Queers and Art Education in the War Zone.

Queers and Art Education in the War ZoneQueer artist David Wojnarowicz (1991) defined and described war zone scenarios in Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration. He critiqued mainstream United States (U.S.) culture as diseased, much more concerned with universes of neatly clipped lawns than confronting (much less eradicating) abuse, violence, discriminations, fears, and other socially constructed diseases and inequalities: "WHEN I WAS TOLD THAT FD CONTRACTED THIS VIRUS [AIDS] IT DIDN'T TAKE ME LONG TO REALIZE THAT I'D CONTRACTED A DISEASED SOCIETY AS WELL" (p. 114). My dissertation, "My Self-Education As A Gay Artist"(Check, 1996), was modeled on Wojnarowicz's strategies of witnessing, anger, and truth-telling in art. he inspired me to think beyond the closet and acknowledge and incorporate the realities of violence and throw-away queer people in my critiques. He reminds me that many of us exist in war zones all of the time.Judith Herman's (1992) research on trauma and its impact on combat soldiers, victims of domestic abuse, and victims of political terror apply to many lesbian, gay, transgender, and hermaphrodite experiences. In my opinion, Herman's recovery-after-trauma frame better represents the realities of the social relationships I have created with queer folk and the culture than do traditional coming-out paradigms. Herman speaks about safety and empowerment, post-trauma, and recovery as restoring/ re-creating connections between the public and private, the individual and community, and between men and women. Herman's frame is about creating new spaces where we can be ourselves. For many queers, survival, safety, and hopefully, healing are a lifetime project. But this is after the trauma has ended. Many queer folk live their entire lives in the war zones.Wojnarowicz's (1991) war zone is analogous to many of my experiences in art education. In the fall of 2001, the Texas Art Education Association (TAEA) president canceled a panel I organized for TAEA's fall conference titled "Sexual Identities and the Art Classroom" two weeks before the conference. She said she did it to save art education in the state of Texas. The same semester, I was asked by my department chair to supervise student teachers at the high school level only. The local school district fine arts head was uncomfortable with me supervising student teachers in elementary schools. Reasons for this position were unstated, but I believe it is because I am an openly gay person living in a conservative area. In spring 2002, at my tenure defense, an art education colleague alleged that my gay identity compromised our art education program and outreach in the community. "War zone" appropriately describes many of my experiences living in a violent and homophobic culture. The war zone has yet to be fully addressed as a frame, for looking at queer lives and issues in art education literature.Linnea Due (1995) interviewed gay teens across the U. S. and found that presently as kids self-identify as queer, they are exposed to incredible amounts of violence at a much earlier age. They can't pass in ways older generations of queer folk could in the '50s, '60s, and '70s. High rates of STDs, suicide, and violence typify many of these teens' worlds. And yet, David Ruenzel (1999) describes how a few gay kids are fighting back and suing school officials for failing to protect them from violence and harassment from both teachers and other students. For example, a Lubbock, Texas high school Gay and Proud (GAP) student group recently filed a federal lawsuit for the right to post flyers advertising the group's meetings. Local radio personalities rationalized the student group's mission as establishing a school-sanctioned sex club. The local school board and community vowed to fight against the student group for the student group's own safety. Institutional education is failing queer folk in particular and all kids in general through actions such as these. …