Okay, so there's this public school in San Francisco, California that decided to have an assembly to honor a holiday that not many people know about. (Well, I didn't know about it anyway, not until it was brought up, anyway) The holiday is National Gay Pride and Family Diversity Day. Now, this particular assembly included many things, such as having all of the children draw pictures of different types of families (including 2 mom and 2 dad families), a rainbow colored banner with the word PRIDE written on it, and it featured a group of Second graders that preformed a skit about being in a family with two mommies. So, I don't know how I should feel about this assembly. You see. although I don't condone homosexuality, I do have many friends that are both gay and bisexual. However, I also believe that if someone is going to be gay then it should be due more to nature than to nurture. And I kind of feel that since children spend the majority of their time at school, then that is the place that most influences them, so when this school decides to have an assembly about being gay, aren't the children highly influenced by that? I don't think schools should preach against homosexuality...actually wait. I don't think I know if they should or not. I haven't decided. What do you think? But I do know that they definitely shouldn't be preaching for it and should not in anyway be catering towards homosexuality, especially if the they aren't doing anything to oppose it also. What do you guys think? Should the schools be promoting homosexuality? Should it be ruled nature over nurture, or not? Oh, and while we're at it, how do you feel about gay couples adopting? Just words for thought? How do you feel? Let me know. Help me! I'm trying to decide how I feel.
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So when are we going to have Nuclear Family and Parents-Who-Aren't-Divorced Holidays? Because these are things I support, and nobody seems to care about them anymore.
Seriously. Celebrating diversity is like celebrating being a homo sapien.
Seriously. Celebrating diversity is like celebrating being a homo sapien.
Actually, I LOVE this quote. I may steal it. Do you mind?
percivale
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Check out Progressive PRIDE, a Gay-Straight Alliance for the Progressive U community.
Absolutely. It's all yours. Just don't take it out on context. You know I'm a staunch supporter of gay rights and homosexual marriage.
You're missing the entire point of the holiday. It's to promote understanding and acceptance, not encourage it. It's like nationality day you had in grade school or whatever. And if school did anything about influencing people who are gay, it'd give them a more supportive environment to come out in so they could be true to themselves.
I would second girlnextdoor's opinion, in that this is their intention. However, in my opinion, I think what generally actually occurs is that people feel even more singled out. Acceptance is about just that... accepting people for who they are EVERY DAY. Pointing out they are different just makes it more difficult for them to fit in. There are better ways to promote diversity and acceptance than fake "holidays."
While I agree that tokenism (the singling out of a person who is different) is a dangerous way to teach diversity, I disagree that the school engaged in tokenism (if that really is your beef with it). I believe the school was trying to teach about an under-represented family structure in a way that didn't force a kid with two dads to defend his fathers' relationship. Festivals like this give representation to kids who come from GLBT families, or who are GLBT themselves. It's been such a secret that people are "that way" that kids gay kids and families don't have any role models. It helps them feel less isolated and gives kids who might have grown up to be bullies or homophobes some food for thought and a positive frame of reference for this population-- a population that is overwhelmingly harassed and bullied in school, often to the point of depression and suicide.
And, in reference to your first comment, EVERY DAY is heterosexual family day. All anyone has to do is breathe to understand the heterosexual family structure, especially as it looks in white, middle-class families. It's everywhere. Not that there's anything wrong with that. You just don't need a holiday.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
I disagree. I think we celebrate broken families. We revel in their weakness, baby their children, and make the parents feel like it's "ok" to fail. Society today no longer believes in personal responsibility, and it's frankly disgusting.
If we all had personal responsibility, then there would be no need for people to feel like they needed to hide homosexuality simply because some religion told others it was "wrong." People would be encouraged to use their critical thinking skills, and would be able to decide for themselves whether they were comfortable with homosexuality or not.
"Festivals" and "holidays" which "celebrate" homosexuality, religious beliefs, or race are about as useful as events which promote "love" and "peace." They didn't end the Vietnam War, and the current rash of "diversity events" won't end people's hatred of difference.
I appreciate the critical thinking bit, but the rest of it was....a little less than heartwarming. The current thinking of educational psychologists is that role playing and interactive, experiential education has the most impact on students, so maybe that was the idea behind their choice.
They only needed the attitudes in the blogosphere as proof that such a festival was, in fact, necessary for the safety of their students.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
There are people whose minds you will never change on the topic of homosexuality. They have been so entrenched in the belief that it is inherently "wrong" that no amount of holidays, diversity training, or government-enforced "tolerance" will convince them otherwise. All this causes is resentment and distrust.
You just have to accept them for who they are, be the better person, and embrace them as they do not embrace others.
Okay that is total stupidity. Encouraging diversity and everything is good, but why focus on homosexuality? Why don't the kids draw Muslims and Christians and Jews and Buddhists and atheists holding hands in one big family or blacks and whites and Asians together? Schools shouldn't promote acceptance of anything one certain thing; they should teach kids to be good people in general.
If I can save one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain. - Emily Dickinson
How do you draw someone from a religion? Like, what does a Jew look like? Or an atheist? Isn't asking kids to do that a form of stereotyping?
I do agree we should be teaching our children to be good people in general; but instead of having workshops and other time-wasters, how about we lead by example?
Atheists totally have horns, pitchforks, and a tail with a cute little triangle at the end.
Nicholas Aden
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EDIT: I appologize for the sarcasm that was obviously missed by the users that flagged this comment.
You know how vampires look like humans except they can change and be vampires?
That's what female atheists are like, only we turn into invisible pink unicorns at will. Try and draw that, mister sarcasm.
There you are, Madame Cynic. What do you think? I call it "Female Atheist in Autumn."
