VIDEO: Woman has little boy read 'The GayBCs' — and the reaction is swift

Discussion in 'Gay & Lesbian Rights' started by MJ Davies, Mar 2, 2021.

  1. MJ Davies

    MJ Davies Well-Known Member

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    Full title: VIDEO: Woman has little boy read 'The GayBCs' — a children's book with terms like 'bi,' 'coming out,' and 'queer.' And the reaction is swift.

    I saw this video yesterday and was a bit surprised. I'm not homophobic. I just thought it was weird for the woman to share a video of it. I mean, kids learn their ABCs every day. Why was this particular video newsworthy other than to incite fundamentally religious and/or homophobic people? Or, was it a publicity stunt to get the book title out there?

    What do you think?
     
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  2. Skruddgemire

    Skruddgemire Well-Known Member

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    I'm all for teaching children when they ask the question. If they're old enough to ask the question, they're old enough to hear the answer. Doesn't have to go into the squelchy details, but a "Why are Aunt Linda and her friend kissing?" will get a simple "They're in love in the same way that Aunt Liz and Uncle Bob are." Actually had that conversation with one of mine and that answer got an "Oh." and the child toddled off to seek something more interesting.

    But doing that sort of thing in a video and posting that video...that opens up so much wrangling between those who are all for it and those against it and will (and has) generated a lot of heated words exchanged.

    I can only think of three reasons to do that.
    • Trying to normalize this sort of thing
    • Trying to generate Social Media hits
    • Trying to generate readership ad revenue on a news site
    That last one is especially annoying as the news is not about the news any more but the news that gets people reading their site and not others.

    SO the TL/DR answer from me is...The book itself does not offend me, nor does the reading of it to a young child. Especially if the child has someone in their family who is homosexual.

    The reading it for a video? That sounds a bit dodgy.
     
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2021
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  3. VotreAltesse

    VotreAltesse Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    She use her kid as a way to virtue signal, she don't care of his well-being but he is her object to look virtuous in that case. But we don't know the context and she may be a very good mom.

    I stay quite skeptical about people who want to force too much religion or political ideologies on a young kid, that's kind of creepy. That's however quite an old and universal phenomenon.
    What I wonder is : what would happen if that kid grow up taking distance from that ideology ? Would he still be respected. Ultra religious people tend to be mistreating to their children if they become an apostate or take other decisions.
     
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  4. Derideo_Te

    Derideo_Te Well-Known Member

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    You mean just like ALL of these Christian ABC videos for children>

    https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf...hUKEwip_pzpwpnvAhVRlFwKHY9kBekQ4dUDCA0&uact=5

    Why is it NOT dodgy when Christians do their ABC videos but somehow it only becomes dodgy when the LBGTQ community essentially does the EXACT SAME THING?
     
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  5. Skruddgemire

    Skruddgemire Well-Known Member

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    The topic of discussion here was this particular video on this particular subject. And yes I find that a bit dodgy.

    But that does not mean or even imply that I don't find other videos a bit dodgy.

    And yes in your example, had it been the topic of this thread, I would have replied much the same way as I did above. I don't object to the book, nor do I object to a parent teaching their child their faith through such books but I find it a bit dodgy that they're doing it openly on social media where viewpoints are often so diametrically opposed that the posting such a one would start a flamewar.

    It is possible, nay even highly likely that while I may have an opinion on one thing, I'll have the same opinion on other similar things. But please keep in mind that if the subject is "A", I'm going to answer to my viewpoints regarding "A" and not go on a lengthy dissertation on subjects "B through Z".
     
  6. Maquiscat

    Maquiscat Well-Known Member

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    I guess it can be a question of whether it's the cart leading the horse or not. Which really came up first? The article or the controversy? If the article, then it was intended to stir people up. If the latter, then while actually minor in scope, it is newsworthy because people want that kind of news. The video on the other hand, I would say was a bit of support the LBGT+ community as well as a bit of dig at the opponents, because it had to be known they would get stirred up.
     
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  7. Derideo_Te

    Derideo_Te Well-Known Member

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    My response was to place the OP video in CONTEXT so that it would be seen for what it actually IS as opposed to just being used by zealous theists as a blunt object to cudgel the LBGTQ community.
     
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  8. modernpaladin

    modernpaladin Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Most of those terms only have contextual importance in sexuality. How old was this kid again?
     
  9. MJ Davies

    MJ Davies Well-Known Member

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    I would say he is between 2-3 years old.
     
