talking point #3

Carlson

1. "To the extent that gayness is recognized in the curriculum, it is likely to be in the health curriculum, where it is associated with disease."

After reading this quote I realized that this is completely true. When you are learning about AIDS and HIV in health class, they tell you it is a homosexual related disease. If I was a homosexual I would be highly offended. Every time someone thinks about the life taking disease, they think about homosexuals and possibly people that they know that are homosexual. I attended a Catholic high school and the topic of homosexuality was never really brought up. But in my own home, I was taught to accept people for who they are and not make judgement if people are different than I am. Someone who was brought up to believe stereotypes and not to accept people that are a little different will listen to the AIDS and HIV comments. It is not just homosexuals that receive this disease, many people can.

2. "We cannot and should not attempt to impose "politically correct" beliefs on students; but we have a responsibility as public educators in a democratic society to engage them in a dialogue in which all voices get heard or represented and in which gay students and teachers feel free to "come out" and find their own voices."

Carlson is saying that we cannot just believe what everyone else believes in regarding homosexuals. As educators, we need to let the children make their own decisions. We cannot tell them what is right and what is wrong to believe in or make them follow the politically correct way of thinking because not all people think the same way. Having intelligent conversations about different people's beliefs would be the right way of going about this debate. Not by threatening or yelling at others who do not think the same way the you do. Children need to make up their own mind about homosexuality and be educated about it.

3. " Throughout much of this century, the dominant idea of community in America was represented by what I will call the normalizing community."

I think "normality" is such a reoccurring topic. To Americans, normal is SCWAAMP. I'm not sure why we as a melting pot of a country still have a normality. Everyone is so different from each other that there is no way we can all fit the norm. I think it's really sad that we cannot all be treated the same. I wish people could be more accepting of people that might be just a litter different from themselves.

I really liked reading this article even thought it was a little difficult to get through. It shows people that we need to accept others like we accept those of our own kind. Homosexuals are in our everyday lives. From TV shows to movies to music, we cannot pretend that it is not there. Everyone can have their own opinion but not in a hateful way. There is no reason to have to make a homosexual feel bad for who and what they are.