Homophobia Is For the Birds
Oh my, but humans are a confounding lot. We blithely justify violence in the media and in nearly the same breath cry out to censor sexuality without realizing that we have it backwards. We put potheads in prison for decades but let violent multiple offenders out of jail after less than a month allowing them another chance to kill someone. We shop at Wal*Mart because we buy into the deceitful claims of lower prices but then use the money we saved to buy a 13mpg SUV. We shout loud and hard about giving our children a well-rounded, real-world education but then, completely ignoring the real world, we fight to remove a children’s book from library shelves because it suggests that two living parents are better than an incubator, even if they both happen to be the same gender.
A new picture book published by Simon & Schuster, entitled And Tango Makes Three, is based on a true story of two male penguins in a New York zoo that adopted a fertilized penguin egg and raised the chick together as their own. If you’ve seen March of the Penguins in its entirety, then you know what that egg means to them*. And yet, there are people so worried about the prospect of their children gaining hard evidence proving the fact (that’s right, fact) same-sex coupling appears throughout nature that they are willing to sabotage their children’s education.
Complaining about the book's homosexual undertones, some parents of Shiloh Elementary School students believe the book — available to be checked out of the school's library in this 11,000-resident town 20 miles east of St. Louis — tackles topics their children aren't ready to handle.
Topics they're not ready to handle? But explaining to them why we kill one another in droves is something they’re prepared for? Hmm. Again, something seems a bit backwards to me.
And Tango Makes Three is not some clever conspiracy by a quiet but determined Gay Mafia to recruit ‘em young, though you’d think it was based on the reactions of these ignorant boobs in Shiloh. To wit:
Lilly Del Pinto thought the book looked charming when her 5-year-old daughter brought it home in September. Del Pinto said she was halfway through reading it to her daughter "when the zookeeper said the two penguins must be in love."
"That's when I ended the story," she said.
Get that? When it turned out the two were in love, it was more than Ms. Del Pinto could abide and she ended the story. The tale was going so well until love entered the picture. Because, you see, to people like Ms. Del Pinto, romantic love is only possible between a male and a female; anything else is intolerable debauchery. I’m pretty sure my friends Myke and Kevin would strongly disagree. (UPDATE: Yup, sure enough.)
I must commend Shiloh school district Superintendent Jennifer Filyaw for showing true patriotism for the Land of the Free by refusing to move the book. She felt that would constitute censorship and she was right. Standing up to a bunch of eristically religious hens in order to defend freedom makes her a hero in my book.
I’m going to buy And Tango Makes Three and proudly add it to my library. Heck, I might even volunteer some time at a daycare to read the story to impressionable tots because I can’t think of a better lesson to teach budding young minds than the importance of the inclusive nature of love.
*The scene in which the father penguin fails to get the egg off the ice in time brought me to wailing tears. I get choked up just thinking about it.
Comments
I will not go see happy feet because of March of the Penguins. It seems like it will trivialize their plight. The saddest part was when the mom was eaten by the sea lion and the narrator said, "that is two deaths, because the child will starve to death."
I believe that homosexuality is a sin, but so are a lot of other things. We are born sinful and we all have to ask for God's forgiveness and all sin looks the same in God's eyes. That said, you can't ask the church to sanctify gay marriage. This is not saying that gay people should not be allowed in church. Church is for the sinner, I challenge you to show me one sin free person in any church on any given Sunday, or Saturday as the case may be.
The book sounds innocent and sweet, but parents ultimately have control over their children. There are all kinds of things that I don't want my children exposed to yet. Am I a crazed right winger protesting military funerals because of it? No, I prefer to call it responsible parenting. I am one of the few who hopes to take the responsibility of teaching my child about sex and not letting the school system do it. Parents shirk responsibility a lot. Teach your child values at home and early. Model those values. Enforce those values. Do not waiver, and your child should have the same values.
This is exactly why,anytime I see someone being ignorant,especially being homophobic,I call them on it.
It says a LOT about parents when a book about two penguin "daddies" is offensive to them.I know several people who would think the book is some sort of gay propaganda.If those people weren't ignorant(homophobic,xenophobic and a few other phobics)they would know that there are a lot of same sex couples in the animal world.They also would probably accuse the animals of pushing their gay agenda.
The superintendent did the right thing by not taking the book out of the school.
Without beating the dead horse of Gay Marriage, I will say that I would never condone forcing churches to marry gay people if it goes against their canon, but I think it's discrimination that gays don't have the same civil union rights which straights enjoy.
