More Intolerance in Northern Virginia

The lastest dust-up in Northern Virginia regarding the "indoctrination" of the homosexual lifestyle in public high schools has the local politicos going nuts over a high school student's one-act play about a homosexual football player. This brouhaha comes against the background of the Virginia State Assembly voting to approve a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Additionally, this mess comes on the heels of a recent letter to Fairfax County high schools by a school board member requesting high school principles teach homosexuality as a choice.

Reading the story from the Washington Post I am struck by the amazaing and brazen intolerance exhibited by so-called leaders in the region. A teenager, wanting to write play about tolerance and acceptance, finds herself in the middle of media storm that she could not have expected.

At the heart of the matter is a lack of trust that adults have toward teenagers. Many adults assume that teenagers lack the sophistication to understand what is happening in the play as opposed to their own lives. Merely because a play happens to deal with the subject of homosexuality is not an "indoctrination." Perhaps the best point made about the whole issue is made by the play's apparently eloquent author, who said, "I try to promote tolerance in a school where there is not enough among teenagers and am in turn flooded with the intolerance of their parents. People who are negatively commenting on my play are proving my point."

They are indeed. We as a nation pride ourselve on our freedom of expression and principles of equality. We preach these ideals across the globe, encouraging Palestinians and Israelis to seem themselves as equals and accepting differences. We want, even demand, the same from Kurds, Sunnis, and Shiites in Iraq. Yet at home, many of our leaders can't seem to understand that liberty means the ability to live you life in the manner you deem best for you, within certain guidlelines. One of those guidelines cannot be a rule prohibiting or treating as improper, a particular sexual orientation.

The play, from its description ( I have not seen it) seems appropriate for its audience of high school students. It would probably not be appropriate for elementary school students, but then all sexually related material is inappropriate for elementary school kids. Would this furor being around if the play asked the audience to accept the football player as bi-racial, adopted, or a member of any other class of people who are in the minority? Not likely.

so let's recap some anti-day happenings in teh past couple of weeks:

1. Pressure from the Education Secretary forces Buster the Bunny to not visit with Vermont lesbians--buster is a cartoon.

2. Fairfax county high schools are encouraged by a rouge school board member to teach homosexuality is a choice despite the dearth of scientic proof to support such a concept.

3. Virginia State Assembly votes to amend the state's constitution to ban gay marriage.

4. People get up in arms over a play about accepting who you are, even if that happens to be gay.

For a nation that preaches tolerance and acceptance, it looks like we need to practice what we preach.