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Gay books in primary schools

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Comments

  • #62
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 26,920 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    diamondgeezer wrote: »
    See what i mean, you are a walking cliche.

    How am I a walking cliche exactly?


  • #63
    Reku
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,766 ✭✭✭Reku


    daisy123 wrote: »
    The Dragon isn't the gay character in the story if you read the review I posted, the little boy just happens to have two mammies. The dragon is "different" because he doesn't want to be fierce anymore.

    Ah, that sounds a bit better. Does seem to have created a paradox though in that the title makes it seem like the book was written to make a big deal out of a character's sexuality thereby hurting the cause, but, since it's not, to change the title would be acting as if it were a big deal thereby hurting the cause.:confused: My head hurts....

    Roll on the end of the Y chromosome (yes it's slowly disappearing in all mammals according to scientists, so for all we know gays are in fact the future) so we can at least be done with one form of discrimination.


  • #64
    diamondgeezer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19 ✭diamondgeezer


    Deleted User wrote: »
    How am I a walking cliche exactly?

    Like the vast majority of people here, you only voice the opinions of others. And signing off a post with "have a nice day"?, just call me a tosser or such like. Speak your mind.


  • #65
    The Bollox
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,372 ✭✭✭The Bollox


    I don't get why they are doing this though. as a lad I read about black sheep and all the kids had a mother and a father and they were always depicted as white. it didn't make me a racist / homophobe.

    is that the time! crap! *dons white garb and runs to the klan meeting*


  • #66
    Reku
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,766 ✭✭✭Reku


    diamondgeezer wrote: »
    Like the vast majority of people here, you only voice the opinions of others. And signing off a post with "have a nice day"?, just call me a tosser or such like. Speak your mind.

    lol
    only been about for 17 posts and you make summary judgements like that. There have been plenty a heated thread on AH, many required mods to delete half them as they were so borderline flamewar.


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  • #67
    Terry
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,073 ✭✭✭✭Terry


    diamondgeezer wrote: »
    And I assume you are for everything as you are a member of "new" ireland.

    Waken up you pleb.
    Go away. (Mel Gibson voice again, as it's the same person)


  • #68
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 26,920 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    diamondgeezer wrote: »
    Like the vast majority of people here, you only voice the opinions of others. And signing off a post with "have a nice day"?, just call me a tosser or such like. Speak your mind.

    Had I said that I was against gay marriages then you can argue the exact same point- that I was voicing the opinions of others. But, no. I have no problem with things like that. It's my own personal opinion.

    And why should I call you a tosser when I don't think you are one? And besides, if you haven't noticed - personal abuse is banned so calling you a name would not lead to anything but an infraction.


  • #69
    humanji
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,976 ✭✭✭✭humanji


    diamondgeezer wrote: »
    Like the vast majority of people here, you only voice the opinions of others. And signing off a post with "have a nice day"?, just call me a tosser or such like. Speak your mind.
    This coming from a conspiracy nut that links to Alan Watt's page, a guy who is laughing his ass off at all the conspiracy sheeple who blindly believe all the stories he makes up. JK Rowling has written more believable crap so Watt can hardly believe his luck.

    But keep on believing Casey. Watt always needs more money.


    I'd also like to say, Terry, please change your avatar. It's confusing my sexuality!


  • #70
    gogglebok
    Closed Accounts Posts: 696 ✭✭✭gogglebok


    Wook wrote: »
    **** being PC, i dont want my kid to be Gay and anything that makes it feel normal at that age will not be tolerated.
    Once they get a mind and opinion of their own , yeah sure be my guest to 'educate' them.

    You won't get them to be gay or not gay. All you can influence is how comfortable they are with their sexuality. I think the idea of letting kids know that homosexuality is "normal" is a pretty good one. I can't see any downside.


  • #71
    gogglebok
    Closed Accounts Posts: 696 ✭✭✭gogglebok


    farohar wrote: »
    While I think it's great that they encourage kids to be more open minded about other peoples' skin colour, creed, sexual orientation, etc... I think this is almost as bad as the whole "Ba-ba-rainbow sheep" lark.

