Strollerderby : homophobia

Book for Gay Parents' Kids Creates an Uproar

JeanneSager — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:26:00 GMT

I love how Fox News fairly and I dare say balancedly (is that even a word?) laid out the news that there's a new book out there for kids of lesbian moms who used a sperm donor to conceive:

"Gay Sex Education Book Targets Children as Young as 2"

Gets your dander up, doesn't it? Oh my sweet henry, they're trying to teach our two-year-olds to have sex! And not just the missionary position but you know, the naughty, we don't do that in the heartland kind of s-e-x.

Except they're not.

Where Did I Really Come From? was apparently written to help children of gay couples understand the myriad other ways children come into the world other than a man and woman having sex . . . together. The book includes a chapter about surrogacy (with pictures of two gay men holding a child) and another on lesbian moms using a sperm donor.

According to the Australian, there is some discussion of sex - although I'm not sure how graphic (I haven't read the book myself). They cite a chapter that notes: "Sometimes, a woman really wants to have a baby but she doesn't want to have intercourse with a man. Some women want to bring up a baby by themselves, or with another woman, so the baby gets two mums."

Author Narelle Wickham says she was just trying to normalize for kids the different forms of conception, and the stands behind the suggestion that kids as young as two be given the book by their parents.

Many of the "anti" comments, frankly, are bizarre. Here's a taste:

"Let children be children, they do not need to be introduced to sex or alternative lifestyles at a tender age." Well, if this book was purchased by a parent who used a surrogate or a sperm donor (the families it was written for), that introduction came at the very tender age of CONCEPTION folks.

"Another shot at sexualising and brainwahsing youngsters." Yes, it's brainwashing to let them know that gays really exist, and, by the way, Mommy is one of them. And for that matter, so is Mommy!

"I believe young children should be taught about gay and lesbian parents as this will help them identify them when they are older and allow them to stay away from these types of parents." Because the gay and lesbian parents are so desperate for children that they're going to come after them?

"I think any book about this subject shouldn't be targeted at 2 year olds. Do two year olds really need to be told about sex?" That depends - what did you tell your kids when you or your partner got pregnant? I was four when my parents gave me a book about mommies and daddies making a baby in preparation for a new addition to our family. Which means those books have been out there for decades, aimed at toddlers (this one too has been out since 1992, but is all of a sudden back in the spotlight). Because kids as young as two will certainly notice there is a burgeoning belly if there's a pregnancy or notice a new person suddenly arrive in their lives.

But I guess that was OK, according to most of these posters. Because I had a mom and a dad. Although if I'd had a mom and dad using a surrogate, would that have been OK? Or a mom and dad who had to use a sperm donor? An egg donor? IVF? IUI?

This book addresses them all, giving thousands of kids an alternative to that same old "Mommy and Daddy made me" book I read as a kid. Fortunately for their mommies and/or daddies, it's out there for them.

Image: Evolution (where you can buy the book - straight from Australia)

Tennessee Public School Computers Block LGBT Websites

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:30:00 GMT

Whoopsie! It turns out that the computers of the Tennessee public school system are inexplicably biased against gay rights. How the heck did that happen? School administrators are completely baffled by the embarrassing snafu, but say that it must be the fault of their filtering service, Education Networks of America.

But the ENA has clearly stated that they are off the hook. "The decisions on whether to block certain websites are made solely by the school districts,” the ENA attorney said. “ENA does not participate in these decisions in any way and is instead simply told which websites to block." Huh. Is it possible that homophobia had something to do with this?

Some of the blocked Web sites include Human Rights Campaign--with such inappropriate messages for kids as, “In a world defined by difference, our strength depends on our common humanity”--and the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, which creepily “envisions a world in which every child learns to respect and accept all people.” Not all Web pages dealing with gay people were blocked, however. Tennessee schoolchildren are more than welcome to peruse such sites as People Can Change and The Americans For Truth Against Homosexuality.

As Jezebel points out, the silver lining of this rather shocking homophobic agenda is that no one wants to take the blame for it, showing how much public opinion has progressed in favor of gay rights.

Photo: britannica.com

Teacher Fired for Letting Kids Play Gay

JeanneSager — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:24:00 GMT

Note to all teachers with small-minded administrators - don't bother trying to teach your kids about history. At least not homosexual history.

A teacher in a rural Oklahoma town has been fired by administrators after trying to teach the story of gay college student Matthew Shepard's murder by assigning students parts in The Laramie Project, a play based on the hate crime inflicted on the young homosexual man a decade ago.

