Halls of Macadamia gets all intellectual by asking:
One question... to be answered honestly
At the risk of stirring up a hornets nest, I'd like to know what percentage of heterosexual parents would be truly happy to find out that their son or daughter was homosexual... c'mon now, fess up.
--- I'm thinkin' the answer is... zip... zero... as in none.
Not surprisingly, M's commenters would still love their children, although not quite as much it would seem:
I'll have to say I would be dismayed and dissappointed if I found that my daughter (now a toddler) was a lesbian. I would still love her but I could not help being upset...
i have one child, a pre-adolescent son and can't ever imagine, for ANY reason, not loving him fiercely... but truth be told, i would be filled with a lingering sadness if he were to come to me with the news that he was homosexual...
I would be very devasted to learn that my child was gay.
Yes, these paragons of Christian love and compassion would still love their God-given offspring, even if it meant fighting their way through the disappointment and devastation. But let's ask this question in a different way, shall we?
How many of these people would be "truly happy" to have a child that was severely mentally retarded? Or had been born with Down's Syndrome, or some other significant birth defect?
No, really, what percentage of these folks would be equally content if their child was born, say, a mental vegetable that required round-the-clock health care for the rest of its life?
Because this is the fiction you hear when you get into a discussion of abortion in the context of aborting fetuses that have obvious birth defects. Many of these people are adamantly opposed to the notion of terminating a pregnancy, even in situations like that, choosing instead to describe a newborn with massive birth defects as a "blessing" or a "gift from God."
It's fascinating, isn't it? The same folks who would be crushed by having a perfectly healthy gay child are the same ones who, if you believe them, couldn't be happier looking after a massively-handicapped child for the rest of its life.
At least, if you believe they're answering that question "honestly."
7 comments:
I'm not surprised by the comments. I find it infuriating that with all of the information and facts available about sexual orientation, that people would express "disappointment" that their own offspring were gay. Orientation to same sex is innate, unchangeable, and is not a disease or abhorent affliction. The churches hold the responsibility for placing conditions on love. Only they can fix it, but are too fucking ignorant to have the capacity to address the mess they have made of lGBT people and their families. The very fact that these people would question their total acceptance of their own fucking family speaks volumes for the irreparable damage churches have caused families. It all stems from the love the sinner hate the sin lie perpetuated by churches. Gay people express until they are blue in the face, that their sexuality is part of who they are and is not a "deviant behaviour" or something trival. Churches keep refusing to accept fact and choose to single out gays for "biblical inerrancy" while letting others off scott free. I've seen many people thrown out of their homes and ostracized by their families for being honest about who they are. Take a look at any of the streets in our major cities and you will see a hell of a lot of LGBT youth on the streets courtesy of religious based conditional love. These people have totally lost site of the value of their own families at the expense of their ignorance and hate.
Remember that SNL skit about "Homocil"....the medication that could help parents get over the dismay of having a gay child? It ended with the tagline "Because it's your problem, not theirs."
That's what Macademia's post is really all about. How central to the *parent* (especially the so-con parent) being a gay offspring might be. That might be a valid issue for some people, but not for the person who really counts...the son or daughter.
Anyway, here's to a brand new year of panty-sniffing and crotch-watching by the social conservatives. My wish for them is a full year of relentless and rigorous shagging to cure them hopefully of their unhealthy sexual obsession.
...oh, and plenty of gay kids for them as well. As I've always said, God has a very wicked sense of humour.
The irony is that about 5% of them do have gay kids and don't know it because the kids are too terrified to come out to their ignorant, homophobic parents.
No wonder so many gay kids run away from home.
bc waterboy:
Only they can fix it, but are too fucking ignorant to have the capacity to address the mess they have made of lGBT people and their families.
I think you are an anti-church bigot. What about the United Church, which allows and promotes same-sex unions? What about the Anglican Church, which is also working on the same issue? What about Reform Judaism and some Conservative congregations that are also supportive of gay unions. I think you tell youself anti-church bigotry to make yourself feel better or superior but I don't think you know what you are talking about, labelling churches/religions as ignorant.
Anonymous 12:32...(sounds like a bible quote)
Nonny...so, because Waterboy didn't say "*some* churches" you're calling him "anti-church"????
That's like saying he's anti-Martin Luther King, because the man was a minister, nevermind the civil rights activism.
Waterboy and everyone else willing to stand openly at the front lines of the sexual civil rights movement have been metaphorically burned so often by high toned, accusatory, exclusionary congregations -of all major religions-, they're edging on the alleged literal meaning of faggot. With cinders. Yet still, they stand and take the watch on people using religion (yes, in *churches*, from the *pulpit*) as means to power by the demonifying of the Other as the source of denying immortal survival.
The United Church doesn't /allow/ same-sex unions. They spiritually bless and witness people of the same gender entering into wedlock/marriage and do not condemn same gender partners.
The government of the country allows/promotes equal marriage among all seeking it.
Also, you might want to consider that what's been discussed in the article is beyond equal marriage. If religious people /really want to think of the children, they might focus more on son Billy's ethical strengths rather than who he finds attractive sexually, and not throw out daughter Irene to the street wolves for daring to love rather than hate herself.
Deeds, not exclusionary redes.
Anon asks: I think you are an anti-church bigot. What about the United Church, which allows and promotes same-sex unions?
No, anon, I'm pointing out the obvious here: that churches are responsible for the irresponsible actions of parents who put church doctrine ahead of their own flesh and blood. Stop making excuses for the utter disaster that religion has made in their dealings with LGBT persons and their families. Churches are 100% responsible for homophobia in our society and have so far succeeded in disguising their prejudices in wording such as "religious freedom" or "family values". Both of which are code for their continual and unprovoked demonization and vilification of LGBT persons and their families. I know people who have personally been affected by this and it's ugly. You have the audacity to turn it around and make the church the victim in this? I suggest you get out of your cushy little pulpit and take to the streets of Toronto or Vancouver and tell the LGBT youth tossed into the street like garbage from bigoted parents, and see the damage that the churches have inflicted on people.
Anon also states: I think you tell youself anti-church bigotry to make yourself feel better or superior but I don't think you know what you are talking about, labelling churches/religions as ignorant."
Nice try anon. The tactic of accusing people of the very deeds that organized religion has mastered so well is kind of like, something a 5 year old might do if he/she didn't get their own way.
Post a Comment