Children's books

I found this this story out of the UK disappointing regarding the reaction of religious groups to the introduction of "gay is normal" children's books into the educational system. According to the article, books such as King and King, about a gay prince, and And Tango Makes Three, about gay penguins are considered "homosexual propaganda" by several religious organizations.

Some of the comments are truly vile such as one claiming that the children's books "could expose children to sexual predators" by making them think gay is "perfectly normal." I suppose the reality that most sexual predators are straight isn't something the children should be taught to guard against. My immediate response to the comment regarding gay as normal would have been to say to this person that gay IS normal. I don't mean normal as in we are the majority. I mean normal as in we are a part of the norm of life, as the documentary Out in Nature so effectively postulates. Our being gay is probably no more unique than any other aspect of biological variation in nature.

The irony of trying to block a book on gay penguins, considering we now know that there is a subset of animals in nature who have same-sex coupling, is especially amazing. However, my argument would have probably fallen on deaf ears because ultimately this is a cultural, not scientific, debate. The science will only tend to reinforce the position that one already has. If one is against gays, the argument will predictably be that gay is a disease like cancer that needs to be cured. For us, it's proof of the fact of what we have known all along- that what we feel is natural. The real discussion is about who controls the culture. Children's books are one way to determine that. Here in America, of course, we are used to seeing the power of these groups to define anything as positive toward gays as propaganda, and anything that they spew as synonymous with family values.

In my recent interview with Paris Barclay, one of the things that struck me as most important about him is that he has adopted two kids and is raising them despite all the efforts by others to block his family from existing. The question is no longer in what kind of society do we want to raise the kids of those opposed to us. It's become in what kind of society do we want to raise our own kids, the children of gay and lesbian parents.

In the past, it was Dr. Seuss who shaped the imaginations of children with books about characters like the cat in the hat. Hopefully, going forward, it will be characters who are inclusive of all of us, including us gays, that shapes our imaginations.