Posted by deirdrehbrt on February 8, 2006, at 20:36:09
In reply to Re: NH Weighs in. » deirdrehbrt, posted by 10derHeart on February 8, 2006, at 18:33:40
10derHeart
Sorry, but I forgot to put Teresa's name on previous post.
What I was saying in that statement that you pointed out was that with 50% of 'christian' marriages ending in divorce, (tossed out as used rags) (and that's for first-time marriages alone), that family values (staying together, etc.) are becoming visibly lacking in even the christian community. Is 50% too broad a brush?
I don't have statistics for how many gay marriages stay together, frankly, because they are illegal. We have laws that legislate that we aren't supposed to stay together, that being together is a crime.
I do know many committed gay couples. I do not see them falling apart any more than heterosexual couples. Many have been together for a great length of time, and I have no reason to believe that they will not be together when one of them dies.
I have no problem with teaching family values. Family values are fundamental and important. In religious schools, you can teach religious values. In public schools though, religion should bow out. Teaching a child that because they are gay or transgendered they are going to hell is not a family value. Providing support for heterosexual relationships, but telling a homosexual child that they have to dance with someone of the opposite sex, that same sex relationships are inappropriate does not belong in a public school.
People wonder why there are LGBT people with mental health issues... or they show the mental health issues as proof that LGBT people are sick... try growing up in a family where you are told by clergy that because of who you are, you are going to hell. Try having a parent show you pornography to turn you around. Try living a life of panic praying to a god who will not take this "sickness" away for years on end. Try entering into a marriage to prove that you aren't LGBT only to have it fail after you have two children. Try having a parent point out that the loss of your family was due to your "sickness"
These are the traditional family values, the panicked parents, the righteous clergy, the anti-GLBT agenda that fashioned my being.
I don't want my daughters growing up in a world where their sexuality is legislated. Where they can't marry whomever they choose. They still go to a catholic church, and I'm ok with that. The church can teach what it teaches. I don't want it's laws though, to become the law of the land.
--Dee.
poster:deirdrehbrt
thread:607584
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20060204/msgs/607713.html