SAME-SEX PENGUIN CONTROVERSY REVISITED
"It's not about fear...it's about a parent's right(s)"

So I had an interesting comment exchange with someone who claims to be directly involved in the controversy at an Illinois elementary school about a children's book dealing with a same-sex penguin couple. I suppose the anti-gay penguin parent googled up my post and, no doubt, because I said the whole thing was stupid, simply had to leave a comment:

It's not about fear...it's about a parent's right to introduce topics to their kids when they, the parents, think that their child is ready. Also, it is about so many other mature books that are in our libary. The penguin book has somehow been put at the forefront when there was a list of books that were asked to be placed on the "parent authorization" shelf. It really has so much more to do with than just homosexuality. No one who questioned the book is trying to ban it...the media is blowing this way out of context! As usual!

My response:

I must point out to you that "the parent's right to introduce topics" to their children is utterly at odds with the entire concept of public education. That is, you need to explain why this particular topic, same-sex couples, needs to be agonized over, but not, say, the theory of relativity, or biology, or love, or war, or poetry and art, or any other topic taught in the schools. You must also understand that this penguin thing is taking place in an overall social context of gay anxiety: it is impossible to separate it from everything else that's going on--the media is quite right to treat it as another skirmish in the ongoing "culture war" because it is. You can call it what you want, but from where I stand, because I cannot think of any other reason why, and because your explanation is more of a hair-splitting dodge than an actual explanation, it sure does look like these anti-penguin book parents are, indeed, afraid.

Why not just talk to kids about homosexuals? You don't need to get into any messy sex details, but it's crazy to not let kids know what's going on in the world. Think about it this way: heterosexual couples are all over the place in children's libraries and there is nothing "mature" or complex about that. What's so sophisticated about same-sex couples?

The reason I brought this exchange up to the main page is because of how the commenter's argument is intentionally vague and misleading. That is, while I disagree with the religious point of view that homosexuality is sinful and should not be taught in schools, at least it's an honest and straightforward argument. Telling me that the whole thing is actually about a "parent's right" to control their children's access to knowledge is, however, a brazen act of misdirection, serving to do nothing but muddy discourse over the subject, a favorite right-wing tactic--disguise an extreme viewpoint to make it more palatable to thinking Americans; cloak it in the language of freedom.

Look, it goes without saying that parents actually have very little control over which topics are introduced to their children in school--what control they do have is in terms of flak, as manifested by this controversy, and in school board elections. And that's the way it ought to be. Schools cannot possibly satisfy every single family in the country, nor should they: the schools ought to expand young Americans' horizons, exposing them to ideas and concepts that they don't get at home. There is no right of which to speak for parents to control the information to which their children are exposed in the classroom.

So this commenter makes a bogus argument.

It is very interesting to note that she flat out rejects, without explanation, that it's about fear. But what else can it be? Why is she so opposed to her child learning about a couple of male penguins in a zoo caring for a fertilized egg? Of course, I can't read minds. I don't really know where this person is coming from. But I'll bet you credits to navy beans that she's afraid of her kid growing up to be gay. Indeed, I'd make the same bet about anybody who opposes information about homosexuality in the schools.

A really wicked part of me strongly wishes that her kid does turn out to be gay. But then, after all, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Right?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$