NEWS
UOTeachOUT TO SCREEN DOCUMENTARY
ON TRANSGENDER TEACHER
A multitude of misinformed ideas about gender and
bathrooms has permeated the national discussion as of late,
but here in Eugene, the University of Oregon is addressing
homophobia and transphobia in public education through
UOTeachOUT, its annual series of events on sexual
orientation and gender identity.
Each year, UO education professor Julia Heffernan and
her colleagues invite a guest speaker to provide insight on
LGBT-related topics for future educators and the general
public. This year, UOTeachOUT has invited Hina Wong-
Kalu, a transgender woman and educator in Hawaii, who
is featured in the documentary A Place in the Middle.
According to a recent climate survey in Eugene School
District 4J, 7 to 9 percent of secondary students in the district
identify as LGBTQ, and 54 percent of secondary students
in 4J suffer harassment on a monthly basis due to sexual
orientation.
Heffernan, Tina Gutierez-Schmich, equity director of
Bethel School District, and UO seniors in Heffernan’s class
about homophobia all helped organize UOTeachOUT.
On May 12, UOTeachOUT hosts a screening of A Place
in the Middle, followed by a discussion with Wong-Kalu.
The film’s directors will also be present.
“This is such an important topic, and Hina’s story
‘I hope to share that there is a
particular feel and flare to the
transgender experience and [in] the
Polynesian and Asian context, and
that I am but one example of that.’
— HINA WONG-KALU
offers us a window into what it can look like to have safe,
welcoming and inclusive schools for diversity to thrive,”
Heffernan says.
A Place in the Middle shares Wong-Kalu’s transition
story and how she supported a female student, who
identifies as male and female, to lead an end-of-the-year
dance performed by male classmates.
When Wong-Kalu was 18, she began transitioning,
which she describes as a “slow and painstaking transition
process.” She was concerned with looking like a woman
and being beautiful like her mother, she says.
She explains that she didn’t want to look like a boy in
girl’s clothing. “I wanted to be my family’s daughter,” she
tells EW.
When asked about what educators and future educators
can do to be allies for transgender students, Wong-Kalu
says, “Stop identifying with penis and vagina and thinking
about what’s between people’s legs.”
Wong-Kalu says she believes that getting to know
someone should be the focus. She adds, “What’s the great
difference on the inside between a transgender person
and a non-transgender identifying person? Do we not all
have feelings? Do we not all have goals, some kind of
aspiration, some kind of want, some kind of need? Do we
not all have likes and dislikes?”
At the UOTeachOUT, Wong-Kalu says, “I hope to share
that there is a particular feel and flare to the transgender
experience and [in] the Polynesian and Asian context, and
that I am but one example of that.” — Claire Rischiotto
UOTeachOUT kicks off with a BBQueer fundraiser starting 3 pm Saturday,
May 7, at Claim 52 Brewing, 1030 Tyinn Street. The screening of A Place in
the Middle begins 6 pm Thursday, May 12, at Prince Lucien Campbell Hall,
Room 180, on the UO campus. Admission is free. Find more event information
at uoteachout.com.
HINA WONG-KALU
eugeneweekly.com • May 5, 2016
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