And yeah...that's it the Gay Mafia are out there trying to recruit our youth...they've got a mission to make everyone go gay...that's it. ;) Why don't people get it, Kirk?
Myke, what a terrific comment. I got chills just reading it. Between what you and Kirk have said I don't need to add anything. I just want to say that I am glad you mentioned being a child, a gay child, and being able to grow up the way you are without harrassment, judgement and the feeling that something is "wrong" with you.
That is exactly what I thought when Kirk mentioned people being afraid of the gay mafia trying to "recruit 'em young".
I thought, "they are not "recruited". Therefore to have the chance to read a book like that might make those kids feel a whole lot better about themselves and thier prospects for a life.
Anyway, thanks, you guys for talking so sensibly, calmly, and well about a subject that many would find difficult to address. It just seems all so plain and simple when you guys express it! *Hugs all around!!!*
Myke: Thanks for such a personal comment. I've added a link to it in the body of the post because I think it makes a wonderful supplement.
I don't know you.
But I'd be HONORED to include among my friends such a clever, sensitive, sensible, honest person.
Thanx for sharing.
P.S. I go to the Gay Pride Parade every time I'm able to, even if I'm not gay. I simply hate and despise people who are not interested in who you are but just in whom you sleep with. Dirty minds.
*offers a handshake*
I commend your bravery in addressing this hypocrisy head-on, and there is nothing of value that I can add to this discussion -- you all have made some very insightful comments.
I firmly believe in the rights of parents to raise their own children, but I also firmly believe that nobody has a right to impose their personal choices on others. The lies that people choose to tell their kids are their own -- those children will address the underlying issues with their parents when they grow up and learn the truth. In the meantime, however, we have the obligation to teach our children to be open-minded, to be accepting, to love our neighbors as friends and family.
There is never an excuse for censorship. There is never a reason for destructive criticism. We should, instead, focus on improving the human race by gleaning lessons from the animal kingdom. Their instincts have proven to be much more accurate than our own.
Wow. Thanks Kirk, Thank You Myke, my wonderful life partner, mate, best friend, and confident. I couldn't of said it better myself. I still remember the first time I ever saw Myke and I knew right at that moment he was "the one". I told a little bit of the story in an old QOTD the first paragraph of the post is about Myke and a lot of the reasons I will always love him.
So often Christians especially ones who have never actually studied the scriptures jump to conclusions based on what another person has told them. For example the story of David and Jonathon which is mentioned in bibical passages in 1 Samuel & 2 Samuel. It tells a story of a extremely close bond between David and Jonathan. Jonathan was the son of King Saul, and next in line for the throne. But Samuel anointed David to be the next king. This produced a strong conflict in the mind of Saul. Religious conservatives view this as a non-sexual relationship. However many religious liberals believe that David and Jonathan had a consensual homosexual relationship - in many ways, an example of today's same-sex relationships. A couple of important verses to keep in mind:
1 Samuel 18:1
I agree with you 100%. That is exactly what I feel deep deep down in my heart to be Truth.
Thank you.
I can't tell you the number of people I've had to convince that the "living" Bible isn't an unchanged document. Just the very nature of the how it was copied by hand for those first centuries...errors are going to happen. Letters will be mistakenly changed...things paraphrased...entire books lost...
Not to mention all the different Versions we have out...just in comparing the King James to the NIV...it's sad. People are so SURE of what they "know"...
Anyway, I just happened across this post during random browsing and wanted to give you a little pat on the back from a few hours north.
-m
In speech class, I was forced to listen to a group of four mangle human rights. We were supposed to take an unemotional topic and discuss it, as well as eventually come to a decision. They decided to talk about gay rights, to decide what they deserve in a high school setting. The two boys were against...their strongest points were that they were uncomfortable with the thought that another guy could be checking them out and that morally, it's wrong. They also talked about how the two boys who recently hooked up at our school made many people uncomfortable.
To me, morally, censoring the rights of anyone is wrong. Their assumption that all religious people are against gay and lesbian rights offended me, a devout Catholic and supporter of gay rights.
And, just to add a little bit of humor, no self-respecting gay man would ever check out either of these two boys.
(In case you were wondering, they made no changes to our political system anyway, so I sat through the debate for 50 minutes to just hear that they would not change anything. How's that for a huge waste of time?)
I stumbled across a site once which set out to explain exactly what the bible actually says about homosexuality. It was not Burn Gays nor Gays Are Better - but the thing I remember is that no one single person ever changed their views on homosexuality because of reasoned debate. Now aint that sad.
Homophobia is stupid, like racism.