Homosexuality Is For The Birds
Just when you thought the controversy was over, those damn gay penguins are mixing things up again.
The Washington Post reported this weekend that Loudoun County, Virginia, recently pulled copies of the gay-penguin book "And Tango Makes Three
How pissed are you? Perhaps we should protest by dressing up in penguin suits and standing in front of Loudoun county elementary schools, hugging and holding hands and/or babies. Or we could just buy copies of this book for any and every pre-pubescent child we know, especially those who live in back-ass-wards Virginia. I know what I'm getting my nephew, who lives in Arlington, for his birthday.
10 comments:
People on both sides of gay-issues debates often turn to nonhuman examples to support their position or refute that of their opponent. And I'm not sure why.
Since the core questions in such discussions are usually moral ones, there isn't much that penguins, fish, or wasps can teach us.
Still, same-sex behavior examples from other species are handy for dismissing sloppy assertions about what "nature" wants, and whether there is any equivalence at all between what is "natural" and what is morally right.
i'm glad someone said that raphael. i feel like the gays get so uptight about the choice thing. like whenever an opponent brings it up it's made out to be this insane thing that only a crazed bigot could think. "why would anyone choose to be discriminated against!" they shriek.
i certainly don't feel like i chose to be gay, but even if i did would it change the argument? would i be less entitled to other choices as a result?
oh, that's my quota for ridiculously earnest blog comments for the year. and it's only february!
BTW, zmeriwire = ameriwire . I still couldn't get the 'Name/URL' function to work yesterday even though I thought I had.
that sucks! i love this book. i bought this it from busboys and poets for my my boyfriend as an anniversary present.
Of course, there's another way to look at this children's book rather than from the 'true-story' angle. You can see it as a fable, and we use those to communicate moral messages all the time.
The question then is whether the public school system is an appropriate place to teach moral lessons. Usually, most gay people I know would argue against using the public schools for moral teaching.
moral teaching BASED on religion is where the line should be drawn in schools. moral teaching when it comes to TOLERANCE or ACCEPTANCE of ALL PEOPLE regardless of age, creed, race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. those kind of principles should be taught in every school. diversity should be taught in school. otherwise we have what happened to lawrence king. can you imagine the impact reading this book might have made for all involved in this tragedy?
http://www.towleroad.com/lawrence_king/index.html
Enforcing rules that afford every child equal access to a safe place to become educated is one thing - a good thing. Keeping children from being harmed or threatened for ANY reason (sexual orientation or otherwise) is also a good thing. But enforcing a curriculum that attempts to change the very opinions of public school students so that there is only one correct opinion to have -- that's what we've been fighting against all along.
What distinguishes religious moral ideas from secular ones? If we teach that tolerance and acceptance (indeed often "celebration") are important values, aren't we then obliged to extend this tolerance, acceptance and celebration to people who are homophobic? Aren't they part of "ALL people"?
My point is that there is an irony here: Gay people who are arguing for the very things that we hated when they were advocated by our opponents. It's just worth noting that we can't have it both ways. Either we want moral teaching in schools or we don't. Either we want schools to advocate some position [obviously the opposite position of homophobic people] on homosexual behavior or we don't. And either we are tolerant and welcoming of those whose moral intuitions differ from our own -- including people who hate us -- or we aren't.
Strictly speaking these are not the real dichotomies. Of COURSE we can be tolerant of some things and not others (I mean, how tolerant do we want to be of hatred?). Of COURSE we can push for teaching about homosexuality in schools, and push further to make sure it is positioned positively. I'm not saying that we can't get specific about our agenda.
But it's just worth keeping in mind that IF WE DO THAT, we can't also claim (as I do now) that it's not the proper role of government (i.e. the public school system) to instill moral beliefs in children.
zmeriwire, I agree with what you're saying normatively, but I wonder in reality how many people truly want an open dialog in public schooling.
The majority of the American public wants creationism taught alongside evolution in public school biology classes, even though creationism is really religious doctrine. Would people be willing to teach other countering views which are just as preposterous? When assigning "The Diary of Ann Frank", are schools obligated to also present the point of view of Holocaust deniers? When teaching the civil rights movement, must schools also seriously entertain the views of white supremacists?
Teaching the debate and the history of ideas is a worthy educational goal, but grade school seems to fall under a special status in American society. Unlike university education, grade school education is less about discussion and debate and more about indoctrination (for better or for worse).
I would want grade school education to be more like university education, but I think that's really a minority view. People might say they want to schools to "teach the debate" to their children, but they wouldn't seriously endorse that "teach the debate" view if they fully considered the consequences.
As an elementary educator, I strongly recommend this book. I have worked in Arlington and Fairfax county, where this book is embraced by librarians and teachers for its warm, heartfelt look at a true story.
I have never used this book as a teaching tool, but it might be used as an alternative look at how all families have one thing in common: love. It's a simple message that is well told.
Ben, I will bring this book to book club next month, if you like!
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