Tuesday 19 October 2010

Is Gay OK with Me?

Tonight some of my twitter friends have been tweeting about this. Personally I found the article, whilst written in a polite, gentle tone quite scary, homophobic, and downright dangerous.

To give you some background I was brought up by a mum who was a very lapsed Catholic, and my dad who is an agnostic Anglican. I went to Sunday School and Church with dad, because he wanted us to have some religious education, and then once we were old enough we could make up our own mind. I decided at 12 that I didn't know enough about the faith to decide, so opted not to be confirmed.

At university I met up with Christians, really, for the first time in my life. I learnt more about what it meant to be a Christian and I made a personal commitment to Jesus. I was a devoted Christian for a long time 7 years or so. Then I had a big event in my life that changed everything, which I won't go into here.

So since that time, I was 23 when I stopped going to church regularly, I have a deeply personal faith. It is not a religion, and I am not a card carrying Evangelical Christian anymore. I guess I like to say I am a small "c" christian, the same way some Australians call themselves small "l" Liberal. I still attend church, a Unitarian church, which accepts everyone, regardless of your background, your beliefs or your sexual orientation. Our minister just so happens to be gay - very gay! He's wonderful, just an aside, he trained in drama initially, is from Boston and has the most camp voice you have ever heard, my favourite quote "if religion is just theatre, then I want a better costume!" He was also a premature baby, and one of the first people to come and see Joseph in hospital (he was mistaken for the baby's father! How we laughed!)

So now I am a parent, how would I feel, like this momma in Texas, if my son had a gay teacher? To be quite frank, I'd be delighted, it would not concern me in the slightest. If there were questions, we would deal with them, as a family. I fail to see how a teacher's personal life affects the way they teach. At present, in the English curriculum, the poor teacher is so busy trying to cover anything they barely have time to scratch the back of their heads, let alone discuss their personal lives.

When I was 7 I had the kindest, sweetest swimming teacher ever. She took me for swimming for asthma classes, and she was so patient and caring, I was terrified of the water. With her coaching and encouragement I became a decent swimmer. To my delight we met again when I was 14, and she was my physical education teacher. I noticed kids were teasing her, and being nasty, it turns out she was a lesbian. I am sure I knew other gay people by then, and couldn't see what the big deal was? The relevance of who you cuddle at night, who does the shopping with you, and who you choose to spend your life with was lost on me.

And still is.

Is Gay OK with Me?

Why yes, absolutely!

2 comments:

  1. Great post Kylie.

    It concerns me in the article that she relates being a lesbian to being a Christian, ie a "belief system." One can be, of course a lesbian and a Christian. Being gay isn't a belief system, it's more inherently physical than that. It's not about trying to convince everyone you're right, it's about saying this is a big part of who I am. I am sure many Christians would perceive their own Christianity in the same light (ie not a belief system but something inherent in their physical make up).

    I would hate for my children to only ever encounter caring nurturing adults who shared my outlook, philosophies and ideas about the world. I am all for diversity, I want them to come to their own understandings about what makes the world rich in meaning for them, and how they want to live in it.

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  2. I loved this post - what a great example of positive blogging....and parenting!

    Also.........? I need to go to your church.

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