Of course, officials say it isn't the play itself that prompted the firing. Debra Taylor dared let her students voice their opinions about the school's decision to CANCEL the play that earned her a place on the chopping block.

When her principal told her the play - which he'd previously given permission to Taylor to put on - had to be stopped, she let her kids spend twenty minutes in a local park, writing their feelings on helium balloons and releasing them (not enviro-friendly, but at the very least offering some catharsis). Taylor says she never asked the kids to change their minds about homosexuality, just to be tolerant.

The park stunt is what administrators say was Taylor's undoing. What about it was wrong, they won't say. Perhaps that she let kids voice dissent? That she voiced dissent? That she did something else that might, possibly, maybe make the kids think again about tolerance and respecting others?

Because cancellation of the play to begin with was inappropriate, but it might have had a very positive affect on the kids. Suddenly, they saw it was like to be discriminated against. After several weeks of hard work put into practicing for their production, they had the rug swept out from under them by school officials - and for no reason.

And how's this for irony? The school punished Debra Taylor, but her job loss makes her a role model for kids. Kind of what we always hope our kids' teachers will be.

Image: USA Today

Lesbian Lawmaker Denied Chance to Work for Kids

JeanneSager — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:32:00 GMT

A Missouri lawmaker has been told she was kept off of a House committee on children and families because other members found her "offensive."

What's offensive? That she's a lesbian?

Democratic Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford was nominated by her party last month to serve on the Special Standing Committee on Children and Families in the Missouri House. But the Republican house speaker, Ron Richard, ignored the party's request and chose another Democrat.

But Rep. Mike Corcoran, who got the nod, says he expressed an interest in the seat only after being told Oxford was out of the running. He thought she made a good pick. Which leads Oxford back to her big question.

Is the head of the Republicans in the Missouri house saying a lesbian can't help on a committee that serves children and families? Ironic, considering one of only two openly gay lawmakers in the house, Oxford HAS served on committees relating to kids and families since she was elected in 2004. Before that, she served as executive director of ROWEL, a St. Louis organization that advocates for the poor with a focus on changes to the welfare system. One of its biggest claims to fame in Missouri? ROWEL advocated for increases in cash grants for Aid to Families with Dependent Children.

The House minority leader - who put forth Oxford's name for the appointment - is also confused; Richard accepted other party suggestions - and he hasn't given her a clear answer either.

It all sounds fishy to me, especially when you look at the list of bills sponsored by Oxford in her time in the House - everything from establishing lower class sizes in St. Louis city and county schools to expanding the amount of kosher foods available under the state's Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program.

Sounds like this is a lady who knows kids and families. Funny thing a lot of homophobic house speakers haven't realized - lesbians are parts of families too. And once upon a time, they were kids. Which makes them just as qualified for a post on a committee that deals with kids and families as anyone else - especially when they have a long history of advocating for . . . kids and families.

Image: Jeanette Mott Oxford's Blogspot

Protect Children: Prohibit Divorce

Principal Censors Pro-Gay School Paper

JeanneSager — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:34:00 GMT

Two male students holding hands and a pro-gay editorial got a school paper yanked by administrators at a South Carolina school last month. Somehow, the principal is still claiming the school encourages diversity.

Apparently you can be different - just don't tell anyone.

Students at the Academy for Arts, Science & Technology near Carolina Forest have traditionally printed their paper on their own, using funds from ad sales to cover the cost of printing the quarterly paper. But when administrators, including Principal Ronnie Burgess, saw the picture of two male students holding hands and an editorial advocating for same-sex marriage, they told the kids the paper couldn't be distributed. They offered $500 in school funds to reprint the paper - without the editorial and picture.

Burgess said he was afraid the original paper would be "disruptive."

"I had some concerns about the content of the article and how it might impact students here and what the community concerns might be when the article was distributed," he told the Myrtle Beach-based Sun News. I'm not surprised that an administrator is afraid of community backlash (even homophobic, small-minded backlash), but what floors me is the rest of Burgess' statement to the paper: "At the academy we encourage diversity, we don't look to silence student voices, we hope to facilitate their expression."

So you encourage diversity, by telling gay teens they can't be pictured in the school paper? Sadly, this message hurts not only the gay kids but every student at the academy who is being provided with an example by the authority figures they're supposed to look up to and follow of "making the gays disappear." The move tells the kids of the academy that differences of opinion should be responded to by putting up money to make them go away.

The staff of the school paper is fighting adminstration on this one. They've cried censorship. Unfortunately, the teenage students are serving as better examples of who their peers should "grow up to be" than school administrators.

