Gay fairy tale sparks outrage

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Gay fairy tale sparks outrage
From: Reuters
By Jason Szep in Lexington, Massachusetts

April 25, 2006


THE crown prince rejects a bevy of beautiful princesses, rebuffing each suitor until falling in love with a prince. The two marry, sealing the union with a kiss, and live happily ever after.
That fairy tale about gay marriage has sparked a civil rights debate in Massachusetts, the only US state where gays and lesbians can legally wed, after a teacher read the story to a classroom of seven year olds without warning parents first.

A parents' rights group said overnight it may sue the public school in the affluent suburb of Lexington, about 19 km west of Boston, where a teacher used the book King & King in a lesson about different types of weddings.

"It's just so heinous and objectionable that they would do this," said Brian Camenker, president of the Parents Rights Coalition, a conservative Massachusetts-based advocacy group.

Mr Camenker said he believes the school, Joseph Estabrook Elementary, broke a 1996 Massachusetts law requiring schools to notify parents of sex-education lessons. "There is no question in my mind that the law is being abused here," he said.

"I wouldn't be surprised if in the next couple of weeks there was some kind of (legal) action taken," he said.

Lexington Superintendent of Schools Paul Ash said the school was under no legal obligation to inform parents the book would be read to the classroom of about 20 children.

"This district is committed to teaching children about the world they live in. Seven-year-olds see gay people. They see them in the schools. They see them with their kids," he said.

"I see this as a civil rights issue. People who are gay have a right to be treated equally," he said.

"If it were North Carolina, this would be a whole different story. But the law in Massachusetts is that gay marriage is legal. We have lots of gay families in Lexington."

The issue erupted in Lexington when parent Robin Wirthlin complained to the school's principle after her 7-year-old son told her about the reading last month. She then turned to the Parents Rights Coalition, which released a statement on the issue to Boston media last week.

Since then, Mr Ash has been swamped by e-mails on the issue from across the country, some in support but many written in anger including one from a North Carolina man who threatened "to beat his head into the ground", he said.

"I handed that one to the police," said Mr Ash.

The issue underscores a growing cultural divide over the issue of gay rights at a time when legal challenges seeking permission for gays and lesbians to marry are pending in 10 states. Two US states have legalised civil unions.

It also comes as California considers introducing school textbooks highlighting the role of gays in its history.

Some legal scholars said the depth of emotion on the issue nationwide means educators should include parents in the debate on exactly when to start educating children on homosexuality.

"There is a difference between what is required and what is the right thing to do," said Charles Haynes, senior scholar at the First Amendment Centre, which produces guidelines for schools and teachers on issues such as same-sex marriage.

"Some people believe that we are moving toward a kind of normalisation of homosexuality as part of the fabric of our life. Others believe we are going in the other direction. Because we are now in a fork in the road where we are debating this, public schools are not the place to settle it," he said.

King & King was ranked eighth among the top 10 books people wanted removed from libraries in 2004, according to the American Library Association. Its Berkeley, California publisher, Tricycle Press, said complaints over the 32-page book first surfaced in 2004 in North Carolina.

An Oklahoma legislator last year cited the book as reason to impose new restrictions on library collections.

Written by two Dutch women, the book has sold about 15,000 copies in the US since it was translated and published in 2002. A sequel, King, King and Family, about a royal same-sex family written by the same authors, was published two years later.
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I think that this is a censorship, and a violation of civil rights. It is LEGAL for same sex couples to marry in that state, yet these parents want to turn a blind eye that this is an everyday thing in their children's lives...hell chances are that some of these kids will grow up to utilize the same sex marriage laws. I betcha these militant anti-gay parents never though of that.

Yes, I still have some "traditional" ways brainwashed into me that i am despiratly trying to shake, so honestly if my kids were to out themselves to me, i would think about ever having grandkids and the same "trad" BS that tends to go through "trad" thinkers. But my kids are my kids and I love them no matter what. Besides who am i to judge, I am bi-sexual.