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  10. Skruddgemire

    Skruddgemire Well-Known Member

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    Fair enough, but you made your comment to my response which made it seem like you felt I was ignoring other similar videos.

    And like I said, you do have a point. With how polarized the internet and social media is...posting such videos almost attracts flame wars like spoiled plums attracts fruit flies. I can see no real reason for doing it apart from trying to get one's "Fifteen Minutes of Fame" at the child's expense.

    In our household, we have the "Baby Bestiary" ABC book that we intend to read to our grandchildren. It's just a lot of the monsters in Dungeons and Dragons as cute little babies (A is for Alicorn, B is for Bugbear, C is for Chimera, etc). Again nothing really harmful about such, but there's no way I'd read it on a video that I'd put out to the public since someone would be offended by it and start as much angst and drama as would the GayBCs or a Christian Faith-Based ABC book.
     
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  11. MJ Davies

    MJ Davies Well-Known Member

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    That is what I was trying to convey in my OP. It's just bizarre or contrived to even record that.
     
  12. joesnagg

    joesnagg Banned

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    Next she'll probably be posting him in a dress with him saying he's really a girl, welcome to "Wokie World"!
     
  13. Skruddgemire

    Skruddgemire Well-Known Member

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    Sexuality and Gender can be explained to children without getting to the squelchy details. I had to explain a same sex pairing of a beloved aunt and her same sex partner to my children around 3-5. My explanation was a description on how they love each other like one of their other aunts and uncles do. There was the dawning of understanding in their eyes and they moved on.

    Other questions didn't come until later and questions regarding sex thankfully didn't come until they had hit puberty.

    Gender (such as the T is for Trans) again is simple to explain. A friend of mine had to explain why he felt the need to transition from female to male and had to explain that to the children in their household. A simple answer of "Well I felt like I was in the wrong body" was sufficient.

    The trick with kids I've found is answer the question. Don't elaborate, keep it simple. They ask a question, answer it. If they wander off...you answered it to their satisfaction. If they ask other questions...well I'm of the opinion that if they are old enough to ask the question, they're old enough to hear the answer.
     
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  14. Skruddgemire

    Skruddgemire Well-Known Member

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    That's a bit unfair. It wouldn't surprise me if that happened (happens too often in my opinion) but this could simply be a "Hey! Look at me! I'm an ally! Ain't I awesome?" video.
     
  15. Derideo_Te

    Derideo_Te Well-Known Member

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    My apologies if my response gave you that impression, it was not intended personally but rather as an observation that these kinds of books and videos abound and one for the children of LBGTQ parents directed at the kinds of terms their children might hear is no different in concept to those directed at the children of theist parents and the kinds of terms their children might hear.

    This subforum is for Gay & Lesbian rights where it is not uncommon for threads to be started with the primary intent of demeaning and disparaging the LBGTQ community. The OP made it abundantly clear that this thread was NOT intended for that purpose and my response was to support that by pointing out that these kinds of books and videos are common in all communities thereby preempting any attempt to subvert the thread and use it for disparaging purposes.

    My response did key off your opinion that the video was a "bit dodgy" and was aimed at clarifying that it was no more "dodgy" than everything else already out there.

    Glad to know that we are on the same page.

    Peace.
    DT
     
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  16. Maquiscat

    Maquiscat Well-Known Member

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    Which is all well and good, but your wording to Skrudd was such as to look like you felt he was being hypocritical, by not accounting for others being dodgy

    ETA: saw your response.
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2021
  17. Skruddgemire

    Skruddgemire Well-Known Member

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    I tend to think that a lot of what people put on Social Media is put there by people who are unaware of one of the basic things about the internet or are aware of them and are looking to use it to their amusement/advantage.

    To quote Holden from "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" (well paraphrase really)...

    "The Internet is a communication tool used the world over where people can come together to complain about everything and share pornography with one another."

    (actual quote can be found here)

    Which in this case could mean that she's trying to pull a "Look at me! I'm an ally! Aren't I special and awesome?"...or that she's just looking to stir the @#$% pot to see what happens. In either case...the child is getting caught in the crossfire. Especially if anyone from her area recognizes her and her kid and is offended by it...the child could see someone yelling at Mommy over a silly little book which could get the child thinking that books are bad. After all, mommy read me a book and people are very angry about it.

    Regardless of the intent...the act may have unintended consequences that could have a lot of negative effects over time.
     

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