Why we don't need to teach acceptance to children ...

Now, before I get lots of angry messages, comments and tweets about how it's important for children to be accepting, I'm going to stop you right there. How about you read all the way through this piece before forming an angry lynch mob?

Children don't need to be taught acceptance. Children are already pretty much accepting of everyone. It's their nature. Children are trusting and accepting of just about everyone they meet. They don't need us to teach them about acceptance or how to be accepting. They get it.

It's us. It's all of us. It's the adults who need to be taught.

My son has Autism. Not very severe. If you met him, you might not realise right away. His best friend has Down Syndrome. They accept each other. No questions asked. They both go to a mainstream school. They are in a mainstream class. They are accepted by their friends at school. They are accepted by other students who are not necessarily in their immediate circle.

These children are perfectly accepting. This isn't to say that they don't notice differences. They do. They comment on them. It's what's kids do. They have no filter. All parents would have had that awkward moment when they wanted the ground to open up because their child has said something like, "Why is that man so fat?" or "Gee, that lady's black!" It's not because they are being mean or discriminatory. It's because they are curious about the world. It is not because they are intolerant.

It's adults that add the layer of intolerance to their curiosity. It's adults that say the man is fat because he's lazy or doesn't eat right or can't be bothered exercising. It's adults that tell their children they don't associate with people of colour.

And by adults, I mean all adults. Parents, other relatives, family friends, parents of other children, the media, teachers, sports instructors, nannies, babysitters, everyone.

Society allows intolerance to continue and to grow. Every single one of us need to step up and stay that enough is enough. Intolerance will not be accepted.

Homophobia ... gone.

Sexism ... gone.

Racism ... gone.

Disability discrimination ... gone.

Ageism ... gone

Imagine what that society would be like. Don't worry, I'm not going to be doing any John Lennon impersonations. Really, think about it, though. Imagine going for a job and not having to hide your sexuality. Imagine men and women getting the same wage. Imagine not having to put up with racial stereotyping. Imagine not having to worry about re-entering the workforce because your age means you won't even get a look in. Imagine your disability being something you have, rather than something your suffer from.

Currently, yes, education is the answer. Teaching people that it's not OK to discriminate against people because of what they are is a great thing. But imagine not having to do that at all because everyone was accepted and accepting. Imagine them being that way because no-one had taught them that different is bad.

Utopia? Perhaps ... but just imagine!

The Right Side of History: Marriage equality for all not just some

As I write this, my country that I love is, unfortunately, on the wrong side of history. If you don't know what I'm talking about, this is the catchphrase that is being used by the same sex marriage lobby to encourage goverments to change legislation before the rest of the world and being labelled as reactionary instead of proactive.

I've written a previous blog about my feelings towards homosexuality. In case you haven't read it or haven't realised ... I'm not but I have no problem with it.

This blog entry is not about how I feel about other peoples sexuality. This blog is about the institution of marriage. This blog is about equality. This blog is about choice.

I heard someone on the television today talking about how legalising same sex marriage would be akin to the stolen generation. For overseas readers, the stolen generation is a period of Australian history in which Aboriginal children were removed from their parents and placed into white families, the misguided belief being that they were better off (socially, economically, emotionally) in this new environment. This man's arguement was that same sex couple could not raise a child and give it the same loving, stable environment as a heterosexual couple; he trotted out the old chestnut that a child needs a mother AND a father to develop normally.

He equated same sex couples rearing children that may not be biologically their own with the stolen generation in which children were taken, sometimes forcefully from their loving parents. He went on to say that children should not be separated from their biological parents. I challenge him to tell any straight couple who have struggled to concieve a child that they are doing the wrong thing by that child because they have taken it from its biological parent (even though the biological parent may have given up the child for adoption or may have donated eggs and/or sperm). I'm not sure that this situation is any different from a same sex couple gaining a child through adoption, IVF or surrogacy.

But before all of that, I don't believe that marriage has anything to do with children these days. Once upon a time, and in the not too distant past, it certainly was inextricably linked. Today, married or not, you can have a child. With IVF, adoption and surrogacy all viable options there is no reason why one or two loving people of either sex can't have a child if they want one. Marriage is, and should be, about two people who love each other making a declaration of that love in an official capacity.

People always fall back on religion when it comes to marriage. The bible says that marriage is between a man and a woman. The bible alwo says that a woman should be a virgin when married. The bible says that if a woman is raped she is duty bound to marry her rapist or bring shame on her family for having sex outside of the marriage. The bible says we should stone people to death for adultery. The bible is against divorce. The bible says that marriage is a business transaction and that a woman's worth is measured in cows or tracts of land. The other thing people say is that we can't redefine marriage. Well, by the above standards, we have already redefined marriage.

It is illegal to discriminate against someone because of their gender or sexuality. In employing someone it is illegal to deny anyone a job based on who they sleep with in the privacy of their own home. In serving people in a shop it is illegal to deny anyone serviced based on their sexual preference. Equal rights, however, do not extend to marriage.

Marriage is the last bastian of the heterosexual. Why? What is it about marriage that makes being a homosexual unfit to partake?

 

Gay men are allowed to vote. Lesbians are allowed to hold positions of power. Yet marriage is somehow off limits? What is wrong with our society that we have people who still think that two people who love each other are committing a sin? Two consenting adults in a loving, committed relationship can't be a bad thing.

I love the photos and pictures that appear on the internet about same sex marriage. Some of them I have posted on this blog. It's important to keep a sense of humour in situations such as this. After all, most of the arguements against same sex marriage are laughable so why not?