Image: Myrtle Beach Online

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Students Make Rev. Phelps Followers Run Away

Kelly Mills — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:35:00 GMT

Feel-good story? Members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, gathered a small protest near Omaha Central High School. The church is led by the Reverend Fred Phelps, and I'm sure you know who these folks are. They became famous when they protested at the funeral of Matthew Shepard, and have gone on to protest everywhere it would horrify you to see picketers, including the funerals of slain service members. You know, the "God Hates Fags" people. (Biting tongue now...)

However, when the group held up anti-homosexuality and anti-Obama signs near the high school last Friday, they were met by hundreds of student counter-protesters. The students chanted "Diversity" and "Gay is OK" and even busted out the Pledge of Allegiance. And, well, the kids got a little riled up, and they threw hamburgers and lemonade bottles and milk at the Westboro protesters. Ahem. Maybe I'm supposed to feel bad about the sort of violent reaction, but I really don't.

The police then advised the Phelps folks that the situation was getting a little out of hand and they might want to leave for their own personal safety. And so they did, ahem. So far no students have been disciplined, and the school spokeswoman said, "This hate group came to Central High at dismissal to provoke students... To some extent, we need to understand that these are young people, and we have to take into consideration this kind of extreme provocation." Totally. I'm with you, lady.

Prop 8 Protests Spawn Hope and Great Photos

Morning News: Anti-Gay Church Lays Off Workers (After Spending Gobs on Prop 8)

How Low Will They Go?

Shannon LC Cate — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:02:00 GMT

It was bad enough when they used their own kids to promote intolerance, but this one comes right from the department of dirty tricks:

Remember the happy-happy-joy-joy photos of the first grade teacher's wedding at San Francisco city hall? Now those pictures--including the students who came to wish her well--have been used in a new ad promoting Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative to criminalize same-sex marriage.

Parents are outraged that their children's images are being used this way. All parents were informed of the wedding trip in advance and given the opportunity to decline. Two children's parents did decline and their children remained at the school for regular instruction. But Proposition 8 supporters are claiming public schools will "teach" same-sex marriage against parents' wills if same-sex marriage remains legal in California.

Ironically then, the children present for the wedding had parents who support same-sex marriage and those parents don't want their children used to promote something they don't believe in. Said one mom:

"You can't use children's images in political statements like this. No one asked us to use our children. No one talked to us about this. And I feel like my children are being manipulated."

So the people who claim children will be taught something against the wills of parents are using children against the wills of parents.

That's a terrific message for all our children: when you don't get your way, toss your so-called values to the wind.

Love the Sinner

Shannon LC Cate — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:45:00 GMT

News of Sarah Palin's "gay friend" is not much of a surprise when you take the ten percent rule of thumb into consideration. (That is, roughly 10% of the population is something other than strictly opposite-sex oriented.) What's too bad is, unlike some pie-in-sky folks claim, just knowing or even "dearly loving" (as Palin claims to love her friend) a gay person doesn't make someone see that person as fully human or fully deserving of basic human rights. After all, we dearly love our pets, too. But evengelical Christians don't believe animals will be "saved" (most of them don't, anyway).

I grew up in an evangelical (though not politically conservative) family and church myself, and am somewhat versed in the theology that says all peple are sinners, all people are human and stand before God as individuals. There's no ranking of better or worse sins and it's not the place of any given sinner (everybody) to stand in particular judgement over the sin of another--or even what does or doesn't qualify as sin in the first place.

It's all well and good to "love the sinner and hate the sin" which has become the popular anti-gay rallying cry among evangelicals. It's just that you're not really saying much in a tradition that believes the world and its creatures is so very steeped in sin in the first place. Why single out homosexuality (for those who believe it is a sin in the first place, which is a debate for another time)?

I once received a card from a certain biolgical family member that read, roughly, "Congratulations on finishing your PhD! I am so proud of your wonderful accomplishment! I must tell you I am disappointed in the choices you have made about your lifestyle and hope you will leave your partner and return to God. Love, [name withheld to prevent familial embarassment]"

In short, "Congrats on the PhD, hell-bound homo!" Hallmark needs a section for that.

Knowing and/or loving a queer doesn't make a person "tolerant." I don't want to be tolerated anyway. I want to be celebrated and included and treated like a 100% fully human being.

Image: Will and Testament

No Date, No Prom, School Says

Amy Kuras — Tue, 20 May 2008 19:02:00 GMT

Well this is just plain mean. An all-girls high school in Staten Island is making girls bring a date to their junior prom. Or else they can't go.

Back when I was a senior at my all-girls high school, a quintillion years ago (seriously, it's amazing I can even type with my aged, gnarled fingers), the Hunt For The Prom Date was taken as seriously as getting into college. I hadn’t bothered to ask any guy friends to any of the other dances, but I was not missing prom.

