Civil Rights Education

It is quite obvious that in the state of Missouri we are not as liberal as other states around the country. We carry the color red proudly, and unless you live in St. Louis or Kansas City, you stick to your guns on this matter! (And I LITERALLY mean you stick to your GUNS!)

Lucky for me, I am one of those hippie-liberal types and I push the envelope with my thoughts in a rather conservative state. I was raised to accept all people, regardless of race, religion OR sexual orientation! I clearly remember one family vacation, when I was quite young and being introduced to Uncle Billy and Aunt Paul. I was like, sure, got it...and I think I ran out to roller blade by the beach. It didn't phase me and I was in a family where this was not unusual. Later in life I had a brother openly express his homosexuality to the family...I think our reaction was, "Great, pass the green beans." Yup, no big deal...why should it be.

Sadly, this is not the case for many. Children are actually being raised in families who teach them that this is wrong and this really bothers me. How can something so natural be wrong? To make matters worse, these ideals are then being reinforced in the school systems! A date to a dance automatically means a date of the opposite sex, sex education naturally only covers a man with a woman. We are creating human beings that will carry on this notion that homosexuality is not normal. We can never overcome this cycle unless we teach it differently. I know people will fight this idea. Hell, white people fought desegregation at first, but we overcame and now children of all races can attend school together and are accepted. Granted, they are accepted if and only if they have two parents of differing sexes.

I know this is a hotly debated topic right now and it falls near and dear to my heart. Many people will disagree with me and thats fine. I am hot headed and I love to upset the masses! I would love to leave you on a positive note. There are schools outside of our blood red state of Missouri that take this issue to heart. The District of Columbia has a school who is working hard to teach acceptance and respect starting with day one! This article shows the start of what I hope is an amazing movement that spreads across the country. Read it and be amazed. Major gratitude goes to a school with such heart!