Okay, but seriously on the topic of straight people being so overly concerned about their children being exposed to homosexualityâŚ
As some of you know, I am a makeup artist in a holistic beauty boutique in a very wealthy area of eastern New York. The week before Halloween I was offering simple costume makeup designs for both adults and children. So my last client of the evening was a 15 year old girl who came in to get her makeup done for the Halloween dance at her school. I was enjoying a conversation with both the girl and her mother when suddenly the topic of transgender came up. I got a little nervous because I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut when I hear people speaking negatively about these sorts of topics and as I mentioned, my store is in a very upscale, white, conservative areaâŚ
Anyway, the girl starts telling us that her friend prefers to be a boy now. She says it very simply and comfortably and it made me happy to see her talk about it as if it was really no big deal.
âHow does she even know what transgender is though? Sheâs a little young to be making a decision like that. I really think the media is taking things too far with all this gay stuff. Iâm not against it or anything, but didnât you just tell me two boys in your class are dating too?â
The girl said that yes, two boys she knew were dating and another boy she knew was gay also. (And she also corrected the pronouns her mother used for her friend)
âI donât mind that she knows that homosexuality is,â the mother said. âBut I donât think it should be taught at such a young age. Did you know itâs on Disney channel now?â
It took me a moment to respond, I just kept painting the girlâs face until I could figure out what I wanted to say.
âWell,â I said. âWe tend to teach heterosexuality literally from the time a child is born. Most childrenâs books and movies are even centered around a romance of some kind like a Prince and a Princess for example. Thereâs rarely a childrenâs movie that comes out where the main male and female character donât end up marrying each other in the end. If we donât have a problem flooding our childrenâs minds with heterosexuality from the time they are able to sit up and watch a movie on their own, what is so wrong with showing them two boys or two girls being in love? We arenât showing them sex. We arenât showing them anything inappropriate. Since when is love inappropriate? If we show them love in all itâs forms (be it gay or straight) from an early age, they will see that itâs all perfectly normal and natural and maybe we can finally put homophobic the pastâŚâ
The woman considered this for a second and then said âI just feel like they see it and then they start to think that they might be too.â
âAnd maybe they are. But isnât it better for them to know that itâs okay? They arenât hurting anyone.â
Then the girl said. âNo ones going around just thinking they are gay because they know what gay is, mom. I know what a chicken is, that doesnât mean Iâm going to wake up tomorrow and start clucking.â
I loved this kid. I hope she does well in all of her endeavors