    Wasn't that whole story invented by The Sun?


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  • #72
    Marcus.Aurelius
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,314 ✭✭✭Marcus.Aurelius


    Considering the calibre of the individuals teaching it, there may be serious downsides.

    Shouldn't this important stuff be left to the parents? All we're doing is perpetuating the Fianna Fail nanny-state rubbish and stripping the traditional family unit of any authority.

    It could be in some ways a dangerous precendent


  • #73
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 26,920 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    gogglebok wrote: »
    Wasn't that whole story invented by The Sun?

    I always thought it was "Bah Bah Little Sheep".

    But that's discrimination against midgets.


  • #74
    daisy123
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 498 ✭✭daisy123


    Marcus.Aurelius wrote: »
    Considering the calibre of the individuals teaching it, there may be serious downsides.

    Shouldn't this important stuff be left to the parents? All we're doing is perpetuating the Fianna Fail nanny-state rubbish and stripping the traditional family unit of any authority.

    It could be in some ways a dangerous precendent

    Yes, it SHOULD be left to the parents, in a perfect world. Unfortunately, children are not born bigotted, they pick it up from their parents, and in today's society, there is still a lot of stigma attached by that generation to being gay. So, although not ideal, isn't it good that they learn about tolerance in school with their peers to counterbalance whatever negative opinions they receive at home. There are also a lot of parents out there who do not care about what they teach their children, sad but true. It is an issue teachers face every day. Parents who are clued in and open with their children will continue to educate them at home, regardless or in addition to what they get from school.


  • #75
    gogglebok
    Closed Accounts Posts: 696 ✭✭✭gogglebok


    Marcus.Aurelius wrote: »
    Considering the calibre of the individuals teaching it, there may be serious downsides.

    Shouldn't this important stuff be left to the parents? All we're doing is perpetuating the Fianna Fail nanny-state rubbish and stripping the traditional family unit of any authority.

    It could be in some ways a dangerous precendent

    I completely agree that the government is not there to teach morality, but it's not a question of leaving things to the parents. As long as there are schoolbooks with characters in them, schools are necessarily depicting the world. If the world they depict has no gay people it, that will make gay kids feel isolated and unrepresented. I think that's unkind.


  • #76
    gogglebok
    Closed Accounts Posts: 696 ✭✭✭gogglebok


    Deleted User wrote: »
    I always thought it was "Bah Bah Little Sheep".

    But that's discrimination against midgets.

    And Scrooge.


  • #77
    daisy123
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 498 ✭✭daisy123


    gogglebok wrote: »
    And Scrooge.

    and other fabric giving animals.


  • #78
    CtrlSource
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 825 ✭✭✭CtrlSource


    daisy123 wrote: »
    I have the book "And Three Makes Tango" and it is wonderful! It is primarily just a picture book, with a story about two penguins, Roy and Silo, who raise a baby penguin. At no point are terms such as 'gay' mentioned, just at one point when the zookeeper sees them making a nest he comments 'They must be in love'. Roy and Silo then go on to raise an orphan baby chick.

    I read it to my 6 year old nephew and he loved the story. He knows what gay is, and has no problem with it, especially as in this story it is just about another type of family. Surely we want children educated that being gay is a normal part of life, just like when I was growing up we were taught there are all sorts of families, ones with single parents for example.

    It is disgraceful that this can be considered a controversy in Ireland.


    i have no problem with this being taught to kids of any age. It's good to let them learn about different types of families.

    Unlike your experience growing up daisy123, i only knew about the nuclear family with a mother and father, except that my mother used to sometimes employ 'unmarried mothers' from the local Magdalen laundry (which was fairly progressive at the time, despite being run by nuns) to help with child-minding and housework. My mother never spoke ill of them, but woe betide one of her children having a kid outside of marriage!

    i don't recall any mention of gays growing up until a cousin who is gay wrote a letter to The Irish Times which kind of outed him (my parents later said they had known for years before that though)


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