An open letter to Tim Hudak, the Ontario PC Party, and the "Institute for Canadian Values"
I wrote this on Facebook earlier today, purely on whim, after getting a bit fed up with stuff like this and this (update: Hudak freely admits to having authorized the pamphlets and defends them):
Dear Mr. Hudak and friends,
There seems to be some concern these days about what children are being taught in schools, and as a parent, I can completely understand that. Some people are upset that their children might be confused or "corrupted" by acknowledgement that people whose sexual orientation or gender identity differs from theirs exist. I can completely empathize with this concern, though I come at it from a slightly different angle.
For example, are you aware that, for decades now, perhaps even centuries, innocent children in the school system have been repeatedly exposed to descriptions and depictions of heterosexuals? Shocking, yes, but true! Look through any history or social studies text, and you will see countless references to people who we now know to have been heterosexual. Sometimes their inclusion is justified under the dubious logic of their being "historical figures", but surely they could have found SOME historically significant individuals who were not practicing heterosexuals. Don't they have any concern for those of us who don't want our children exposed to that sort of thing?
Now perhaps, some of you may be thinking that this is all right for older children, but if you look into the material that is being taught today, you will find to your horror that even kindergarten students are being exposed to this sort of corrupting filth. There are reading primers that contain GRAPHIC depictions of heterosexual family life, completely with one mother, and one father and NO other co-parents. There are even fairy tales in which the prince and princess end up married - MARRIED! Now, you may justify that by pointing out that these days marriage is open to almost anyone, and should thus be less controversial, but there is no denying that for many years marriage was an exclusively heterosexual institution. Many of these books date from that time, and even in those that don't, these "fairy tale marriages" are EXPLICITLY portrayed as being between a prince and a princess. Were YOU warned that this sort of contentious material might be covered in kindergarten? I certainly wasn't.*
Not only that, but the VAST majority of people depicted in the children's books being used in the school system are cisgendered - which is to say, not transgendered. And this isn't just implied - in some cases, babies are blatantly identified as being "boys" or "girls" at birth and then growing up to have that as their EXACT GENDER IDENTITY! Clearly, that has considerable potential to confuse children, particularly if they have been raised in families where the normal range of gender identity/expression is acknowledged. It must be stopped at once, or at the very least, parents should be notified and given the ability to keep their children home on any day when cisgendered individuals are going to be mentioned in any way.
But even this isn't the whole story. Looking over history and social studies textbooks in particular, but even many adventure stories and the like, a truly horrifying pattern begins to emerge, which I feel shows the possibility of a truly dark agenda at work here: in book after book, a substantial portion of the individuals most prominently featured are... WHITE, HETEROSEXUAL, CISGENDERED MALES. Think about that for a moment. What population is known to be made up predominantly of white, heterosexual, cisgendered males? That's right, SERIAL KILLERS! THIS is what the normalization of heterosexuality leads to! You may well argue that some white, heterosexual, cisgendered males do not go on to become serial killers, but clearly, the potential is there, and shows just how seriously this issue must be taken.
I hereby suggest that the optimal solution to all of this is for every parent to be given the full ability to opt out of their child being in any way exposed to any reference to anyone who is in any way unlike them. Each family will receive a checklist on which they can indicate exactly what types of people, in terms of gender, orientation, ethnicity, religion, occupation, ability, etc. are present within their own family and immediate circle of friends, and at any point in school when it becomes apparent that someone not covered by that checklist might have to be mentioned, an alarm will sound and a specially trained educational assistant will rush over to provide that child with earplugs and a blindfold, to be worn until that segment of the curriculum is over. Clearly this is the only way to make sure that no one's child is exposed to anything that might be considered confusing or controversial in any way.
Alternatively, given the state of the economy and the fact that the above solution might be expensive to implement, each child might be sent home on the first day of their school career with a single, standard note saying something to the effect of "Dear parent: over the course of your child's education, they may be exposed to references to people who are gay, straight, bisexual or asexual; male, female, transgendered, cisgendered, intersexed and/or any combination of foregoing; white, black, Asian, Latin, aboriginal or any of a variety of other ethnicities or combinations thereof; able-bodied, disabled or various degrees in between; Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Wiccan, atheist or of any of a variety of other religions or non-religions; and varied in many other ways as well. This is due to the fact that the world contains all these people, and the purpose of school is to prepare children to be part of that world. Deal with it."
