I have had an interesting week this last week or so about same sex marriage and children in gay families.
I was never really a big fan of same sex marriage, when I was a single gay dad. It never appealed to me as why the GLBTIQ community were fighting for equal rights and same sex marriage. I was happy to just be a gay dad, and to provide the best for my children. I was going about my everyday life as best as it could be. BUT, now that has all changed. I am in a loving relationship with an amazing person who adores my children as his own.
He took me to my first political rally, which was the same sex rally in Melbourne earlier this year. I was amazed of the turn out the different diverse of people there supporting same sex marriage. This was a major turning point for me as a founder of GLOCKIDS and Coming Out Australia . It got me thinking about me own relationship with my partner and my children. This is what family is about, showing the commitment to each other that love is all around and as gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender or any other identity that identifies us in the GLBTIQ community. I now what to be able to marry my partner and have the same equal rights I had when I was previously married as a heterosexual person. I have since attended the Same Sex Marriage rally in Ballarat and have taken a active stand against homophobia and the support of Same Sex Marriage.
The other day in the car, one of my children asked if my partner was step dad to him, he said that it was up to my son to call him what ever he wanted. That blow me away as we have never talked to my children about the step dad thing or same sex marriage, but it got me thinking that this is the generation we need to educate about same sex marriage and the different types of families that are out there, and it is ok to have these kinds of families as long as they are in a loving environment.
I heard on the radio that both Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott at a Christian conference, advised the audience that they both do not support same sex marriage. That just goes to show that we have a long battle on our hands and we need to get out there and fight for it.
Showing posts with label GLBTIQ community. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GLBTIQ community. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Homophobia
Homophobia. We know it is there, but we do not want to talk about it.
Homophobia is a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards homosexuality and people identified or perceived as being homosexual.
I never really worried about the word, when I came out 4 years ago, and never really worried about up until recently, with my son's school and when the article of Jason Akermanis telling the "gays to stay in the closet". I read the article with quite some interest as to how the article was constructed. It shocked me as to how the article was strong about homophobia and being gay was like a disease. Jason explaining how he felt uncomfortable being around a gay person and he could never understand it.
Maybe, if he did the research on homophobia and being gay, the article would have been constructed in a completely different manner and have a completely different meaning. I am sure if he had taken the time to find an organisation in the GLBTIQ community to discuss his article before it was publish, he would thought twice about what to say. I can see the point that what he was trying to say, that now is not the time for the AFL to embrace homosexuality, but to come across as closet homophobia does make you think that he has not been educated enough to understand what he was saying.I applaud the younger generation in taking the step to identifying their sexuality and being proud of it dealing with homophobia in such a resilent manner.
As a gay parent, I realise that my children will be exposed to homophobia behaviour one day, that will be directed at them because their dad is gay. How do you teach your children about homophobia behaviour, when they are not gay? This is one area, that I think that it has not been addresses in the gay community on a large scale. Has there ever been any gay bashing directed at a heterosexual child of a gay parent? We may never know, as the child, may see it as a normal bullying issue. I had a situation not long ago with my eldest at school, I addressed the school about it and asked the question what they thought the bullying was about. They did not understand my question or where I was coming from. I asked them if they looked into the bullying in relation to homophobia behaviour. They were quite shocked and not happy that I would bring up such a subject. This just go to show you that the school had no strategies put in place for this kind of bullying issue. I found out later, that I was probably the other gay parent related to any child in the school. Thes school has drafted a homophobia policy, to integrated with their racist, sexism policy. Oh by the way, the bullying issue had nothing to do with homophobia, they were fighting over a book. But this did demonstrate the mentality of the education of homophobia in the general society. I have taught my children that they do not have accept homophobia and that it is not a disease.
Homophobia is a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards homosexuality and people identified or perceived as being homosexual.
I never really worried about the word, when I came out 4 years ago, and never really worried about up until recently, with my son's school and when the article of Jason Akermanis telling the "gays to stay in the closet". I read the article with quite some interest as to how the article was constructed. It shocked me as to how the article was strong about homophobia and being gay was like a disease. Jason explaining how he felt uncomfortable being around a gay person and he could never understand it.
Maybe, if he did the research on homophobia and being gay, the article would have been constructed in a completely different manner and have a completely different meaning. I am sure if he had taken the time to find an organisation in the GLBTIQ community to discuss his article before it was publish, he would thought twice about what to say. I can see the point that what he was trying to say, that now is not the time for the AFL to embrace homosexuality, but to come across as closet homophobia does make you think that he has not been educated enough to understand what he was saying.I applaud the younger generation in taking the step to identifying their sexuality and being proud of it dealing with homophobia in such a resilent manner.
As a gay parent, I realise that my children will be exposed to homophobia behaviour one day, that will be directed at them because their dad is gay. How do you teach your children about homophobia behaviour, when they are not gay? This is one area, that I think that it has not been addresses in the gay community on a large scale. Has there ever been any gay bashing directed at a heterosexual child of a gay parent? We may never know, as the child, may see it as a normal bullying issue. I had a situation not long ago with my eldest at school, I addressed the school about it and asked the question what they thought the bullying was about. They did not understand my question or where I was coming from. I asked them if they looked into the bullying in relation to homophobia behaviour. They were quite shocked and not happy that I would bring up such a subject. This just go to show you that the school had no strategies put in place for this kind of bullying issue. I found out later, that I was probably the other gay parent related to any child in the school. Thes school has drafted a homophobia policy, to integrated with their racist, sexism policy. Oh by the way, the bullying issue had nothing to do with homophobia, they were fighting over a book. But this did demonstrate the mentality of the education of homophobia in the general society. I have taught my children that they do not have accept homophobia and that it is not a disease.
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