So, apparently the word gay is so terrifying and shocking that Tesco felt the need to use an asterisk when advertising their “inflatable gay best friend”. No, don’t ask me, I don’t have a fucking clue what it’s for or who would buy it. We all bought into rampant consumerism and this sort of idiotic fuckery is just the price we pay.
Anyway, that’s not really what I’m bothered about, although seriously, what kind of cockwomble thought gay needed an asterisk??
What I’m really bothered about is this http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/rift-deepens-over-same-sex-marriage-education-1-3114317
John Brown, a member of the Catholic Education Commission – oh, I’m trying not to go mad this early on but, honest to fuck, even the phrase “catholic education” boils my piss. It’s just an education, whether you’re catholic, muslim, jedi or nothing. (If anyone is interested I have a whole other rant about how ludicrous it is for kids to be assigned a religion at birth. I DO NOT automatically expect my kid to be a bit left-wing, sweary or swear undying devotion to Teenage Fanclub. Having said that, I was pretty tense watching Bugsy Malone with him in case he didn’t like it and I had to give him away.) ANYWAY, John Brown is concerned. He’s concerned about teachers in catholic schools and how they explain marriage if the Marriage and Civil Partnership Bill becomes law in 2015. Whilst John thinks “people who live different lifestyles deserve respect for that” he’s really mainly concerned that teachers in catholic schools are able to tell pupils that if they don’t marry someone of the opposite gender then their marriage isn’t real. There’s always some part of me that admires people willing to wear their prejudices like a badge because it makes it easier for me to identify the spunktrumpets in life but that’s only 1% of me. Right at this moment, the other 99% of me is thinking WON’T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN.
In our classrooms there are lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgendered children and I want to know why John Brown doesn’t think they are as important as a teacher’s need to put their religion at the forefront of their teaching. Hey John, how about you take your “respect for different lifestyles” and bang it up your hoop because quite frankly, if you can’t tell children that who they love is as irrelevant as who they worship then you shouldn’t be a teacher.
I agree with Stonewall here and I hope that the new equal marriage legislation leads to positive discussions about how we talk about love and sexuality in classrooms.
Education is a huge part of children’s lives. We wouldn’t tolerate teachers who want to be free to air their racial prejudices. When you are looking to the law to protect your right to air your prejudice then I think you have to accept that you’re in the wrong.
And apart from all that, if you can honestly look into your heart and believe that someone else’s love is intrinsically worth less than yours, then you are lost my friend, and it’s going to take more than a sky pixie to save you.
Anyway, I’d love to hear what you think in the comments (OBVS only if you agree with me).
Tiny Reviews 