Somedays i DO struggle with my sexuality. Somedays i feel more lesbian, and other days i feel more hetero. There never is a real 50/50 balance. I am engaged to a wonderful man, but if M were to have been a woman, the love i feel for M would be the same. (The major difference is that we would be working on me moving to the UK.) There are times when i wonder how life would be like if my ex-gf and i had stayed together, and yes i do miss her and her friendship.

but anyway, this "outrage" is a bunch of BULLSHIT in my opinion and these outraged parents can stick their outrage right up their fucking outrages!

my favorite lawyer email yet!

"My real name,

We express mailed your completed K petition today to the Nebraska
Service Center of the USCIS in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Now we will await the "Receipt Notice" from the USCIS, which will
tell us how long we can expect to wait for the petition to be
approved. We usually receive the Receipt Notice 10 to 25 days after
we mail in the petition. We'll let you know as soon as we receive it.

Yours truly,
My Lawyer's Paralegal"

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
Another hoop has been lept through, and now M and I play the game of "Hurry up and Wait" Average wait time as of today 58.30 days.

M and i were voice chatting when we both got the email, and we both read it at the same time, and deafened each other by yells and cheers of Jubliation!!!! I now do not have any fingernails left as i have bitten them off to nearly the quick, and if i could, i think that i might chew my toenails too for good measure. I am so blasted excited and nervous at the same time.

keep keeping your fingers crossed!

a Man with No Name You scored 7 Honor, 4 Justice, 7 Adventure, and 6 Individuality!

It's one thing to be a gunslinger. It's another to wander into town, leave nothing but a trail of those who'd try your skill and take the town's gratitude and cash with you. Hero or villan? It's all in how you look at it and whose side you're on. Cigar in your teeth and colt on your hip, you are ready to step into the hazy desert horizon. You'll do just fine.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 37% on Ninjinuity You scored higher than 38% on Knightlyness You scored higher than 56% on Cowboiosity You scored higher than 58% on Piratical Bent

Link: The Cowboy-Ninja-Pirate-Knight Test written by fluffy71 on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

my blood type--hmmm

Your Inner Blood Type is AB!

Your personality is hard to define - you're very unconventional. And even if your personality could be defined, it would be completely different next week! Outgoing and shy, sensitive and thoughtless, you tend to have a very split personality. This makes you unpredictable. You can be a total angel - and a total devil. You are most compatible with: everyone! Famous Type AB's: Jackie Chan and Marilyn Monroe

What's Your Inner Blood Type?

Monday monday

today is monday....yup...monday...

we grilled big fat steaks...

the day was nice...

we need to mow...

Happy birthday E!...

monday.

Happy Bunny Day

or is that hoppy bunny day? :) My daughter, mom and i colored eggs today and glittered them---ugh glitter EVERYWHERE!! It was cute, even though i didn't realize that they were for me at first, my daughter and my mom got me purple tulips--how sweet! :)

other than that i am tired and grumpy and have been all this weekend--maybe because i got another e-mail from the lawyers that they still need one more paper. I am tired of the "just one more thing" I want to stab my sharpened pencil into the just one more thing!!

Also the search for a job continues--i have sent three emails off to the local newspaper to see if they are hiring bundle carriers, nada back from them. Not even a thanks but no thanks. so i plod along... Anyone got a job that i can do?

Tornadoes Suck!

On Thursday April 13, Iowa City was hit by at least one tornado. Where was I? Huddled in the back room of a gas station right across the interstate from where it touched down.

Oddly enough i wasn't scared, i was strangely calm, even though it has been a reoccuring childhood nightmare to be chased down by a tornado. I knew when the tornado landed by the pressure in my ears, and i had to pop them like you would in an airplane, and then i felt faint, hot then cold and then was fine. I wanted to see the thing but my daughter and mother were in the backroom too and i felt that i should stay with them.

