The next battle - may we win it

I have to hand it to our friend, Peter LaBarbera. The site of his group, American for Truth (in name only) keeps me informed on the issue of the lgbt community. His site is an excellent resource, as long as one ignores the lies and hysteria that comes with it.

For example, this article about a school committee that will forsee whether or not to recommend a video for classrooms:

The district is set to announce today that it has formed a committee that will make a recommendation about a controversial video featuring gay parents, but committee members' names will remain secret to protect them from harassment.

Nine PTA parents will serve on the committee, district spokeswoman Jeanne Smith said, along with a group of teachers.

Just as they did in the recent David Parker controversy, Peter and his posse will try to spin the incorrect idea that talking about same-sex led households constitutes a talk about sexual intercourse.

And that will be the next battle.

Fresh off of their victories in the fight against same-sex marriage, the anti-gay industry will try to further devalue and dehumanize lgbts by giving our families a sort of scarlet letter in classrooms. Oh don't mention the fact that gays and lesbians constitute families and actually raise children in those families. That means we have to talk about nasty gay sex.

What a bunch of lies.

I sincerely hope that the anti-gay industry will not be successful this time. The issue of same-sex marriage was one that they were able to put in simplistic terms:

Marriage has always been between a man and a woman. Gays and lesbians are the invaders trying to change the concept and thereby destroy marriage.

While they were busy pushing this point of view, something interesting was happening. LGBTs were continuing to form relationships and they were continuing to raise children. We didn't stop because of we were being denied marriage rights. The ability to have a family is central to the human existence.

And whether the anti-gay industry likes it or not, the lgbt community are included in this designation.

So in the case of having families, we cannot be seen as outsiders. We have children attending schools and those children have every right to celebrate their families and not be thought of as immoral because their families are not "ideal" in the eyes of some.

The issue of lgbt families is so complex that the anti-gay industry cannot simplify it. People are just not going to buy into so easily as they did with same-sex marriage. People realize that at the end of the day, any action they endorse could eventually harm a child whose only "crime" seems to be in a same sex household.

And this complexity includes how these same-sex families should be talked about in schools.

But that doesn't mean members of the anti-gay industry won't try:

In America there are powers that are hell bent on sexualizing our kids at very early ages, and in perverse ways. The main place this sexualization is happening is in the schools.

This writer includes the lie that David Parker's son's school was talking about gay sexual intercourse. She even infers that gay men want to molest children.

These attempts to make every case that opposes homosexuality one about sexual intercourse underscores a point.

The battle for gay rights is not about sex. To a degree, it's not even about being able to love who your heart tells you to.

The battle for gay rights is a fight for the right to self-determination. Apparently some folks feel that we should conform to their ignorant ideas of lgbts: the hedonistic, irresponsible gay man, the violent manhating lesbian, the cheating bisexual who cannot comprehend monogamy, the transgender always looking to "trick" straight men into thinking that she was born a woman,

God forbid we forge our own identities. God forbid we look to God for approval rather than those who say they are speaking for God. And God forbid that we demand what is ours as taxpaying Americans - that the government look out for our interests.

The anti-gay industry has every right to think that homosexuality is all about sexual intercourse. But we have every right not to live our lives according to their ignorance.

And we have every right to raise hell when they try to hurt our families.

One more thing

So Marine General Peter Pace thinks that homosexuality is immoral, huh?

Well, to channel John Aravois, badly equipping our people to fight the war in Iraq or allowing wounded soldiers to sleep in their own urine when they are lucky enough not to be blown away in cases of friendly fire (i,e, Pat Tillman) is even more immoral.

Are we really winning this so-called war on terror?