What is the definition of “gay rights?” Most people would describe it as the equality of social and civil liberties.
Indeed, gay rights are exactly that. They are something that all homosexual men and women have been fighting for, and will continue to fight for. After all, anything worthwhile is worth fighting for.
The problem comes when gay rights goes from a protest-specific platform to an expectation. It is one thing for homosexuals to seek the same equality that the rest of the country experiences, but it begins to become problematic when it goes to that of an earned desire.
Now, the homosexual community is lobbying to have “gay rights” taught in our schools. This idea is simply preposterous. In essence, such a proposal would promote rebellion from the same laws and restrictions that the heterosexual community has to adhere to on a daily basis.
Reader poll
Should gay rights be taught in public schools?
- Yes
- No
- It depends on the situation
19 total votes.
Who among us wants our children to learn about famous gay figures throughout our country? No one wants our youth to be corrupted with meaningless banter of any specific group, even if it is from the homosexual community.
If we do this, why don’t we take it a step further and bring back proposition 19 to legalize marijuana and allow that in our schools as well. Hey, while we are at it, why don’t we bring back the initiative to teach “Ebonics” in schools also?
We could have one big school system of stoned, “ghetto” vernacular speaking homosexuals. Why don’t we teach them the proper street etiquette for holding a firearm? We could completely revamp the K-12 curriculum.
Of course not, right? We would never do something like this because we know that if nothing else, we don’t want the slightest possibility of introducing our children to anything that could even remotely be conceived as providing a less than desirable impression for our youth.
There would be no need for parents anymore. What would the purpose of a parent be if a youth can go to school and learn about sexuality, drugs, bad habits, and who knows what else?
In a lot of schools, the Pledge of Allegiance has been altered so that it would not include “GOD” because people were offended. How is it acceptable to take “GOD” out of schools and replace it with gay in schools?
Of course, some people will argue that this all being blown out of proportion and misunderstood. Some people will say that there is nothing wrong with teaching students about prominent gay figures. Some people may comment that it is more of a unity driven initiative intended to bridge the divide between gay and straight students.
If this is your argument, has there ever been, or is there now a club or educational opportunity that brings together the groups of white supremacy and extreme minorities? NO!
The world is constantly changing, but it hasn’t changed that much, and even if it has, it would still be up to the parents to determine the best interests of their children. Gay or straight, we should all be allowed to live equally. No group should be catered to more than any other group. Is anyone of more value than the other?
I didn’t think so. Here is the bottom line. Whatever we do in the privacy of our own homes is our own business. We all have the right to decide who we would like to spend our time with socially. No one is questioning the homosexual lifestyle, but that lifestyle in our schools where our young and impressionable youth seeks out the path that will shape the person that they will become in their lives has no place.
Just like we don’t like to be solicited with advertisements, phone calls, and signatures, we also don’t like, nor are willing to accept being solicited sexuality either.
Comments
patrick.dolly 1 year, 8 months ago
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girldeedee 1 year, 8 months ago
Touche, the idea of this is absurd; you can't single out gay people here and then say it's discrimination at other times. What does gay have to do with it? If you invented the light bulb was it because you were gay? This is a lifestyle choice until proven otherwise. The idea of trying to compare this to women's rights or black rights is another absurdity; when you leave your house you can't pretend not to be black or female - people don't find this out over dinner during conversation. People are going too far, parents have to sign a permission slip for their high school kids to take a health class. Young girls all across America are bused to special schools for pregnant teens once they begin to "show" as not to offend or disrupt the flow of education. Clearly, we have bigger fish to fry than whether or not Tim or Sally feel like they can relate to the great makers of history who also happened to be homosexual.
jaded361 1 year, 8 months ago
If being gay was a "lifestyle choice" don't you think more people would choose NOT to be gay? Why would they insist on being something that sometimes gets them beat up or killed?!
patrick.dolly 1 year, 8 months ago
@ girldeedee. The issue comes when a particular belief goes from a private platform to a public platform.
@jaded361. I see your point regarding the issues that the homosexual community has experienced because of orientation. Sure, no one would sign up to receive any type of physical, emotional, or verbal violence. I may be wrong, but from what I got from the previous comment was that like we all make choices regarding the type of lifestyles that we choose to live and as such there should not be an option of educating in our schools on something that we choose.
I fully understand that the argument is that homosexuals do not "CHOOSE" to be gay. We don't choose our races, or our level of income, but yet we have a choice on how to handle that. If I was raised in poverty with drugs and violence, it was not a choice to be brought up in that yet if I follow the example that I have been raised by and end up in drugs and gangs it is a choice correct?
Nuts_and_Bolts 1 year, 8 months ago
In Congress, July 4, 1776, the unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America. States"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
And that my friends is the Nuts and Bolts of it all!
girldeedee 1 year, 8 months ago
This is why there can never be an intelligent debate on anything, people always go off topic ranting on about nonsense trying to make a their point. The topic is wether or not gay rights should be taught in public schools; not if gay and straight people are created equal.
