The spacegirl with two mothers, the prince who shuns three beautiful princesses, falling in love with another man and the baby penguin with two dads – some of the new characters being introduced into children’s books at schools here in the U.K.
This is a good thing right? Gone are the days of the regimented old-fashioned stereotypical family of father, mother and 2.5 children – a family blueprint that in this day and age rarely fits anyone. A few years back we had the implementation of stories that served to tell the “other” story – the story of the “broken home”, the seperated parents and the step brothers and sisters. This of course, could only be viewed as a positive thing. It raised awareness and opened peoples’ eyes to the stigma attached to “alternative families”. It had made those kids who had felt different feel normal again, accepted, and had given children another ‘blueprint’ so that they may define their lifes. These new ‘gay’ stories seek to do exactly the same thing.
Children need to be free to define who they are, both as individuals and as part of a family unit. How can little Tom who lives with his two daddies define who he is as a person and understand his family unit when there are no stories for him. Isn’t his story worth telling? Doesn’t he deserve to feel as much a part of this society as the boy with the traditional family sitting next to him?!
Apparently not everyone thinks so. To some, little Tom’s story is nothing more than gay propaganda – liberal bullshit that is destroying the very foundation of the traditional family. Oh no !! Could it be true?! While we seek to tell every child’s story and hope that every kid grows up realising that he or she can do anything it wants, be anything it wants and still be accepted and loved regardless – while we do this – could we possibly be breaking down the fabric of the traditional family?! Oh please; your “fabric” was in tatters way before we got there.
Public opinion seems to fall into two distinct camps on this one. There are those who realise that these stories are being put in place in schools so that we can try rid our schools of discrimination. “For children brought up with gay family members this will be tremendously beneficial. There still exists a stigma against homosexuality in schools, and anything that can be done to redress this should be encouraged”. (‘The Sun’ Discussion board). There are also those whose comments only come from ignorance and fear, “It promotes abnormality. With the P.C brigade minority trying to dismantle national institutions such as mothers/fathers day they are now trying to impose their un-natural teaching on the majority -the majority needs to stand up for itself & say enough is enough, and raise its voice to be heard over the bleatings of these limp wristed liberal weirdo’s”. Bleat.
Some even go on to suggest that this “homosexual liberal nonsense” will make all our children gay and that there will be no-one left to carry on the blood-line and breed! Hah! Excuse me while I choke on my pasta in between fits of giggles. Geez. I’m not even going to bother aruging that one… except to say, ‘go home. you stupid’.
Every child deserves to have a “blueprint”. Every child deserves to fit in, to be heard, to be understood.
Every child deserves a story.
March 14, 2007 at 2:05 am
“Limp-wristed weirdo’s”? Great way to frame your intellect, Mr. Family Values! I’m sure people will be extra keen to listen to your contentious “what the majority wants” claptrap now you’ve bared the true extent of your bigotry.
Anyway, I’m quite passionate about gay peoples’ abilities to raise children in happy homes, and this made for an excellent read. At least gay people choose to start a family, and are likely to be better-equipped to socialize a new human being than the couple who got knocked up following the office Christmas party.