So I asked a nice but nerdy guy who was kind enough to scrape up cash for tux rental and a corsage on his college student's budget and then I was less than nice to him. Still a major blot on my karmic record. Almost all of my little posse went with guys we brought just to have a date, and it's a tossup as to who had a worse time, us or them.

See, back in my day, we didn’t think about going with friends. So I think it is fabulous that girls today are independent and smart enough to realize they'd have more fun with a group of friends than with a guy who's there strictly as a date.

This smacks of either homophobia – what if girls on a quasi-date get infected with The Gay? Quelle horreur! – or the apparently epidemic terror of teenage girls left to their own devices. Which I can tell you is a hell of a lot more tame than what even the most platonic of hetero couples might get into on prom night.

LGBT Families Are Goin' to the Mega-Chapels

Erin White — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:04:00 GMT

Every Sunday between now and Father's Day, LGBT parents and their children are donning their Sunday best and climbing aboard a chartered bus headed right (very right, in most cases) for the nearest Megachurch.

What in God's name are they thinking?

They are thinking that open and respectful dialogue is the only way to change the minds and hearts of people who think that the answer to the question "WWJD?" is "build a church with on-site dry cleaning and step-aerobics and don't let the gays come." They are thinking that by following the non-violent principles of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ghandi they can take a stand, make a statement, and help people to see for themselves that discrimination and prejudice against LGBT people and their families is not WJWD.

They are calling themselves the American Family Outing. I am calling them brave. And as proud and hopeful as I feel about the whole endeavor, I am a little worried about the kids. What if people say terrible things about their parents in front of them? What if they get scared? What if there is an entire buffet table of Krispy Kremes at fellowship hour and no one lets them have any?

I'm sure the organizers have thought all this through, and that my paranoia stems from the fact that my own queer spawn are 3 years and 9 weeks old, respectively, and seem too tender to expose to a football stadium of people who still don't understand why Rosie had to go and ruin a perfectly good talk show by telling the world she was gay.

So good lucky and godspeed, American Family Outing. Just be careful with the kids.

Most Objectionable Book for Kids?

Kelly Mills — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:31:00 GMT

The American Library Association says the book the public objects to the most was one written for children. (Objections were measured by written complaints filed with a library or school.) Was it the one explaining mommy's plastic surgery--"My Beautiful Mommy"? Nope. The one where Curious George gets high on ether? Nah-ah. So what book was so offensive to folks?

The number one challenged book--for the second year in a row, no less--was "And Tango Makes Three," co-written by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell. It's about a penguin with two dads. You know, the gays are coming after your kids, one penguin at a time. Sigh. See, I'll get that book for my kid now, cuz I've grown weary of the way heteros always push their agenda in kid lit. Other books that made the objected list were: "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," by Maya Angelou; Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn;" and Philip Pullman's "The Golden Compass," for anti-religious stuff. You know what books I object to? Those crappy little Disney ones that summarize "Cinderella" or "The Little Mermaid." They always have at least one typo and actually melt your brain with boredom when you read them.

Rights for Unmarried and Gay Couples Controversial In Italy Too

Kelly Mills — Thu, 17 May 2007 22:04:00 GMT

When I read about European countries granting rights to gay couples, I start feeling like the U.S. stands out as a weirdly righteous nation of homophobes. But it looks like Italy has their share of gay rights controversy as well. Some people are all upset over proposed legislation that would grant rights to gay and unmarried couples. Demonstrators staged rallies in Rome to celebrate Family Day, by which they apparently mean "Hetero-Married-Mommy-Daddy" family. Protesters reportedly "listened to songs...whose words evoked the need for children to have both a mother and a father." Maybe something like this? "Kids need a mommy and a daddy to be happy/ Mommy should have a vagina, and daddy a penis/ they'd better be married/ otherwise God is really, really mad at us/ So don't be all liberal or we'll burn for eternity..."

Thousands of folks who support the legislation mounted counter-rallies, which were attended by some politicians, including Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio of the Greens. Wow, the Greens are a real party there? One married woman with a family was interviewed, and "she says it is only fair that even if she did not have a husband she should be entitled to basic civil rights." Yeah, that is crazy talk. Here we like to keep our single parents down.

The legislation doesn't actually legalize gay marriage (think civil union) but that hasn't stopped one very big religious leader from opposing it. Could it be... Benedict XVI who wants to defend the traditional family? Is the pope catholic?

"Our Sub Showed Us 'Brokeback', and It Was So Traumatic!"

