Wednesday, June 01, 2011
NOM showing large scale hypocrisy in Minnesota
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NOM pushing 'gay marriage will confuse children' distortion
On its blog, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has an item about a California class which teaches children about gender diversity:
The blog post then shows a video of the lesson and ends with:
Now let's be clear here. We all know why NOM chose to push this item. The organization is implying that marriage equality will confuse children, i.e. making them think that "gender doesn't matter."
It's yet another way the organization is seeking to scare people into voting against marriage equality.
And like all of its other tactics, this one by NOM is blatantly dishonest.
While seeking to attack people's visual senses by showing the video, NOM omits (maybe intentionally, maybe not intentionally) two pertinent facts which destroys the organization's horror story:
1. The children who took part in this lesson were not required to. According to the article, all parents were informed of the lesson plan beforehand and were able to opt their children out of it if they chose to do so. So this was case of parents still having control over what is being taught to their children.
2. These lessons had nothing to do with marriage equality but the issues of gender identity and bullying. Whether the religious right wants to adhere to the fact or not, the issues of gender identity are becoming more widely known and some parents are finding that they have to deal with this issue.
Both of these facts are relatively easy to find because they are contained in the Fox News story which NOM referred to but chose not link to.
And as I asked before, what's so wrong with talking about this issue to children in a reasonable manner? Children aren't porcelain or glass. And they won't remain children forever. Teaching a child respect and understanding at an early age is hardly a bad idea.
But the fact of the matter here is not what the lessons teach. It's the fact that in spite of all of its talk about having an intelligent conversation on the pros (and mostly cons) of marriage equality, NOM has no problem calling on the gay boogeyman lie yet again.
Video: Coming to a Public School Near YOU?
Fox News covered a class full of kindergartners in California being taught that you can feel like a girl, feel like a boy, feel like both, or feel like neither.
Watch it and tell us what you think:
The blog post then shows a video of the lesson and ends with:
The group brought in to teach children these lessons (allegedly to prevent bullying) is called Gender Spectrum.
"People can be girls, feel like girls, they can feel like boys, they can feel like both, and they can even feel, like I said, kinda like neither."
Now let's be clear here. We all know why NOM chose to push this item. The organization is implying that marriage equality will confuse children, i.e. making them think that "gender doesn't matter."
It's yet another way the organization is seeking to scare people into voting against marriage equality.
And like all of its other tactics, this one by NOM is blatantly dishonest.
While seeking to attack people's visual senses by showing the video, NOM omits (maybe intentionally, maybe not intentionally) two pertinent facts which destroys the organization's horror story:
1. The children who took part in this lesson were not required to. According to the article, all parents were informed of the lesson plan beforehand and were able to opt their children out of it if they chose to do so. So this was case of parents still having control over what is being taught to their children.
2. These lessons had nothing to do with marriage equality but the issues of gender identity and bullying. Whether the religious right wants to adhere to the fact or not, the issues of gender identity are becoming more widely known and some parents are finding that they have to deal with this issue.
Both of these facts are relatively easy to find because they are contained in the Fox News story which NOM referred to but chose not link to.
And as I asked before, what's so wrong with talking about this issue to children in a reasonable manner? Children aren't porcelain or glass. And they won't remain children forever. Teaching a child respect and understanding at an early age is hardly a bad idea.
But the fact of the matter here is not what the lessons teach. It's the fact that in spite of all of its talk about having an intelligent conversation on the pros (and mostly cons) of marriage equality, NOM has no problem calling on the gay boogeyman lie yet again.
NOM teams up with gay = pedophilia and bestiality group in Minnesota and other Wednesday midday news briefs
NOM, Family Council register to begin fundraising for marriage battle - A few things u need to know about this: 1. NOM, the Minnesota Family Council (the group which claims that homosexuality is linked to pedophilia, bestiality, and the consuming of urine and feces), and the Minnesota Catholic Conference are involved in this effort. NOM and MFC have already formed a group called Minnesota for Marriage (a rather innocuous title seeing that they only wanted heterosexual marriages). 2. The Minnesota Family Council's CEO - John Helmberger - is listed as the chair and treasurer of the group. 3. Both NOM and MFC are presently being investigated for failing to disclose lobbying efforts.
Recipients of civil union license: 'We wanted to make a statement' - Congratulations Illinois couples! BTW the first couple to register was an African-American couple.
Confessions of a Blog Addict. Or Why I Love to Hate GetReligion.org and FamilyScholars.org - Hilarious article and it mentions this blog too.