We had just gone out to eat at my favorite chinese buffet (mmmm they have a mongolian grill and sushi there mmmm) and it began to rain, hard. But i wanted that one last plate of shrimp and sushi. By the time that we left, it was still pouring but manageable. Mom asked for me to turn on the radio to weather. there were tornados being sighted in the county north and west of us. I wasn't too concerned and kept on driving. we got to the highway that in 12 miles would bring us to our town. It began to lightly hail. Then heavier hail, and all i could think of was "Oh Sh*t! My windows!" My van has a massive expanse of a windshield and bu-ku expensive to replace. So we turned around and went to a gas station with an awning. I just wanted to wait out the hail in the van, but after Mom went inside and came back to the van and highly insisted that we all go in.

Oh and the warning sirens were going off all this time as well.

there was a lull in the rain and weather after the tornado, and Mom went out to the van and my side door window got sucked out and shattered. So Mom duct taped a black plastic bag on the window and we waited for a little while more to see what the storms would do. nothing really happened and i just wanted to get home. So the 3 other families that were from our town decided that they were going to follow us back. Choo-Choo! I got elected to be the leader in the train that went home. oh well, we made it.

My brother was in the center of town where it was most hard hit. He and his friends made it to a basement and were safe. but the area around them was a disaster and later officially declaired one. He stayed up until 3 am helping people get tree limbs off of their cars and other debris. Mom's bonneville got another broken window and dents on top of the broken back window that happened about a month ago.
http://community.webshots.com/album/549484930difYkW
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beautiful day

but really crabby mood, compounded by reading about the nastiness that uninformed idiots spew. I have a headache from it and yet again today, i feel the stupidity seep through my monitor, and lower my IQ one point just by reading ignorance.

After a restful nap, i need to go read through my text books and regain my IQ point. Another bit of solace is that i recently found out that a person that i thought would harm their son, is planning on leaving him "au naturale"

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Originally uploaded by lizzzardbits.

Poor lonely blog

O poor blog, i hath been neglecting thee. How fare thee?

So, i go in fits and spirts with this blog it seems. I guess it follows my bi-polar. Today is a fairly nice day out, i feel fairly good. My daughter and i went out for a nice walk and enjoyed smelling the first mown grass smell wafting in the breeze. I love that smell, it is a green fresh smell.

As far as M and the immigration papers go, we are waiting for my mom's birth certificate and then we have to sign the forms in front of a notary public. Then it is wooooosh off to the lawyers again and then they send them to USCIS. average wait time is 59 days. *sigh* perhaps by july he can move here *keeping fingers crossed*

We are both feeling the strain from this, as we both have noticed that we are very very careful with our words to each other. We don't want to argue and try and keep to mundane conversations. It is kind of like eating unflavored oatmeal all the time, it fills up the belly, but bores the tastebuds. I can't wait until we can talk super nachos again with some spicy picante sauce on it.

I wonder if all couples going through immigration go through this? Is it the US gov't's maniacal way to weed out strong couples from the weak? And i read that there is bill in congress that wants to make illegal immigrants felons! Umm this country was founded by "illegal" immgrants as not all natives welcomed the new land takers with open arms. I say open the boarders, yeah there will be an influx to begin with but it will even itself out. Don't these gov't officials understand how expensive it is already to immigrate, but then to make these poor people felons. Ugh! insanity! I cannot wait until this regime is over and perhaps we americans can elect someone that can speak in more than 3 word phrases.

well, i am going outside again and my daughter and i are going to go for another walk---perhaps to the park

more hoops

it seems that there is yet more information that the lawyers need. ugh why can't we be done with all this so M and i can get married?!?!?! this has my cosposor asking if they want to know her bra size and when she first was weaned from her mother. I understand. The gov't wants to know everything. Dubya, if you have been wire tapping me, i am sure that you would freakin' know by now that M and I are mushballs in love love love love love!

So i am depressed and i am going to go take a nap now

And now it is in the lawyers' hands

The last bit of paperwork went out to the lawyers yesterday, hopefully that is the last of the paperwork that they need from M and I. Now we hurry up and wait.

In the mean time, Mom and i continue to work on the dress that she found. I am super pleased at what she found, but it needs my personal touch, and sleeves.

*sigh*