I am reading three blogs that are mostly about gay rights and activism. One of them is more lighthearted and the other a bit more serious and political, and the third is more of a journal type blog. There are many posts everyday. There was one that caught my eye, the same argument in two of the blogs I read. It was about a children’s book and the controversy of censorship. There is a book called <a href="http://astore.amazon.com/dailydoseofqu-20/detail/0689878451/104-0621917-2167157 Tango Makes Three</em></a>. I haven’t read many similarities in the blog posts until the posts on this book. I should tell you a little about the book, before I tell you the significance. It’s about two male penguins taking care of a child penguin. It represented unique-alternative families. It is based on real penguins. In a <a href="http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2005/09/25/529/"><em>NY Times Article</em></a>, quoted in a blog, about two penguins, Roy and Silo, in central park, both male, who recently broke up after a six year relationship.
So the controversy is censorship. Concerned parents, in Missouri public libraries, fought to move this children’s book from the children’s section into the non-fiction section of the library. They were concerned that the book had homosexual undertones. I have a few problems with this situation. The plain and clear discrimination and censorship makes me sick. I do not understand how people can be so close minded. Apparently they aren’t living in a progressive nation. They are just sheltering their children from something that will cause them not harm just ignorance. I can understand on a few reasons why this book was a great idea to make. Not only was it a great idea for children who have same sex parents, a story about truth, but it is a way to integrate alternative lifestyles into children’s minds, so that they wont be prejudice when they grow up, and they wont label it as something so wrong and different. One blog post, from a Christian, was ranting about the book. He is complete <a href="http://crowellministryteam.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!364BA0D00BC5B2A6!737.entry">hypocrite</a> because he has no idea what homosexual even means, or what the goal of integrating alternative lifestyles into mainstream media. It is not to change anyone, to bring anyone the "the dark side". It is only a way to express ourselves and to keep from hiding in a closet that is too used worn down and dark by the many generations before me. If he knew the true message of Jesus and his anti-organized religious views, he would realize that Jesus was TOLERANT. One thing I can guarantee this brother of the church in not.
When I try to change the world one person at a time, I find that often I run into a wall. The wall is organized religion. Even if there is not proof, proof against, or proof for something else, organized religious folks will not change there mind. One thing I find interesting is that when someone is having a debate with me, spontaneous of course, they have no clue where it says in the bible about being gay. I have an easy time pointing out the misunderstood, mistaken scripture. And after I show them, quoting it as I turn the page, I tell them, that if they ever think about having another debate about their religious beliefs, to make sure they know the bible better than the person you are debating.
How much censorship is allowed, is too much, is legal? I guess the answer is that they will keep on censoring until we do something about it.
