Well I'm sure that by now EVERYONE has heard the story of the two gay penguins who were so desperate to become parents they went on an eggnapping spree......and had to be separated from the other penguins.
And how their dream of domestic bliss. Daddy daddy vomit me a sardine !!!!!!!
Finally came true.
A pair of gay penguins thrown out of their zoo colony for repeatedly stealing eggs have been given some of their own to look after following a protest by animal rights groups.
Last month the birds were segregated after they were caught placing stones at the feet of parents before waddling away with their eggs.
Golly. It even has a happy ending. Their keepers say "they've turned out to be the best parents in the whole zoo".
Awwwwwwww.
And then there is this other story about gay parents. Right here in Canada. And it's not so cute.
Lesbian, gay and bisexual teens in British Columbia are at a higher risk of becoming pregnant or causing a pregnancy than their heterosexual peers, says a study released Tuesday.
The authors suggest the discrimination, sexual abuse and harassment that gay, lesbian and bisexual teens face may prompt them to indulge in more sexually risky behaviour like having sex without using condoms, starting to have sex before the age of 14 or having multiple sexual partners.
And it won't have a happy ending until we end bullying in our schools. And tackle the real problem.
David Wolfe, a clinical psychologist who has a chair in children's mental health at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, said the way to address the elevated pregnancy rates among bisexual, gay and lesbian teens is to find ways to stop making them feel so stigmatized.
"We are creating our own problems by creating problems for them," Wolfe insisted. "By not giving them a chance to have a voice in it. Then it becomes a bigger problem - and we blame them for it."
Homophobia. Bad for adults. Bad for kids. Bad for babies. Bad for EVERYONE...
Gay penguins are celebrated. Gay children are forgotten.
Daddy daddy vomit me a sardine.
What a crazy world...
Another great post Simon! Thanks.
ReplyDeletethanks Simon, it was a great post. My concern about that study of youth who are gay at higher risk, is how it can get warped out of the perspective or context of both overt and covert discrimination, and all the related isms. How about youth who are not white heterosexual middle class (wasp) face the most discrimination amongst their peers and thus are at a higher risk of all of the above due to this discrimination.
ReplyDeleteHi Beijing...thank you. I just couldn't resist after seeing how many stories the gay penguins got in the media...and how little attention the gay kids story got...as I said what a crazy world... :)
ReplyDeleteHi Jan...I know what you mean. I don't doubt that some homophobes will use the story to try to portray gay kids badly. And I must admit the story did blow my mind. Until I thought of when I was a kid and all the thoughts swirling around my head. Although since I came out at twelve I didn't have to deal with all that adolescent angst.Just the bullies. The one thing that strikes me now is how much damage bullying does. And how we need to be able to help kids more when they are at school, because they're obviously not getting the help they need at home...
ReplyDeletehttp://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090131133213AAHtaXz
ReplyDelete