Law and Order – SVU
So here’s a strange question: what’s up with the “right” and talking dirty? I mean, there were times in the Jackson Supreme Court nomination process when I wanted to turn off the TV and go wash my hands. Hawley, Cruz, Cotton and Graham were intent on describing cases of child pornography in graphic detail. They had the audience squirming in their seats, like those incredibly awkward moments of confession in Law and Order SVU when Stabler (in the early days) looked like he was going to beat the suspect. And the Senators were doing it intentionally, to a judge who sent those same pornographers to Federal prison for years, and added decades of restrictions and labels.
It wasn’t about her punishing them, it was about whether she punished them “long enough”. So we all get to share in pederast stories.
Don’t Say G*y
And then there’s the Florida politicians (and now Ohio) who are trying to convince us that our kid’s kindergarten teacher is trying to teach them about sex. Good Lord, they’re doing their best with the “ABC’s” and math (yep, Kindergarteners are supposed to read and do math before first grade now). Sure, those teachers have to deal with sexual “identity” – which kids go to the “little girls” room, and which go to the “little boys”. But they certainly aren’t in the business of discussing the nuances of gay, straight, trans and queer.
The “right” is using a “sex” term we learned on Law and Order SVU. Teachers supposedly are “grooming” kids in the classroom to be LGBTQ. Reality from the classroom – that doesn’t happen. Teachers are far too busy documenting, teaching standards, testing-testing-testing, and making sure kids are “OK” to “groom” anything. And if they did, it doesn’t take a new law against it. The entire world of education would fall on them.
What “sex stuff” might regular teachers discuss? An primary teaching friend had to explain to Johnny, in the simplest (and briefest) way possible, why his penis was stiff. Sex was NOT the answer, just a brief “this is a normal boy’s body” kind of thing.
Divorce and Gay Marriage
When I was in first grade in 1962, we found out about something called a “divorce”. Divorces were rare in those days, and when a kid in class had parents that were getting divorced, it posed a “threat” to all of us. I don’t remember Miss Fox going into details, but she did find a way to make the child whose parents were divorcing, and the rest of us, understand that it wasn’t the child’s fault. That kid found acceptance in class, at a time when he needed it most.
Today, almost half the kids in class are from divorced families. Good or bad, it’s a common part of our culture, one that kids share. Today’s equivalent to 1962’s divorce, is parents of the same sex. But if the Miss Fox of 2022 tries to find a way to make those kids feel “OK”, then is she violating the “Don’t Say Gay” law in Florida, or the one proposed now in Ohio? To the best I can tell, the answer to that question is, Yes.
Kids are smart, especially when it comes to the adults who impact their lives. They know when the teacher isn’t talking about something, when they are leaving silence where explanations usually occur. And kids make the connection – if Miss Fox won’t talk about it, then it must be a bad thing. A message is sent, and received.
Trans Hype
And then there’s this hyped-up issue of transgendered women competing in high school sports. Utah’s Governor Spencer Cox vetoed a proposed participation ban in his state (though his veto was ultimately overridden). He pointed out, that out of the over 85,000 kids competing in Utah high school sports, four were transgendered women. A law, written, debated, hyped, vetoed and overridden: for four kids.
The reality – transgendered kids are trying to find a social place in the world, and athletics can help. Out of the entire nation, with millions of kids participating in athletics, critics can point out about four cases where transgendered women are “succeeding” against biological women. But Fox News gives near-daily updates on their success, ginning up the base, and targeting one of the most vulnerable groups in our society: transgendered kids. Look, studies indicate that 80% of transgendered folks have considered suicide and 40% have attempted it, mostly as youth (National Institute of Health). I’m sure that a law that specifically impacts the four kids in Utah won’t help that statistic.
Why Sports
I was a coach for forty years – cross country, wrestling and track, high school and middle school, girls and boys. I am proud of the dozens of kids who left our programs and went on to compete at the collegiate level, and the very few who made a national impact on their sports. But for the vast majority of those thousands of kids on “my” teams over the years, it wasn’t about medals and scholarships.
It was about being a part of a team, a family. For some of those kids, it was the “best” family they had. And it was about accepting the physical challenges of practice and competition, and finding ways to improve. Those kids learned how to do more than they thought possible, and found the relationship between hard work and improvement. And they learned the joy of sharing a common struggle, effort and goal with their teammates.
LGBTQ kids often need that “family” more than anyone else. The LGBTQ kids I worked with certainly did. Politicians standing on a soap-box and drawing a red-line on their participation only hurts them more, and sends a clear message to every other kid. Rejection is real – and that’s what the “right” is doing for political gain. The hurt and loss that causes will be real too.