Kelly Mills — Wed, 16 May 2007 11:03:00 GMT

The family of an eighth grader is suing the Chicago Board of Education, because a substitute teacher allegedly showed the film Brokeback Mountain in class. Dude, if I had known you could sue whenever a sub showed a movie, I'd be rolling in cash right now. I mean, they're asking for $500,000 in damages! What? Oh, it actually looks the family is going to court because the R-rated film supposedly caused the girl "psychological distress" and she had to undergo treatment and counseling.

Now, before you think the girl and her family are just a bunch of drama queens, let's think about this. I mean, Brokeback is a film about two gay cowboys who have to hide and deny their love for each other for fear of social retaliation. Perhaps this young girl wasn't aware of the pain gays and lesbians have had to face when small-minded people practice hate. I'm sure when she saw the film, she was so disturbed by the truth about homophobia that she became traumatized. It's hard for kids to swallow how insanely prejudiced people can be. Now that she's undergone counseling and her eyes are open to the oppression that still persists, I'm sure she and her family will start marching in Pride parades and campaigning for gay rights, so that no one will have to experience that level of pain again.

You don't think that was it?

Anyway, I was also psychologically traumatized by this film- when it didn't get the "Best Picture" Oscar. (Crash? WTF?) But I'm not sure I want my child watching R-rated films in school. I'd much rather she saw them in the traditional way: by sneaking into the theater with her friends. The family suing says they felt they had no recourse other than litigation, since they already complained to administrators in the past when some of the school reading material contained curse words. How much you wanna bet it was Catcher in the [Goddamn] Rye?

Woodlan High School Student In Trouble For Editorial Preaching Tolerance

JasonAvant — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 11:43:00 GMT

An open letter to Woodlan High School Principal Edwin Yoder:

Dear Mr. Yoder - Do you like apples? Hold that thought. I read, with great interest, this article detailing your actions following the publication of a column by sophomore Megan Chase. Seems that you weren't happy with the piece, calling it inappropriate and reprimanding the school's journalism teacher for allowing the students to run it without your approval. (It's interesting that you chose to allow a piece on teen pregnancy to run in a previous issue, but a piece calling for straight students to be tolerate of GLBT students was "inappropriate.")

This pissed me off, for a number of reasons. I was thinking of a snarky rant about close-minded conservative homophobes holding positions of authority in public schools, and how sad it is that such ass-backward moralists hold sway over impressionable kids who need to hear from their peers that hate is not OK. But then I thought, gee, what would really piss you off? And it hit me, the time-honored way of dealing with people like you, who gain such satisfaction over muzzling the voices of people whose opinions don't conform to your own.

There are, according to this site, 728 students at Woodlan. Ms. Chase's article was presumably read by some of them. Strollerderby gets - best guess here - a few thousand hits a day. And a few hundred websites link to this one, meaning that there's the potential for several thousand additional readers to click on a particular piece. Ms. Chase's column - very appropriate for kids of any age, in my opinion, and a nicely written one at that - is printed in full in the article. And we Godless gay-lovin' liberal parent bloggers, we do love linking to stories about bigots who try to impose their narrow-minded beliefs upon those who have little choice in the matter. So rather than quash her piece, as you intended, you've given Ms. Chase a very, very large audience. So I'll rephrase the question from paragraph one. How 'bout them apples?

No-Name Calling Week Draws Ire of Homophobic Parents

Patti — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:14:00 GMT

Thirty miles south of the site of the third largest annual celebration of GLBT pride in the country, a few parents protested an anti-bullying event sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. It's not that these Farmington, Minnesota parents are in favor of bullies, no sirree ("We understand that's a problem," says parent Michael Keifer). What they're against is the association with homosexuality, however indirect and vague. Because even thirty miles south of one of the gay-friendliest cities in the nation, there are still people who think that good information is tainted if it comes from a source with different values.

No Name-Calling Week is a week-long program GLSEN developed with publishing company Simon & Schuster, which helps schools open dialogue with students about bullying of all types. The parents in Farmington who oppose the program claim that their opposition is completely due to GLSEN's involvement. "We believe that the needs of the students would be better served by the ... program being conducted independent of involvement with an agenda-specific group such as GLSEN", as Justine Jacobsen puts it. GLSEN's "agenda", for what it's worth, is to strive "to assure that each member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression". Why, I am ~~just shocked and appalled~~ not seeing the problem here.

To their credit, Farmington administrators responded to the homophobic parents with surprise and a bit of eyerolling. "We're not sure why it matters who came up with the good idea," said principal Barbara Duffrin. The program continued as scheduled.