It's been announced that Chaz Bono, the transgender son of international pop diva Cher, will be joining the upcoming cast of Dancing With The Stars on the gay-friendly network ABC. Naturally, he will be dancing as a man, and that has many "pro-family" (honestly, I call them anti-family. They sure don't seem to like mine) advocates in an uproar, citing supposed "thousands" of e-mails being sent to ABC to protest the inclusion of a transman on the popular show.
I love a man who looks good in a suit.
Tony Perkins (AKA T-Punk) of the Family Research Council (an official SPLC certified hate group with connections to the KKK and other white supremacists) had this to say:
Forget "Dancing with the Stars." ABC is dancing with the transgenders. Hello, I'm Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. On the 13th season of Dancing with the Stars, the indoctrination is in full swing. This fall, ABC's picked its first transsexual to compete. Chaz Bono, the famous child of Sonny and Cher, may have been born a woman--but she'll be dancing as a man. And while the gay community approves, fans certainly don't. ABC's been blasted by thousands of viewers for turning a popular show into an hour-long political statement. The message boards are full of angry parents who think ABC's gone too far. One mom wrote, "I am not about to risk the potential for on screen dialogue about sex changes and gender confusion while my 7- and 9-year old are watching... We are NOT tolerant--[if tolerance means allowing] any influences to come unfiltered into our home..." I guess if "Dancing" wants to advertise for the radical Left, they'll find out how out of step they are!Riiiiiiiiight, Tony. Let's talk about why this won't work. First, you're assuming that kids give a damn who is dancing on their television. My assumption would be that if someone tells them they are a man, that child will accept that. Can we please remember the video of the kid who found out that two men at his Thanksgiving celebration were married-- and didn't give two shits about it?
Did you notice the complete and utter lack of discussion of sex with this boy? It was explained in easy to understand terms that had nothing to do with sexual behavior, but instead let the boy know that hey, sometimes men like men instead of women.
Does T-Punk really want to piss off CHER?!
And really, do they know who they're up against? ABC, owned by Disney. That's right. One of the richest companies in the world is in charge of this show, and they're no stranger to threats of boycott over their LGBT-inclusive policies. Were those boycotts effective? No. Did Disney care, in the slightest, over these groups anti-gay views? The American Family Association, Focus on the Family, and Southern Baptists ended their 8 year boycott of Disney back in 2005, with no effect on the media giant.
Lastly, I asked one of my straight readers, Tiffany Smith, how she felt about the possibility of her four year-old daughter being exposed to a transman on television, and she had this to say:
I have no problem at all that Chaz Bono is going to be on TV. In fact, I'm interested to watch him and get to know him. I think its a wonderful thing to expose your children to healthy images of people happily being themselves! Then she too can grow up knowing that its more important to be true to yourself than do what everyone thinks is "beautiful" and "correct."So good luck, T-Punk. Not only do you have Chaz Bono and Disney-ABC as opponents on this issue, but the American people are set against the denigration of LGBT families and their representation on television.
To close, another reader of mine who proudly counts herself a Christian and grandmother, Kelli, had these uplifting words to say on Facebook:
I think that it is wrong to deny your children truth. The truth is that every human being has a body and a spirit. Every spirit deserves to be nurtured and loved. Even God has addressed this issue. People who want to read something else into life need to get over themselves.Well said.
That little boy. Is. Darling.
ReplyDelete"So that means you love each other!"
What I find most interesting about this controversy is the belief by the right wing that children are interested in sex. The truth is that all of us, including children, are constantly surrounded by clues and signals that refer to sex. And children simply don't notice because that part of their brain hasn't been activated yet.
ReplyDeleteThe sick irony is that, what's harmful to prepubescent children is treating them as if they were adults. Telling a child that people are couples because they love each other is something
... that kids can understand because they know how to love their parents, friends, and siblings, and so they just assume it's like that. Sex literally never enters their minds.
ReplyDeleteMy own son never had a moment like the one in this video because he has always been around gays, one couple in particular. He experiences them as the nice people who have a pool and make cookies. When puberty hits, he will understand more, but it won't be any more unfamiliar than man-woman couples.
Sorry, another techno-snafu. Yet another comment coming.
I introduce my son to all my friends, so the gay couple isn't there for any more structured purpose. But I'm aware at the same time that there will come a time when my son needs a more complex understanding of human relations. Certainly sex will be an element, when the time comes, but even more broadly, the concept of how to interact with people who are not like ourselves. I don't plan for my son to be gay, simply because the chance is only one in ten. But I do plan for my son to have to manage a broad and complex experience of difference. When we sit down for dinner with friends, when we gather for a party, I tell my son about basic relationships - who is married to whom, whose child is who. These are the building blocks of comprehension that he needs now for a child's understanding, which is the foundation of adult comprehension to come later. And that full understanding is needed for the compassion and tolerance that we hear so much about, yet see far too rarely, from evangelicals like the Family Research Council.
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