Sincerely,
Miss Lynx
* Of course, this may be because he hasn't actually started school yet. BUT STILL...!
Dear Mr. Hudak and friends,
There seems to be some concern these days about what children are being taught in schools, and as a parent, I can completely understand that. Some people are upset that their children might be confused or "corrupted" by acknowledgement that people whose sexual orientation or gender identity differs from theirs exist. I can completely empathize with this concern, though I come at it from a slightly different angle.
For example, are you aware that, for decades now, perhaps even centuries, innocent children in the school system have been repeatedly exposed to descriptions and depictions of heterosexuals? Shocking, yes, but true! Look through any history or social studies text, and you will see countless references to people who we now know to have been heterosexual. Sometimes their inclusion is justified under the dubious logic of their being "historical figures", but surely they could have found SOME historically significant individuals who were not practicing heterosexuals. Don't they have any concern for those of us who don't want our children exposed to that sort of thing?
Now perhaps, some of you may be thinking that this is all right for older children, but if you look into the material that is being taught today, you will find to your horror that even kindergarten students are being exposed to this sort of corrupting filth. There are reading primers that contain GRAPHIC depictions of heterosexual family life, completely with one mother, and one father and NO other co-parents. There are even fairy tales in which the prince and princess end up married - MARRIED! Now, you may justify that by pointing out that these days marriage is open to almost anyone, and should thus be less controversial, but there is no denying that for many years marriage was an exclusively heterosexual institution. Many of these books date from that time, and even in those that don't, these "fairy tale marriages" are EXPLICITLY portrayed as being between a prince and a princess. Were YOU warned that this sort of contentious material might be covered in kindergarten? I certainly wasn't.*
Not only that, but the VAST majority of people depicted in the children's books being used in the school system are cisgendered - which is to say, not transgendered. And this isn't just implied - in some cases, babies are blatantly identified as being "boys" or "girls" at birth and then growing up to have that as their EXACT GENDER IDENTITY! Clearly, that has considerable potential to confuse children, particularly if they have been raised in families where the normal range of gender identity/expression is acknowledged. It must be stopped at once, or at the very least, parents should be notified and given the ability to keep their children home on any day when cisgendered individuals are going to be mentioned in any way.
But even this isn't the whole story. Looking over history and social studies textbooks in particular, but even many adventure stories and the like, a truly horrifying pattern begins to emerge, which I feel shows the possibility of a truly dark agenda at work here: in book after book, a substantial portion of the individuals most prominently featured are... WHITE, HETEROSEXUAL, CISGENDERED MALES. Think about that for a moment. What population is known to be made up predominantly of white, heterosexual, cisgendered males? That's right, SERIAL KILLERS! THIS is what the normalization of heterosexuality leads to! You may well argue that some white, heterosexual, cisgendered males do not go on to become serial killers, but clearly, the potential is there, and shows just how seriously this issue must be taken.
I hereby suggest that the optimal solution to all of this is for every parent to be given the full ability to opt out of their child being in any way exposed to any reference to anyone who is in any way unlike them. Each family will receive a checklist on which they can indicate exactly what types of people, in terms of gender, orientation, ethnicity, religion, occupation, ability, etc. are present within their own family and immediate circle of friends, and at any point in school when it becomes apparent that someone not covered by that checklist might have to be mentioned, an alarm will sound and a specially trained educational assistant will rush over to provide that child with earplugs and a blindfold, to be worn until that segment of the curriculum is over. Clearly this is the only way to make sure that no one's child is exposed to anything that might be considered confusing or controversial in any way.
Alternatively, given the state of the economy and the fact that the above solution might be expensive to implement, each child might be sent home on the first day of their school career with a single, standard note saying something to the effect of "Dear parent: over the course of your child's education, they may be exposed to references to people who are gay, straight, bisexual or asexual; male, female, transgendered, cisgendered, intersexed and/or any combination of foregoing; white, black, Asian, Latin, aboriginal or any of a variety of other ethnicities or combinations thereof; able-bodied, disabled or various degrees in between; Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Wiccan, atheist or of any of a variety of other religions or non-religions; and varied in many other ways as well. This is due to the fact that the world contains all these people, and the purpose of school is to prepare children to be part of that world. Deal with it."
Sincerely,
Miss Lynx
* Of course, this may be because he hasn't actually started school yet. BUT STILL...!