Nicholas Aden
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She's missing her horn, and she's not pink enough. Where's the shimmer?
And I have all of those features.
Why was I edited? ;'(
"-bah!! Pardon the "bah!" I feel several "bahs!", but out of courtesy I only say one."
H.P. Lovecraft
I still don't know, I think that right now I'm agreeing with schizoanity888 on this the most, because really, we shouldn't be encouraging anything through school except to be kind, caring good citizens. And I still fear that if Children see homosexuality in school then they will then feel that maybe they should be gay even if they're not. Children are so impressionable and they're minds and wills are easily molded and I fear that peer pressure might take effect and maybe cause some of them to feel a need to be gay just because there friends are and then pretty soon everyone is going to feel the need to be gay, and then what's next, all the straight people in the world might have to start fighting for acceptance and equality. That's kind of the way it is now. We look down on people that fear homosexuality for whatever reason, but shouldn't we be accepting them as well.
Were you taught to be straight? Do you feel like you might have been something else if shown an alternative? I'm guessing probably not. Now, how did you know you were straight? When did you know you were straight? Now think about being gay. Could you choose to do it? They're probably not questions you've ever thought about, and the only reason I have is because as a lesbian, they are asked of me every day. I have to defend the legitimacy of my relationship, my life, and my orientation all the time.
I was very much taught to be straight. The only thing I knew about gay was that it got you burned in hell. Why would that kind of nurture make me gay?
It didn't. Sexuality is innate.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
"Were you taught to be straight?"
Yes. There is some question of how profound an influence it had, but there is no doubt that I and most children are taught to be straight by the examples around us as we learn everything we know.
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"Do you feel like you might have been something else if shown an alternative? I'm guessing probably not."
Do you have any basis for that guess?
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"Now think about being gay. Could you choose to do it?"
Yes teens make that choice every day. Some times they even switch back and forth more than once.
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"Sexuality is innate."
The problem with such an absolute declaration is that sexuality is not absolute. It is more akin to a spectrum. Bias on both sides of the question hinders objective research, but it is clear that neither environment, nor genetics is the entire determining factor.
A Fact is Always Better Than an Ideal.
i agree that its good to stress the importance of acceptance and even doing some discussions about it but making them do skits....? although just because this topic is about homosexuals it doesn't mean their not doing other programs to promote diversity in other ways. : )
Each community caters to its own population. What's okay for San Francisco may not be acceptable in your town. It's no secret that there's a significant gay population in San Francisco, and schools are merely reflecting this diversity. They aren't being told to be gay; they're being taught that it's not okay to make fun of someone whose family structure is different from your own. This is an activity in tolerance.
San Fran's population has a lot of homosexuals. So I wouldn't be surprised if they did that. I don't think thats right for adults to subject second graders to plays like that. Let the learning come naturally.
+mspin
That's how I feel about math and reading, too. Let it come naturally. Kids don't need to be taught anything.
And only fundies use the word "homosexual."
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
I don't think this has anything about nurturing children's sexual identity. If anything, I believe it's a step in the right direction. Intolerance and discrimination is often born out of a lack of knowledge and misunderstanding, and by teaching children of families beyond the "nuclear family," then they can grown to accept and understand it -- they can understand it as normal as well. I believe celebrating National Gay Pride and Family Diversity Day in schools is a brilliant idea, and they should be celebrating far more than this and the "regular" holidays like Halloween, Christmas, Hanukkah, Easter, July 4th, President's Day, etc.
I also on that point am confused because of my religion. I was taught to believe whatever the Bible says. But then, now that I am grown up (sorry I sound childish) there are some things that i'm kind of iffy on, especially this whole homosexuality. From the Catholic point of view, love and/or marriage should be between a man and a woman. But from another perspective, people who are gay did not have a choice to be gay. They were just born that way or something dramatically hit them. They did not wake up one day and said "oh i decide to be a homosexual". So, to me, I am kind of leaning towards, "i accept this whole gay thing" because like you , I also have gay friends. But when my parents are around, it's hard for them to accept it because they don't believe in it like I do.
On the note of teaching children of homosexuality, i think that maybe children from 5 to 10 shouldn't be taught things like that because during that age, they are the most vulnerable and they will gain influence from ANYTHING! Maybe once they hit their teen years, it's okay because then they will really know who they are as a person.
.:VVN:.
I'm pretty sure no one is trying to "teach" children to be gay and certainly good parents shouldn't be trying to "influence" sexual orientation either way. I'm pretty sure it's more along the lines of "Don't tease/attack/harass people who are different than you are." There's nothing to "teach" about same sex relationships to little kids. You just say, "Sarah has two daddies who love each and take care of Sarah just like your father and I love each other and take care of you." That's it. You don't have to explain the mechanics of gay sex or the controversy in religion (unless, I guess, you're taking your kid to a church that teaches fire and brimstone for gay people). You don't have to ask a five year old if he thinks he might be gay. You really don't even have to spell it out and tell little kids that it's not cool to harass and attack gay people. You just...don't harass and attack gay people. And most of the time, when they get older, they won't either.
Well, think about it this way. I don't know what you believe, but it's my view that gay couples have just as much validity as straight couples. Their love is no less sincere just because they are gay. And if you think about how heterosexually-minded our society is, kids are given that same brainwashing, just in favor of straight people. I think that younger children should at the very least be aware of the gay community, and that there are many different walks of life out there. But I do think that if the assembly was anything more than informative (meaning promoting homosexuality over heterosexuality) then it shouldn't be done. Neither lifestyle should be portrayed as superior because, in my eyes, neither one is. I'm glad you posted this, because too often people feel uncomfortable asking these kinds of questions. Good for you.