino voters in their support for the school bond measure. An estimated 81% of lesbians and gay men who were polled said they voted for Proposition BB. Since the gay and lesbian population is as diverse as the straight one, it seemed surprising that gays and lesbians from ail walks of life would be so unified in their support of public education.

So I decided to ask around and see where this support was coming from. The first two friends I asked, a gay male couple in their 30s, made the argument that public education is the great equalizer, leveling the playing field so that the phrase “equal opportunity” really means something. These guys aren’t tough to account for, though, since they also identify as liberals.

A conservative gay male friend, who as a rule votes against bond measures, also supported Proposition BB.

When I pressed him to explain his lapse, he said, “Well, I’ve never been bashed by an educated person.”

I responded, “What about Jesse Helms?”

He shrugged and muttered, “The exception just proves the rule.”

I asked a lesbian friend who’s an elementary school teacher why she voted for the measure, expecting her to lay out her educational philosophy. To my surprise, she gave a very personal response instead: “When I was growing up, my parents were very disapproving of me--I think they already sensed something back then. School was kind of a refuge, I had a really good English teacher and I did really well in his class. It just seemed like a place where I was respected for what I could do.”

I’ve always supported school bond measures instinctively, but when I think about it, my reasons are both political and personal. I, too, have found that where attitudes toward gay and lesbian people are concerned, ignorance and bigotry go hand in hand. I also think there is something to the notion that having to face rejection from our own families causes lesbians and gay men to become both more individualistic and more community-oriented--when we strike out on our own, our personal stake in the larger society increases. Maybe this personal stake is what unifies lesbian and gay Angelenos in our support of public education.