Close your eyes and . . . imagine . . . imagine a world where things are a bit different than they are in the here and the now . . . imagine yourself working and living and socializing in a world where there are homosexuals everywhere . . . of, course, there are straights everywhere too . . . but, because of social, cultural, and religious prejudice, the straights have to hide their identity or face ridicule, prejudice, or worse. Now, imagine, in this other world . . . that you have a friend of the opposite gender as you, someone who obviously likes you in a way that is socially unacceptable to everyone else but which truly really is how you feel too . . . but knowing that if you were to accept this person’s advances, others might see you as being weird, strange, odd, straight . . . so, do you act upon your desires which are naturally a part of yourself or do you hide away your true feelings under a facade lest anyone discover just how straight you really are?

Oh, forget that . . . how about just imagining a good feeling . . . say, walking in a beautiful natural setting that lets you feel at one with the universe . . . now, as you feel wonderful . . . imagine a really good feeling inside you, deep inside, coming from that place where everything is true and pure and wonderful . . . and let that feeling really arouse you . . . from deep inside . . . and as you allow yourself to imagine that wonderful feeling build and build . . . really feel gooooood . . . imagine a gentle touch upon your thigh, fingers trailing oh so gently upward and inward . . . and imagine a gentle whisper of soft lips against your earlobes . . . as a gentle wonderful tingling sensation of a tongue moving from your earlobe, down your neck, over your jawline, to your lips . . . as that really wonderful sensation in your body, your mind, your spirit builds and you really feel goooooooooood as a kiss that lasts a thousand heartbeats frozen in a moment explodes into and within you as the kiss feels so wonderful as you pull back and stare lovingly into the face of . . . a beautiful, loving, kind, gentle . . . face of a person of the same gender as you.

Uh, no, not that one either.

These two examples are pretty much, particularly the latter one . . . but they do illustrate a bit of what’s being debated in New South Wales right now . . . The Courier-Mail: Gay sex syllabus sparks inquiry [07jun05]:

The New South Wales State Government yesterday ordered an inquiry into how classroom lessons are planned and created as a furore broke out over a public school’s program on “gay and lesbian” discrimination. Education Minister Carmel Tebbutt said she had asked Director-General Andrew Cappie-Wood to review and report to her on how resource material was developed and used in the state’s 2230 schools. The minister’s action followed revelations that students as young as 14 had been asked at school to place themselves in an imaginary world dominated by homosexuals and lesbians. Ms Tebbutt banned the program used at a western Sydney high school in which Year 9 children were told to visualise themselves being kissed by a member of the same sex. The controversial lesson, branded by critics as “brainwashing and social engineering”, provoked an avalanche of letters to The Daily Telegraph yesterday. The Teachers’ Federation wrote to Ms Tebbutt stating it was “appalled” by her decision to cut the program. “The program clearly fits properly within Board of Studies syllabuses and Department of Education and Training guidelines,” federation general-secretary Barry Johnson said. Mr Johnson said the minister would be aware of the number of suicides of young people who were homosexual or perceived to be homosexual. He said the bullying of young people in those circumstances was horrific and programs such as the one she had just banned would help alleviate it. But Ms Tebbutt reaffirmed yesterday teachers would be stopped from using the material presented to Year 9 students at the western Sydney school. She said she was not happy the “inappropriate” material had been used but it was an isolated incident. “It is not in line with Government policy. Clearly it is not the case that it is happening in every classroom,” she said. “I can reassure parents our teachers are focusing on the basics of literacy and numeracy.” Ms Tebbutt said she had told senior officers she was “not happy”. Bureaucrats were told to “lift their game”. Federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson said the Commonwealth already had asked state education authorities for details of sex education programs in all schools – public and independent. “I think we need to get a reasonable idea of what is being provided, at what age is it being provided, and to be satisfied that school communities think that the sex education that is provided to their children is appropriate,” Dr Nelson said.

Granted, the guided imagery I used at the beginning of this post isn’t nearly as obvious as what the kids are being asked to do that has the politicians all worked up. Actually, they’re not being brainwashed nor are they being influenced other than to step in to understand what sort of prejudices their gay classmates face . . . whether you are personally gay or gay-friendly or even a non-gay gay-unfrlendly type, gays are everywhere and there is increasing evidence that homosexuality is indeed part of a biological construct and not merely a choice and therefore cannot be condemned as a social abberration. No matter what your personal take on the matter is . . . gays are all around us and they are here to stay and stupid prejudice and beatings and ridicule do no one any good, least of all society.

I am straight so it is difficult for me to truly understand what my gay friends have gone through their entire lives . . . I’ve had straight friends who were beaten . . . we’re talking cracked skulls and broken bones . . . merely for being assumed to be gay and I’ve had gay friends who were subjected to much worse . . . both in the US and here in Taiwan.

While the majority of us who are straight can never truly understand what it is like to live with that sort of prejudice, at least a simple imagination exercise can get us within the context for dialog . . . and if the hatred won’t stop (seems a lot of folks, particularly conservative religious and political leaders) stupidly do want to hang on to the hatred for a few hundred more years, then at least we can dialog enough to stop the wanton violence.

If you were to imagine kissing someone of a gender to which you are not sexually attracted, my guess is you’re not going suddenly become straight or convert to gayhood. However, understanding the visceral nature of your reaction can lead to further understanding and tolerance.

Teaching kids about prejudice and bigotry will not magickally change their sexual orientation. Rather, it will teach tolerance and the ability to see beyond mere orientation and look to other human beings for who they are rather than what their sexual orientation is.

Notice the category this post is placed in . . . there’s a reason for it . . . and it’s not the one you might be thinking.

All the best,
Brian