Gay All The Time

It strikes me that many of the conflicts and issues facing gays today rests in the simple fact that education is virtually absent from reality. I mean in all seriousness, our education is lacking in dealing with the real world. Sure they teach math, reading, and writing, or so they claim though if you look at the statistics, it doesn’t seem if they get even that right. Still it is the main focus as it should be, but what about the other issues that round out a person’s character?

Social skills comes to mind, but in both Canada and the United States, there is more home schooling happening as the disgust over public education grows. It is a trend that has been growing in popularity and so far the statists are starting to show that not all is well for those learning at home. Oneof the most alarming aspects is the social skills that kids fail to get when they learn at home.

And it is those lack of skills that leads to what I refer to as the rise in racism and bigotry. There is no outside influences to detract from one’s own personal bias. I mean think about it, if all you do is learn at home, see the same people with the same viewpoints, how do you learn to accept differences? Not just the obvious ones like skin color but about religious differences too? If you never interact with people who are Muslim or Jewish, how can you hope to garner an understanding of where they might be coming from?

Take the survey in Britian. The total lack of understanding about sexual disease and practises is just one aspect of what happens when education of reality, when social skills are left out of the home and the public systems.

“Sixty-three percent in the UK thought an Italian sauce was an STD and over 43 percent couldn’t identify any of the common sexual complaints we asked about. (full story)

In my mind, however, there is a darker side to all this. If we don’t teach about diversity, about the differences that exist without judgement, how can we expect people to understand those differences? I mean how can a straight person be expected to understand how I feel about my partner, David? All they see is some homosexual trodding on what they think is their rights, only. They don’t see that gays are people like them, with the same aspirations and hopes that they hold dear. They don’t see us as people of faith even or as loving and caring parents because their simply is no education about those differences.

This is one of the downfalls of the ignorant policies of so called Conservatives. To promote programs like ‘abstinence’ instead of honest sex education, they deny kids the opportunity to grow, to learn about differences. To honestly accept that people have sex in varied ways, manners, is not going to make them try it out, but it can save them from a lifetime of pill taking because of AIDS or HIV.

Education needs to take into account the world, not one view or perspective. It has to encompass all aspects even those we find distasteful or repugnant. Yes that includes discussing things like Hitler, and the Klan even. It must include words that adequately describe the time such as the ‘N’ word and others. It has to be real, not sugar coated. Education is the solution to so many problems, yet today it seems like it is the forgotten key in our society.