May 18, 2011

But think of the children!

This comes up every time a same-sex marriage law is being considered somewhere, and every time I just don't understand it: The idea that we need to protect school children from Teh Gay.

For example, these fliers from New York, by the National Organization for Marriage:





Here's what I don't understand, and perhaps someone can explain it to me... Why does it hurt a child's innocence to read a cute picture book where two people of the same gender live happily ever after? Or why is teaching "gay history" (whatever the hell that means - all I could think of was the Stonewall riots, which we learned in high school) a horrible thing? And same-sex sex ed - well, shouldn't LGBTQ students be included in sex ed? Otherwise, they're on their own to learn about safe sex.

So nothing there sounds like a threat to me. It sounds more like acknowledging that LGBTQ students exist and making an effort to include them and help other students understand them.

Maybe that's the problem? NOM thinks that if we continue ignoring them, allowing false information to spread, and mocking them they'll go away?

I remember when the Prop 8 trial was going on I was so frustrated, because the pro-gay marriage side had put together such a good argument, and the anti-gay marriage side just didn't even seem to be trying. If they were going to duke it out like that, I wanted both sides to do their best, so we could see the merits of both sides. I really want to give them the credit of having maybe some inkling of a legitimate argument, but all it seems to boil down every time to is hating gay people.

2 comments:

Foxie said...

Once again, a comedian sums it up for us: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMRnOX3BuW0

Brinn said...

Diregarding the "OMG GAY IS BAD" statements in that second poster, it all seems like information in favor of gay marriage. Kids being taught boys can marry boys? Great! Teaching the history of the gay rights struggle alongside the civil rights movement and the suffrage movement? Awesome? And gay sex education? YES. These are all necessary things. I don't see that poster and think "Teh gay is ebil" I think, "These are necessary things."

I really don't understand anti-gay marriage people. Like... it just baffles me.