Why I'm #TeamTessa

Over the last week or so, supporters of Veronica Roth's Divergent series have been carpet bombing twitter with tweets in support of Team Dauntless, which I assume has something to do with the novels, which I haven't read.  I'm sure they're good and wish Veronica Roth well with Divergent, its sequel, Insurgent, and the forthcoming third part of the trilogy, Detergent.  Okay, I made the last one up.

I love the energy and enthusiasm of Roth's fans and am not here to hate on anybody.  I saw Team Edward and Team Jacob stuff during the height of the Twilight craze (which, judging by the derisive laughter that greeted the Breaking Dawn trailer when I saw The Hunger Games, may have peaked), I saw Teem Peeta and Team Gale stuff for The Hunger Games, and now we get Team Dauntless.  There may be another team associated with Roth's book, but I haven't seen anyone supporting it.

All these great public shows of support for team this or that gave me an idea.  In Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom, some characters wear Team Tessa shirts to show their support for an inclusive prom at their school.

I was listening to the Savage Lovecast the other day (as I've said before, anyone who is or wants to be sexually active should definitely listen) (link may feature a not incredibly SFW ad), and, in discussing the verdict in the Tyler Clementi case, Dan (we appeared in the same anthology. Also he once answered a question of mine on the lovecast.  So we're pretty much besties) said that the kid who harassed Tyler Clementi was essentially being scapegoated, and that the blame for Tyler Clementi's hopelessness and suicide lay with the society that consistently dehumanized and degraded him for being who he is.

I was pretty moved by this. So here's my idea.  I've created a Team Tessa twibbon for my use and, hopefully, yours, during prom season. But you don't have to do that.  I'd love it if you could just signal your support for the idea with the #teamtessa hashtag once in a while. Signing on to Team Tessa means you are supporting inclusive proms and the following beliefs:

1.All people--gay, straight, lesbian, bi, trans, queer--are valuable.
2.Loving who you want and being honest with the world about it is a fundamental human right.                                                                         3.Wherever people are dancing, everyone should be allowed to dance with anyone who will have them.

That's it.

It's my hope that if this catches on, we can send a message to all kinds of teens, not just that it's going to get better (which is a valuable message that I totally support) but that there are people right now who support their right to be who they are and who think the world might be a better place if we all got together and danced. 

I'll be monitoring the #teamtessa hashtag, and I'll try to retweet anything that looks of interest--i.e., prom controversies we might want to be aware of.

Even if you choose not to publicly sign on to Team Tessa, I hope that if you support these ideas, you'll find another way to make your support public.