If two people love each other, and are willing to spend their lives together, raise a child, have a family, should it matter what their gender is?
There are so many conservative people saying that gay families "can't provide what a child needs" and "cannot upbring a child as a traditional heterosexual family could". The thing is, all of this is built on ignorance. The reason why homosexual parents have hard times raising children is because of their rights being limited. And their rights are limited because they can't raise children correctly (as people say)? It's built on a cycle of ignorance and limiting of human rights that causes problems in homosexual families. It brings me to a question I think about a lot; Why is the government so stupid?
There are conservative politicians that are asked why they don't believe in gay rights, and actually respond with "because I don't" (see Karen Handel). And then they continue to be anti-gay. That's bad politics right there. And there isn't any need for gay adoption/rights to be involved in politics anyway, but it just had to be, which is really what's causing the problems. Some of these politicians have actually never met any gay parents too! Which means they have ignorance about them, and, as always, ignorance leads to prejudice, and prejudice leads to hate, and hate leads to the limits of rights.
This country was built on the idea of equal rights and opportunities for all. Yet, throughout the history of America there have always been problems maintaining that ideal (people have been discriminated against due to racism, sexism, and religion). It has never actually been an equal place to be; so neither has anywhere else.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Research Writing Assignment #1
I am responding on the topic of school libraries (and public libraries) banning books because of possible controversial content and trying to "protect" students in elementary & middle school from these challenged books.
Parents and teachers often worry about the kind of books students/children are reading, which result in challenging a book in the classroom and library. Hundreds of books are brought to the attention of the American Library Association (ALA) a year. I believe that banning books from libraries and classrooms is actually very pointless and well, stupid. It violates the constitutional right to freedom of speech and press and the right to read. I also think that reading controversial books is very educational, anyway. Reading them can give you a more open mind, show a different point of view, learn about new things you might not have thought or been taught about before, and can give you awareness on a topic. And schools love educational material, so why ban them?
As an example, there is a allegorical picture book called "And Tango Makes Three". This book is about two male penguins raising an abandoned baby chick. It is among the top 10 most challenged books in the United States since 2005.
I don't understand why that would be very challenged right now in 2010, since the Department of Education is trying to teach that there should be equality in the LGBT community with the rest of America, and here we have a book about male penguins raising a penguin that parents want out of libraries and classrooms. This really contradicts the teachings of equality that go on these days.
So anyway, my beliefs are that books shouldn't be banned in classrooms and libraries, for these reasons.
Parents and teachers often worry about the kind of books students/children are reading, which result in challenging a book in the classroom and library. Hundreds of books are brought to the attention of the American Library Association (ALA) a year. I believe that banning books from libraries and classrooms is actually very pointless and well, stupid. It violates the constitutional right to freedom of speech and press and the right to read. I also think that reading controversial books is very educational, anyway. Reading them can give you a more open mind, show a different point of view, learn about new things you might not have thought or been taught about before, and can give you awareness on a topic. And schools love educational material, so why ban them?
As an example, there is a allegorical picture book called "And Tango Makes Three". This book is about two male penguins raising an abandoned baby chick. It is among the top 10 most challenged books in the United States since 2005.
I don't understand why that would be very challenged right now in 2010, since the Department of Education is trying to teach that there should be equality in the LGBT community with the rest of America, and here we have a book about male penguins raising a penguin that parents want out of libraries and classrooms. This really contradicts the teachings of equality that go on these days.
So anyway, my beliefs are that books shouldn't be banned in classrooms and libraries, for these reasons.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Social Awareness #6
The streets are cold
And dark
Freezing more than the days
In November
December
January
February
We take our warm homes
And coats and gloves and scarves
All for granted
While outside
Ignored by the world
People need help
Need a home
Like the home we have
And the care we get
The coats
The hats
The scarves & gloves
We slide down through white fields, having fun embracing our inner children
But Winter is not fun for all
And neither is every other month of the year
Some need help
Care
Shelter
Who's going to help?
Not many do.
And dark
Freezing more than the days
In November
December
January
February
We take our warm homes
And coats and gloves and scarves
All for granted
While outside
Ignored by the world
People need help
Need a home
Like the home we have
And the care we get
The coats
The hats
The scarves & gloves
We slide down through white fields, having fun embracing our inner children
But Winter is not fun for all
And neither is every other month of the year
Some need help
Care
Shelter
Who's going to help?
Not many do.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Social Awareness #4
I'm responding to social issues that are in the book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Even though it takes place way into the future in post-apocalyptic America which is very different from America today, it's actually not quite different from other countries today with power-hungry oppressive governments.
In The Hunger Games, the country of Panem (modern-day America) have a government called the Capitol who are extremely controlling. The Hunger Games is about the Capitol sending one boy and one girl from each District to fight to the death with other tributes from other Districts because of a rebellion that happened almost a century before, to show that there should not be another uprising again, because the Capitol dictates all of Panem.
It's all so kind of like during the Holocaust, because in the world of The Hunger Games normal innocent people are being killed because the government says it's okay and should happen, and people are too afraid to rise up against it and fight for their human rights, because dictating governments are so scary, but really, it's not an okay thing to happen.
The people of the Districts (especially children and teenagers aged 12-16, because those are the ages of tributes) are constantly living in fear of the government and cannot enjoy their lives. This is all because long ago the ancestors of these people wanted a fair government then, but after they rebelled, it just got worse, and these people don't want it to get even worse than it already is, so they don't do anything. They look the other way, ignore what's happening, try to get the least involved as possible so they can just survive. And the really bad thing is, there are still countries today with very controlling governments. Not as severe as the Capitol in The Hunger Games, but still very bad. A lot of these countries aren't even allowed to contact the United States, because the dictators of those countries know that our country has the power to stop oppression. The controlling governments are afraid. Afraid just like the people living in them, but in a different way, in a way that someone will help, as opposed to the citizens, afraid that there will never be help. So in countries like this, everyone is afraid. And it's not healthy or right at all.
In The Hunger Games, the country of Panem (modern-day America) have a government called the Capitol who are extremely controlling. The Hunger Games is about the Capitol sending one boy and one girl from each District to fight to the death with other tributes from other Districts because of a rebellion that happened almost a century before, to show that there should not be another uprising again, because the Capitol dictates all of Panem.
It's all so kind of like during the Holocaust, because in the world of The Hunger Games normal innocent people are being killed because the government says it's okay and should happen, and people are too afraid to rise up against it and fight for their human rights, because dictating governments are so scary, but really, it's not an okay thing to happen.
The people of the Districts (especially children and teenagers aged 12-16, because those are the ages of tributes) are constantly living in fear of the government and cannot enjoy their lives. This is all because long ago the ancestors of these people wanted a fair government then, but after they rebelled, it just got worse, and these people don't want it to get even worse than it already is, so they don't do anything. They look the other way, ignore what's happening, try to get the least involved as possible so they can just survive. And the really bad thing is, there are still countries today with very controlling governments. Not as severe as the Capitol in The Hunger Games, but still very bad. A lot of these countries aren't even allowed to contact the United States, because the dictators of those countries know that our country has the power to stop oppression. The controlling governments are afraid. Afraid just like the people living in them, but in a different way, in a way that someone will help, as opposed to the citizens, afraid that there will never be help. So in countries like this, everyone is afraid. And it's not healthy or right at all.
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