Doubling Down on gay Marriage – Let’s get to the Kids!

The Archdiocese of St. Paul decided that it isn’t doing enough to combat the evil spectre of gay marriage in America so they have started to focus on the kids.

The Star Tribune reported on a mandatory assembly that DeLasalle High Schoolers were recently forced to attend.  The subject of the assembly was, of course, marriage and we all know what that is code for, right?

The assembly was to tell these kids how great “traditional” marriage was because, as the kids so astutely observe in the article, the seniors will be able to vote this fall.  The Catholic Church has made no secret that they are all in on the fight to have the anti-gay marriage ammendment passed this fall.  Reports have them spending over a half million dollars on the effort.

And if your kid is going to a Catholic school, you can expect that a representative will show up and tell them that gay marriage is wrong.  Apparently they will also be told that if you are adopted or part of a single parent household, your family is also just a little bit…broken.

The good news in this article is that a lot of kids at the assembly got angry.  They challenged the presenters and the presenters pulled out the old “gay sex is akin to beastiality” argument.  The bad news is that the presenters said they haven’t had this kind of problem at any other school.

I wonder if kids at Catholic schools are being offered alternative viewpoints on the issue by – I don’t know – loving gay couples who would like to get married.

Of course not.  They are private schools and that means they can do whatever they damn well want.  If they want to be a Catholic school, they must present this assembly.  Even if their administration doesn’t agree with the church on the issue (and I’ll bet a lot of them don’t), that ain’t the way the Catholic Church works.

The pope votes “no” so everyone below him is expected to march in lockstep.  They waste money and they go into schools to tell kids how to think about the issue.  In at least one school, some of these kids have managed to do their own thinking.

I’m going to ask this of anyone who reads this blog – have you talked to your kids about gay marriage?  They are old enough to get it.  My kids are 7 and 12 and we talk about it a lot.  These people are going after the kids because they know children are more likely to listen to them because they hold a position of perceived authority.

I want my kids to grow up knowning that there is a difference between a relationship between two consenting adults and a relationship between a consenting adult and a non-consenting farm animal.

I want them to notice carefully disguised hate speech if someone forces them to listen to it.

I want them to challenge those who think homosexuality is unnatural and those who believe that their idea of marriage is the only acceptable one.

I want them to remember that the Catholic Church does not have the right to decide who can or cannot be married in America.

Eventually, though, I want them to live in a country where nobody thinks twice about gay marriage because it is normal.

A related story:

Last weekend, my mom, who is Catholic, joined others to demonstrate in favor of gay marriage at the  St. Paul Cathedral.  They were saying “there are people in this church who don’t agree with your priorities.”

I asked her how it went and one of the things she said was “well, nobody swore at us this time.”

Stay classy, Minnesota!  Thanks for keeping your swear words to yourself!  This time.