One routine debate that comes up on The Imperfect Parent forums quarterly is the introduction of gay lifestyles into the  public classroom. The debate is contentious and emotional and almost always ends with name-calling.

Dennis Prager, a conservative radio show host, contends that the gay marriage debate will be a defining factor in our nation, one that further separates and divides us much in the way abortion has. In some ways, it’s even more divisive, but the issue is not solely owned by the conservative movement. Given that 9 stated voted on banning gay marriage and only one moved not to, it is becoming clear that conflicting beliefs span over party lines.

It’s been my experience that more liberal leaning parents tend to side with integrating gay/bi/trans issues into early education, even as early as preschool; as a means to teach tolerance. My experience also tells me that more right leaning parents are opposed to it, arguing the rights of parents to introduce these types of issues and using tax dollars to what they see as indoctrination of children. While the deciding votes may be left up to the moderates, it becomes a heated debate in which people cannot help themselves from issuing personal attacks against each other.

In the recent past, news stories have surfaced about “diversity programs” in which young children in public schools read books that feature two dads or two moms, or organizations, designed to spread positive feeling and viewpoints about gay/bi/trans people. It usually makes news when a parent protests and asks why there wasn’t an opt-out program or why they weren’t informed and lastly, why this is part of the natural academic curriculum. These parents are either chastised or praised, according to ones personal beliefs.

This issue is still such that we are in the throws of determining a general consensus and a cultural and societal position on gay marriage, it’s no wonder it always become so explosive and heated. More and more, it is becoming about the norms that are mandated by the government and imposed on children. Children become the pawns of the political wars and at what cost? If we agree that there needs to be clear division of church and state, can we not see that the same of political agendas? Children get caught in the middle of whatever their parents political viewpoints are, which is fine at home, but is it okay at school?

For me, it’s not a matter of gay rights or whether or not alternative lifestyles are moral or immoral, but rather what is appropriate for young children. I also don’t trust schools and administrators (we all know how well American schools are run, right?) to teach a young child a complicated, grown-up matter in a way that preserves a child’s self-identity. In other words – doesn’t confuse them as to what being gay/bi/trans really is. I would rather leave that up to parents to explain to their children, even if that means some parents might pass on values and judgements that I don’t agree with because whether I agree with them or not, that is their right and unfortunately, their children will have to suffer the consequences of those teachings.

In my mind, children need more reading, writing and arithmetic and less responsibility for every-one’s self-worth. I hear small children made fun of by other parents for being naive, instead of celebrating their innocence. Let small children be little for just a little longer. Schools can teach universal acts of kindness and tolerance without expecting them to fight the battles of grown-ups and for that my friends, I am often times accused of being a bigot. You will have to take my word for it, that I am most certainly not a bigot and I wish no ill-will on gay couples or gay individuals, nor do I think they are doing anything wrong. What I do think is that relationships are complicated. Sex is complicated. Life is complicated — too complicated for small children to fully comprehend.

What do you think?

Should gay/bi/trans lifestyles be introduced to children as young as preschool?

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As most of you know, I only started blogging this past April as our site’s prior focus has always been on the feature essays on the homepage and on our forums. Recently, Prescott and I decided that we did not want to be left behind in the dust of the growing blogoshpere.

Acknowledging that having Prescott and Jessica all day, all the time, would be less than riveting, especially given that we do a weekly podcast as well, I decided to surf the net in search of talented bloggers who would want to share in all the imperfect glory that is The Imperfect Parent, and hopefully add a dimension of varying opinions to our growing site.

My first quest was to find gifted writers with the talent to express themselves in the written word and and to invite those with differing opinions and backgrounds to enhance the diversity of the site and to enlighten moms about various parenting methods, philosophies, and opinions, as well as political and social views as seen by a wide variety of people. If their opinions were polar opposite of mine — great! My wish was (and still is) to have all viewpoints represented, or at least, as many as fit The Imperfect Parent criteria of being a good writer and having something interesting to say.

I found out quite quickly that it wasn’t hard to find good writers with opposing opinions to mine. However, I did notice a common theme amongst these great writers and that was their politcal leanings – which all tended to be towards the left. There’s a subgroup that seems to be poorly represented in the mommy blogging world — the mom that leans towards the political right. You see, I tend to lean right of center on many issues, although I fancy myself a Libertarian. I believe that government should stay out of my private life, while my husband tends to lean left of center on many issues. If it doesn’t create balance, it creates tension, but it is never boring.

Problem is, when I went to look for bloggers like myself, those who might consider themselves Libertarian or Republican (oh, no!), I have fallen short. After hours of searching and thinking of possible ways to find back doors into the psyche of the conservative mom, it became more and more apparent that it was going to be like finding a needle in a haystack. Liberal mommy bloggers abound, conservative mommy bloggers, not-so-much.

You see, what was a shortly lived obsession and challenge of mine has given way to acceptance. Acceptance that the internet is ruled by lefty intellectual mommy bloggers. I even found demographic statistics to support this belief. From blogads.com:

According to the blogads 2006 Mom blog survey, 12,320 respondents answered that they are:

Apolitical  8.21%
Democrat 48.34%
Republican 13.87%
Libertarian 5.14%
Independent 18.64%*
Green  5.82%

*My personal belief is that there is really no such thing as an Independent. I think people lean one way or another on most issues.
The percentages explain why then, most of the conservative mommy blogs I do stumble upon have been pretty fucking awful. Percentage-wise, I just have a better chance of finding a wordsmithing lib than I do a neo-con.

This is interesting to me as radio tends to be ruled by conservative hosts and the internet has some hugely popular, conservative blogs (instapundit, The Bleat, Little Green Footballs…just to name a few…), but the ones which are popular are not written by moms. The fact still remains, mom bloggers, in the traditional “mommy blogger” genre, tend to be lefties. Why is this? I scratch my head.

Do more “mainstream” (conservative) moms tend to work outside the home? Do they spend more time at soccer try-outs than online? Do they read more books or are they simply illiterate and turn to speakies rather than torment themselves with phonics? I have no idea.

And don’t get me wrong, I’d rather surround myself with intelligent, left leaning people that are able to communicate and back up their viewpoints, than with judgmental (although that exists on both sides), lock-step, Bush-lovin’ conservatives of the religious-right. (I actually don’t think Bush is a Republican anyway, but that’s a point for another blog.)

I’m just wondering, where are the moms who think that if you make money, you ought to be able to hold onto it, who want the government to butt out of their business and think that we ought to have a strong defense, in order to protect our kids?

Maybe they’re all in the hills of Utah with dial-up. Does anybody know?

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