Ok I was going to blog about something else but given that this shit passed by so much I feel the need to vent. First off let me say to the homophobes who think this will keep your kids from being gay, you are wrong. What you have done, instead, is tied the hands of what could have been a trusted adult for them to confide in. What this means is higher teen suicide rates, more teen depression, and don't forget our favorites, "the bullies" are winning like Charlie Sheen now. In a time where schools and other youth oriented organizations are dealing with an epidemic of bullying and the fallout from that - these 19 closed minded individuals have made a ridiculous decision that sets us back so far from the little progress we have made.
While other states like Iowa and Vermont are legalizing our right to marry one another we have striped or health teachers and guidance counselors of their right and duty to educate and council your kids. Funny that they can still teach your kids about all the drugs out there, but don't say gay. It's as though they think telling them about it will make them say "ooooo I wanna be gay when I grow up". People don't choose to be gay, just like no one says I think I'm going to be black or female or what not.
Imagine your child is 12 -13 years old and all their friends start noticing the opposite sex, and they are confused because they are not. Maybe they start thinking "what is wrong with me?". Who will they go to?
I remember when I was in high school at the tender age of 15 and started to realize what I was gay. I started to seek out other gays in the media. I'm dating myself, but this is before we could just get online and look up stuff so all I found were talk shows where they glorified these crazy examples of gay people. These people were not the gays next door who go to work and do their thing like anyone else. These were the stereotypical gays that were just out there in crazy town and just happen to be gay. Their insanity is what got them on the show as a representative of the gay community. These are the people your mom had in mind when she cried when you came out to her because she imagines this terrible life for you. They are the equivalent to the media getting the most ignorant people from any demographic and putting them on tv. It was not the resource I needed. As for right now when the internet is a viable resource for information, is googling gay really the best idea for your school aged child? They may get lucky and find a helpful resource, but I'm sure we can all think of all the nasty stuff they could find instead of having a trusted adult to talk to them responsibly about the subject. This being a personal subject for me I wanted to practice what I preach and include some links for organizations that could help people on either side of this situation.
http://community.pflag.org/
http://tnep.org/
http://www.pridenet.com/tn_support.html
http://www.thetaskforce.org/activist_center/act_locally/tennessee
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