A friend of mine posted a video on his blog. I watched it, and couldn’t tell if I should laugh, or cry, or scream. At first it looks like a joke, and I almost started laughing, but then it just keeps going, and going, and all the while getting more serious. Which leads me to believe that it wasn’t a joke, and if it wasn’t a joke, then I have to reply. But I didn’t want to reply on his blog, and have him feel as if I were attacking him personally. So I’ve posted it here because I just can’t let this go without saying something.
Video after the break.
Upon watching that, I somewhat agree with not teaching kids in elementary about the details of gay marriage, but that’s not to say that it’s absolutely bad, and we should ban gay marriage because of it. Banning gay marriage because of the fear that it will allows teachers to teach about gay marriage in school is no different from a straight marriage. If a teacher at your school is teaching your kids about anything sexual (besides Sex Ed./Health in high school), then they should be removed from teaching, especially if it’s younger children. But simply showing situations of a same sex household, in normal everyday situations? It’s like banning interracial marriages simply because you don’t want a picture of a white man and a black woman holding hands, being shown to your kids. And if that still offends you…
The problem I see with banning gay marriage (and I’ve posted about this before), is that this country was built on the foundation that everybody is equal (I know, back then all they really meant was wealthy white male land owners, but I hope we’ve progressed farther than that by now), and we all have the inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness. Banning gay marriage is the exact opposite of this.
Banning gay marriage is taking away that right to happiness from so many people, that it absolutely cannot be tolerated. If gay marriage were actually hurting you, or taking away your rights, then I could see your point. But two people getting married has absolutely no effect on you, your family, or anything else important to you. It does not hurt the “sanctity” of marriage, it does not stop you from getting married, and it certainly does not turn your kids gay because they saw a picture of a same sex couple in a kitchen, eating breakfast.
But banning it does have an immensely hurtful effect on the people we are imposing that ban on. It hurts them by taking away their rights to answer important questions and make life changing decisions in a hospital when their loved one is sick or dying, it takes away the rights of them to pursue happiness in the same way that opposite sex marriages give to male-female partners have: by getting married, and showing the world that you have found a person that you connect with so deeply that you want to declare it to the world. So I ask you, and I really do want to open a conversation on this matter… why?
And there is so much more I want to say, but I wanted to keep this as short as possible, whie still getting my point across. So please post your comments. I won’t be offended.
Yeah, I couldn’t tell if it was a parody or not either. Either way, I know there are people out there who would agree with it.
I applaud the school for standing up to the parents since parents are the ones propagating the negativity. I understand their position about parental rights, but kids don’t automatically conjure up images of the bedroom the way adults do when talking about homosexuality. If you think it’s a moral issue, in addition to a legal one, talk about it at home after school with your children.
To me the school is teaching tolerance, compassion and respect for those different than yourself. It is generally accepted that sexual orientation is not chosen; you can’t make someone be straight or gay. So if your child came home one day and told you s/he was gay, would you want the world and those around them to ostracize them or treat them with acceptance and respect?