Okay, Tom, now I'm going to attempt some comments on your homosexual post. First of all, is this the article about the gay exhibit you were talking about?
Antioch Won't Display Photo Exhibit
on Gay Youth
Officials say show doesn't meet
chambers scheduling requirements
Christopher Heredia, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 12, 1998
A new traveling photo exhibit intended to promote
acceptance for gay youth in Contra Costa County
has made waves in one city, causing proponents to
cry homophobia.
The exhibit, called ''I Got All My Friends With
Me: A Look at Gay and Lesbian Youth in Contra
Costa County,'' was to be displayed in the Antioch
City Council chambers. It was rejected after city
officials determined that it didn't meet scheduling
requirements.
Most art displayed by community groups at City
Hall must be up for two months, said Yanie
Chaumette, liaison to Antioch's civic arts
commission. The gay exhibit is spending two weeks
in different cities before moving on.
That explanation did not appease exhibit
proponents. The Center for Human Development,
a nonprofit Pleasant Hill counseling center, and
several gay and AIDS organizations are sponsoring
the exhibit.
''They're afraid of the homophobic reaction, which
is what the committee is trying to educate the
community about,'' said Nancy Puttkammer of the
county's AIDS Program. ''That fear of controversy
is a real fear, but it's not a reason to back down.''
The exhibit -- 11 black-and- white and color
photos of gay youth with friends, lovers and
families, accompanied by text -- covers themes of
gay invisibility, coming out in high school, gay
relationships, and acceptance from families and
acquaintances.
One photo depicts two boys and two girls sitting
cozily on grass; another one shows a gay couple
snuggling.
Chaumette denied that the city is homophobic.
''The time frame was not convenient for the exhibit
as proposed,'' she said. ''I'm really sorry that they
(are upset). Our motto in the city is to be inclusive.''
On Monday, the exhibit, which debuted at a gay
youth conference in Walnut Creek on Saturday,
was displayed at the Richmond City Hall.
Next, it will go to the Concord Kids Fair in Todos
Santos Plaza on the Memorial Day weekend, then
to the San Ramon Community Center on June 18.
Exhibit photographer Jamie Weinstein, 20, said she
hopes people do not lose sight of the true purpose
of the exhibit, which is to show gay youth as normal
people.
''I grew up in San Ramon, where people don't
believe gay people exist,'' said Weinstein, a student
at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco.
''Actually, there are quite a lot of gay people in
Contra Costa County. I'm hoping the exhibit will
get people to realize gays can have happy, healthy
lives and happy relationships, that we're just like
anybody else.''
sfgate.com
That is the only situation involving homosexuals and an exhibit that I can recall. The tie-in with World War II was NOT that anyone is saying the gay exhibit is more important that World War II, but that the county gave the excuse that the gay exhibit couldn't stay exactly the right length of time they require, so they substituted the World War II exhibit.
We have discussed homosexuality a lot over here, and I'm pretty sure you read all the posts, so I don't want to be repetitious. I would basically just reiterate that the percentage of gay teenagers who end up homeless, locked into destructive behaviors like drug and alcohol addiction, or dead as the result of suicide is huge. On the other hand, gay children who are loved and accepted by their parents turn out just as happy and well-adjusted as heterosexual children do.
As long as the society in general is homophobic, gay children will destroy themselves. Certainly an educational exhibit designed to counter homophobia seems like a good thing to me. Everyone wants to feel like they belong in some sense, and gay teenagers just want understanding and acceptance. They are not hurting anyone.
I would never want to feel like my fear or prejudice or negative feelings had any part in creating a social climate where a hate crime might happen, and the general climate around homosexuality in this society DOES do that. So for that reason I go out of my way to talk to my daughter and the other children around me, to make sure to the extent that I can that they are not prejudiced towards homosexuals, or any other group which is in someway handicapped or disadvantaged.
That is the only way in which I might have politicized homosexuality, if I understand your comment correctly. My feeling about homosexuality is that it is genetic and/or happens so early in development that it is usually a central part of a person's being. While there are some far-right Christian organizations which say that homosexual identity can be changed, my own readings indicate this is almost never effective, and that the most that could be hoped for is that the homosexual stops having homosexual sex. But sexual expression is also a basic part of us, so who are the heterosexuals to say that a whole group should live without love and affection and romance? It doesn't seem fair to me.
When I said I wanted to normalize homosexuality, I just meant to the extent that homosexuals have the same civil and human rights as everyone else--to be free of discrimination in employment and housing, for example. I didn't mean that everyone should be one!!! On the other hand, there seems to be a common feeling, which may be on a subconscious level, that accepting homosexuals as full human beings will somehow cause homosexuality to become more prevalent. I don't belive that at all, and in fact in societies all over the world, homosexuality exists in roughly the same percentage of people. It is NOT catching, and yet somehow I think people who are repulsed by homosexuals, or unwilling to teach their children that it is just the way some people are, without teaching prejudice as well, are terrified on some level that they or their children will GET this horrible affliction!!
Do you personally think that how you explain homosexuality to your boys, or what attitude you convey about it, or whether you pass on a sense of revulsion about it to them, will have any bearing on whether any of them turn out to be homosexual?
On the homeless in San Francisco issue, I can understand why it was unpleasant for you. Most of the homeless people are not from here, and about 40% of them are veterans. They all come here because our general assistance benefit is very generous, there are lots of soup kitchens and other services, and the weather is comparatively warm. Well, at least it doesn't snow! A lot of gay teenage runaways end up here, as well, looking for more acceptance than they got in their more conservative home towns, and throwaway children from everywhere who are attracted to the mythological Haight Ashbury and end up burned out on drugs. I don't think San Francisco has a very well coordinated homeless policy, but in all fairness, this is an issue that should be addressed at the federal level, or at least with federal assistance. The homeless have so many needs, and the problem is so widespread, that every city having a different policy, and reeling under the social costs, isn't very logical, particularly because it is a migrant population. |
