THE BLANKET THAT CAN NEVER BE DRY

roxanneritchi:

leskuh | face-down-asgard-up | iamateenagefeminist | waltdisneyconfessions:

“I think the people hoping for a lesbian princess need to be reminded that Disney movies are aimed at kids. I don’t think there is anything wrong with being gay, but to push the idea at kids before they understand what that means will only confuse them. Also as a parent, I would be pissed at Disney for addressing such controversial topics in a movie intended for children”.

But here’s what you’re forgetting/not understanding: 

Being gay isn’t controversial 

It isn’t. The fact that a person is gay is not controversial. The only thing controversial is how people feel we should treat gay people. 

There a millions of kids growing up right now that have gay parents, teachers, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. There are many kids in this country who are growing up and are gay themselves. All of those kids don’t get a chance to see their reality in media. 

We “push” the idea of heterosexuality everyday and in every Disney movie. If we had a gay prince or princess we wouldn’t be “pushing” anything, we would just be displaying a different reality that many people have. 

I hate it when people say that “being gay” is controversial. No, it’s not. How we, as a society, want to treat gay people is what is controversial.   

People who say this don’t understand children.

How I explained gay to my kid:

“Mom, your friends, they kiss each other!”

“Who?”

“Those two boys.”

“Yeah, they love each other.”

“Like you loved Daddy?”

“Yeah, just like that. Also, girls can love girls like that too. It’s normal.”

“Ok.”

And then she went off and decided to color. No confusion. No exploding head. Girls can love girls and boys can love boys. She gets it because IT’S NOT A DIFFICULT CONCEPT.

Stop demanding that gay people be hidden away and just TALK TO YOUR FUCKING KIDS.

Seriously.  For me, realizing that homosexuality happened was actually a moment of clarity!  It was an: “Oh!  That makes SENSE!” kind of thing.  It wasn’t upsetting or confusing - it was like a lightbulb went off in my head and reality just became a bit more logical.

On a shallow note, this is a pretty cute manip.

You know, speaking as a lesbian who grew up in a very conservative evangelical household that stopped subscribing to a specific newspaper when I was eleven because I was starting to get the idea that being gay wasn’t a bad thing:

The OP can go fuck themselves. When I started writing this, I intended to be calm and considerate, but you know what, I am so goddamn tired of this shit, because here is what it does: it erases the first eighteen fucking years of my life, including my childhood and adolescence, when I didn’t understand or like anything about myself. Like, I am legit on the verge of tears over here because—telling kids that some people are attracted to people of the same gender identity as themselves won’t confuse them, and what the fuck is wrong with you that your first thought is “omg we have to protect the children” when you clearly haven’t spared a single goddamn thought for the children, like me, who grew up thinking that there was nothing worse than being queer and that being queer meant you were a disgusting monstrosity doomed to burn eternally in the fires of hell, so you spent your entire fucking CHILDHOOD and ADOLESCENCE—you know, THE FORMATIVE YEARS OF YOUR LIFE WHEREIN LIFELONG BELIEFS AND NEUROSES ARE, IF NOT FORMED, THEN GIVEN THE FRAMEWORK AND FOUNDATION TO DEVELOP—simultaneously hating yourself and pretending to be something and someone you weren’t.

But sure. You’re thinking of the children. You’re trying to help them.

The only thing this mindset does is teach children through the erasure, minimization, and other avoidance of queerness, and esp positive and prominent portrayals of queerness, that queerness is bad, that it is undesireable, and they better fucking hope they aren’t queer.

So, you know … go fuck yourself, secret-maker.

every single piece of commentary here is perfect

also chiming in to say that while we didn’t really discuss it extensively, my dad did explain what “gay” was when i was pretty young and didn’t make a big deal out of it, and honestly i think that majorly contributed to me not having a huge meltdown later when i was twelve and realized i might be gay.  it was still hard, but it wasn’t the monumental struggle of people i’ve known who honestly had no idea what they were dealing with.

here’s a tip: if you don’t explain queerness to your child in a healthy and productive manner, there is a really good chance you are hurting them in a way from which they may never fully recover.  good job!

(via formerlyroxy)