If you live in the United States, then I’m sure you know about the passing of Proposition 8 in California, legislation banning gay marriage. Well, as they’re wont to be, books have been brought into the foray, namely King and King, a children’s book about homosexual relationships. Now, there are a slew of children’s books out there that address homosexual and lesbian relationships but this one in particular seemed to be loved a little more by those that promote ‘love thy neighbor’ with an asterisk.
Now, I don’t know about you but I find it a little . . . I don’t know if the word I’m looking for is hypocritical or ironic. Or both. Either way, the supporters of Prop 8 used this book in defense of their argument, claiming this is the kind of immoral behavior that’ll be taught to our children in schools if Prop 8 isn't passed. I just want to laugh because they’ll use the book to their advantage, give it free promotion, will have other people wanting to get their hands on it to read it to see what all the fuss is about, and then attempt to ban it because people shouldn’t be reading it.
Has your head stopped spinning yet?
What I see here, aside from complete idiocy and lack of a cognitive thought process, are people denying their children from being taught tolerance at such a young age. 
The article states that parents feel seven is too young to be introducing homosexual themes into their lives. So, are these teachers giving detailed instructions on how a homosexual relationship works while leaving the “normals” by the wayside to collect dust? These children are not learning anything more about homosexual relationships than they are about heterosexual ones. All they’re learning about is love and how and why different people love each other. Please don’t tell me these knobs are protesting books with interracial couples too.
People’s definition of a relationship is being shaken and they want to make sure their children learn and adhere to the rigid definition they, themselves, have adopted. The only tolerance they should have are for people just like them. Right? So books about love and compassion and tolerance and equality should only include those whom are loving, compassionate and tolerant of others just like themselves.
Yup. The head’s still spinning.
For how effective banning is, just look at Prohibition. My, how that one worked!
Banning books won’t make them go away. All it will do is draw attention to them and drive up sales, the exact opposite of what the banners’ intentions are. Banning gay marriage isn’t going to make it go away and it doesn’t make the supporters of Prop 8 right. It makes them witch hunters. What I read is no one’s business but my own. Who I sleep with, who I date and who I marry is no one’s business but my own. Yes, marriage is, by definition, religious but in this modern day, marriage has become a government institution as well. Let the church deny who they will when it comes to marriage. Unfortunately they have every right to do that. But the state doesn’t. The first amendment has something to say about that, doesn’t it? For the government to say your relationship is lesser, it doesn’t count, it’s not real, it doesn’t mean as much as this other one, is a violation of a fundamental human right to love whom we want to.
The people that allow the restriction of others to love should be ashamed of themselves and maybe should open their eyes a little bit. They might learn something from these amoral heathens about love and compassion and tolerance. While they think they got the definition of ‘marriage’ right, they’re looking in the wrong dictionary for the rest.
If you have a child and you want them to be a well-rounded human being and love others for who they are and not judge them based on who they love, pick up a book like King and King and read it to them. They’ll thank you later for it. And I’m sure your heart will be a little lighter at the end of the day because of it.
4 comments:
It just boggles the mind that people are so stupid. This sounds like a great way to show kids that a gay couple isn't all that different from a straight couple since they're two people in love. I'm sure they aren't showing anything about what the couple are doing any more than they'd be showing a straight couple going at it.
It is just ridiculous that a man and woman can get drunk in Vegas and get married but a couple that happens to be two women or two men can't depending on the state they live in. They should be allowed to get married since they're just people too who should be treated like everyone else. It's just as crazy as saying blue eyed people can't marry brown eyed people.
That book is absolutely fantastic. I loved it. Being a librarian, I asked that my library district purchase a copy for the collection. They refused to (without giving any reason why) and simply said that if people wanted to read it, we could simply order it from another district. Sigh.
That's why I find it absolutely astounding. Love thy neighbor, but only if they're just like you. Great thing to teach kids!
And I can't believe that about your library, LH. They could have had the balls enough to give a *real* reason.
They do one of three things: 1) They're vague and state they cannot order it. 2) They say that they must keep within the patron representation-ratio--they assume there are not that many GLBT or African Americans (etc) patrons in the district, therefore they don't order GLBT or African American (etc) themed books. 3) Or, they say that they'll just request it from another library district if someone asks for it--which is supposed to mean that they're still open minded. I've made it my mission to repeatedly request my district to order controversial books. LOL. It's not the last they've seen of me.
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