New Birth Control

As discussions of Don't Ask Don't Tell's implications and possible repeal abound back home (write your Congressperson here), we too discussed homosexuality here at the village this week.

Every Wednesday the debate club chooses a topic and each family has a hearty discussion around it.  In the past, debates have been about uniforms and government and this week, homosexuality.

I was a little nervous about how this debate would go down.  I've heard some pretty anti-gay statements in the village, and, in nearby Uganda, a bill recently considered punishing homosexuality with death.

To my surprise, although many of the kids had deeply differing views, they agreed on one topic.  Respect.  After they offered their initial views, ranging from "it's wrong" to "it's an illness" to "is it an illness?" to "God didn't intend it" to "its great" to "why not?" I offered my own view.  I told them the same story I told in preschool (ok probably a lot more eloquent), about how in my family and in my community being gay is normal, and to me, it's not about whether you think it's wrong or right, but that you have to respect everyone, and create a tolerant space for everyone (ok I admit it, I think in preschool I just yelled A MAN CAN MARRY A MAN!...so not so similar).

The kids were totally into it.  "Of course we must respect them," they explained.  So obvious to them, when it is so not obvious to so many others.  Then, after a very curious question and answer session, where they asked about gay adoption and things of the sort, they resumed the debate.  My favorite answers included:

-Being gay is a good thing, because you won't get pregnant if you don't want to.  Pretty relevant answer to Nicholas Kristof's recent article on the effects of little birth control in Africa. 

-Why not experiment?  It is how we found straight sex too!

And my absolute favorite, of course was

-I can't say if it is right or wrong!  It's someone else's belief and hope.

Basically they were open minded, respectful, and curious.  Of course some of them believe homosexuality is wrong, but they seem to understand that that doesn't mean we can treat homosexuals poorly.  To me, this is a huge deal, and a huge lesson for so many others.