This is not a matter of personal like or dislike of gay people. This is a matter of how much do children really need to be exposed to. Bottom line is, when I was a kid "gay" meant happy. There was no gay (if people were they just were, without title). Gay sprouted up right around the time when black people became African American, teens became Generation X and McDonalds got sued for selling hot coffee. There are just some things that should not be public domain and who someone chooses to sleep with and take up house with is nobodys business! Gay people bleed red, eat food and drink water to live just like everyone else so what does pinpoiting someones lifestyle preference (yes I said preference) have to do with their historical achievements?
Let's not try to compare gay liberation to that of womens suffrage or the enslavement of blacks, chinese, native american or jews. Born gay or not, most gay people look as straight as anyone else; they work on wallstreet and they pass laws in congress. If they wish to keep their private life private who can stop them? The bigotry and bias against gay people in general has no barring on exposing young children to norms and values that do not exist in the average home. That's like making the school system responsible for telling 5th graders that there is no Santa Claus or exactly where babies come from. It's not for them to do - period.
Should there be optional courses in middle or high school perhaps. There are parents who are open and would like their kids to learn sensitivity and open mindedness for all groups of people and that would be their choice. I dont want my child learning the "new" math or that they decended from monkeys either but its up to me in my home to teach him otherwise. The school system has a lot if issues; lets fine tune the crap they are dishing already before we go adding to the mess!
lgb8463 1 year, 6 months ago
The term "gay" began being used to describe homosexuality in the late 1800's. Maybe you should spend more time studying and less commenting on issues you know nothing about.
latincublb 1 year, 7 months ago
All of the comments and the article itself are absurd and appalling I am disappointing in talon marks for publishing an opinion piece on the web in which the only thing labeling it as such (A BACKWARDS OPINION) is in the address bar. Shame on you "journalists." Hopefully you reading this have already realized that some one whose sole argument for gay rights not to be taught is because they think it exposes kids to what gays are... What are you afraid of there are girls who love girls and boys who love girls...there are girls who love boys and boys who love boys... was that tough? That's all you gotta tell your kids. HOMOSEXUALS are more than sex so if that's all you see when you see some one gay that is because you may lack the depth they have. Gays are an oppressed minority. Be aware that although there are gays of all races religions and sexes as individuals at home at school at work we live in the shadows. A woman doesn't hide she is a woman some one black doesn't have to hide they are black. they can see themselves in the world setting examples. Until people like the author stop living in ignorance and allow gay youth the benefit of having tolerance towards gays taught alongside tolerance to race America will stay in the dark. Kids should know that it is wrong to abuse any minority. When the reason you kill someone like Mathew Shephard is because he was a boy who liked boys it counts that he was gay. You all should also realize that blood is on the hands of everyone who teaches their kids intolerance. your child may be the one killed by some one raised in the ignorance you are wishing on the world. People choose to be gay the same way you choose to breathe. Gay people could live lives of celibacy and only love the same sex and you would not teach that it is wrong to hang beat maul burn suffocate and rape them. Bad form talon Marks. Vet your articles even opinion ones.
patrick.dolly 1 year, 7 months ago
First of all, if you READ the article, you will see that there is no intolerance anywhere to be found. However, there is plenty of truth to be found. Do whatever you want to do. It is your life, but don't do it in public schools where my kids attend. I should not have to explain to my children about homosexuality just like you should not have to explain about violence against gays.
Look past the offensive nature in which you took this article and see that I have a right to desire that my kids not be subjected to homosexuality type teachings. You could not possibly be implying that if someone disagrees with homosexuality that it signifies intolerance can you?
If anything is intolerant, THAT perspective is, not my opinion.
anon_fuhk 1 year, 7 months ago
"Do whatever you want to do. It is your life, but don't do it in public schools where my kids attend."
A "but" should never follow a statement trying to express it's writer's tolerance. If you don't want your children to be around the teachings of homosexuality, stick them under a rock, or pay for private school.
wickedkat 1 year, 7 months ago
Can I stress that gay rights is widely considered a human rights issue? Just like Women's rights and African American Rights are? Are we supposed to exclude these as well since they are considered to be 'specialized' groups? Should we exclude Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King and Susan B. Anthony? No. Should we possibly add Allen Ginsberg and Harvey Milk? Yes. The reason being is that American history is intended to show the freedom and diversity of our nation through its history, through its mistakes and successes. Each new triumph of human rights within our country should be celebrated, along with the struggles and failures of our country as it stumbled upon its way to getting to those triumphs of the American spirit of freedom and justice for all. omitting or hiding gay rights from our nations history is a blatant show of disrespect for the principles our nation was founded on. Shame on you for attempting to make American History something to be debated.
TickTockBang 1 year, 7 months ago
By your logic we should also remove women's studies and black history studies. What parent wouldn't want love taught to their child in school. Besides it's better at a younger age so it's not such a foreign concept when they make friends in elementary school and go over to little Molly's two daddies house or Steven's house with two mommies.
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