Melissa Harris-Perry: LGBT Advocates Need Public Progressive Faith - Last but not least, an excellent article which everyone should read. It covers so many good points. But for me, the main point is that I have been given the perfect answer to relate to those African-Americans who say "I can't hide my skin color, but gays can hide who they are." Answer - "Since when is the closet a privilege? Since when having to lie about your life is a privilege?"
Recipients of civil union license: 'We wanted to make a statement' - Congratulations Illinois couples! BTW the first couple to register was an African-American couple.
Confessions of a Blog Addict. Or Why I Love to Hate GetReligion.org and FamilyScholars.org - Hilarious article and it mentions this blog too.
Melissa Harris-Perry: LGBT Advocates Need Public Progressive Faith - Last but not least, an excellent article which everyone should read. It covers so many good points. But for me, the main point is that I have been given the perfect answer to relate to those African-Americans who say "I can't hide my skin color, but gays can hide who they are." Answer - "Since when is the closet a privilege? Since when having to lie about your life is a privilege?"
Being openly gay has nothing to do with talking about sexual intercourse
One News Now columnist Peter Heck typifies the willful ignorance some folks have about the lgbt community.
Recently he put this ignorance on display in a piece in which he attacked CNN anchor Don Lemon for coming out. Heck then proceeded to write a long rambling piece further criticizing Lemon, American culture, former NBA star Charles Barkeley, and even Lady Gaga, calling her "vile and perverted."
The meat of Heck's rambling is best seen in the following passage:
How many of us have heard that ridiculous notion - i.e. homosexuality is all about sexual intercourse. Why do you tell anyone who you are sleeping with?
Even when someone folks try to show the lgbt community support, they succumb to the ignorance when they say things like "I don't care who so-and-so is sleeping with."
Being an lgbt goes way beyond sexual intercourse and behavior. It's a point we need to press consistently. Announcing that you are gay is not automatically giving someone a window into your bedroom. And being honest about your sexual orientation does not mean that you are going to regal people with your sexual prowess.
Part of the difficulty lgbts face in this world is people like Heck willfully trying to connect being an lgbt with thoughtless hedonistic behavior, hence the constant tired strain that "homosexuality is a lifestyle."
Well I'm gay and my life has less to do with sexual hijinks and more to do with getting up every day, working, etc. - you know, normal stuff. And to the millions of lgbts - especially lgbt couples and individuals taking care of children - it's pretty much the same thing.
Being an lgbt is no different than being a heterosexual. Being open and honest about your lgbt orientation is about honesty and living your life without fear.
You do not choose to be gay and being open about your orientation does not mean that you are choosing to talk about your sex life.
Ignorance, however, is a choice. It's a point that Heck has made abundantly clear.
Recently he put this ignorance on display in a piece in which he attacked CNN anchor Don Lemon for coming out. Heck then proceeded to write a long rambling piece further criticizing Lemon, American culture, former NBA star Charles Barkeley, and even Lady Gaga, calling her "vile and perverted."
The meat of Heck's rambling is best seen in the following passage:
. . . why do the very people who constantly tell us that what a person does in their bedroom is no one else's business, simultaneously find it necessary to inform everyone of what they do in their bedroom? If this is a private matter, Don, then let's keep it private. Perhaps I'm the only one who feels this way, but frankly, I don't care to know what kind of sex the evening news anchor is into. Beyond it being remarkably irrelevant to the dissemination of news, it's just kind of creepy that these proponents of sexual anarchy feel it is their civic duty to incessantly shove their unconventional behavior in front of our children's faces.
How many of us have heard that ridiculous notion - i.e. homosexuality is all about sexual intercourse. Why do you tell anyone who you are sleeping with?
Even when someone folks try to show the lgbt community support, they succumb to the ignorance when they say things like "I don't care who so-and-so is sleeping with."
Being an lgbt goes way beyond sexual intercourse and behavior. It's a point we need to press consistently. Announcing that you are gay is not automatically giving someone a window into your bedroom. And being honest about your sexual orientation does not mean that you are going to regal people with your sexual prowess.
Part of the difficulty lgbts face in this world is people like Heck willfully trying to connect being an lgbt with thoughtless hedonistic behavior, hence the constant tired strain that "homosexuality is a lifestyle."
Well I'm gay and my life has less to do with sexual hijinks and more to do with getting up every day, working, etc. - you know, normal stuff. And to the millions of lgbts - especially lgbt couples and individuals taking care of children - it's pretty much the same thing.
Being an lgbt is no different than being a heterosexual. Being open and honest about your lgbt orientation is about honesty and living your life without fear.
You do not choose to be gay and being open about your orientation does not mean that you are choosing to talk about your sex life.
Ignorance, however, is a choice. It's a point that Heck has made abundantly clear.