I'm on the record as being in favor of kisses, as well as kiss-ins. I'm Pro-Kiss.
So I was paying attention to the latest kiss-in in Southern California, outside the LDS temple in La Jolla. It was a small rally, but the quality of the kissing seemed above average, and the point was made: Kissing is really not that big a deal.
But this local news report had something in it I don't think I've ever seen before -- certainly not on local news. A shot of two women kissing pans to reveal a couple of kids playing, with the reporter saying "This, taking place in front of children roaming on church property." My reflexive cringe turned into amazement, though, when the report cuts to one of the kissers being interviewed: "What if those children grow up and they are gay? I don't want them to think it's a bad thing."
That is close to an encapsulation of the entire gay rights movement in two short sentences. The report was able to get past the immediate and natural fear people have for children in general, and offer an opportunity for the audience to think about the world as gay children might experience it. In other words, it actually imagined, for a moment, that all gay people really were, themselves, children at some point. Why should they grow up in a world of images where straight kissing is good but gay kissing is bad? What effect would that have on them?
That leap of imagination -- of empathy -- is the one more and more heterosexuals are able to make. I don't want to make too big a deal of out this one TV news report, but as much as some of the best kisses I've ever had, it took my breath away.
3 Comments for “Kisses and Kids”
posted by jpeckjr on
The children, I noticed, were paying no attention to the kissing.
I also noticed there was no adult supervision of the children, at least, none I could see. If the prospect of adults kissing was so very troubling to the LDS church, what were the children doing outside during the kiss-in anyway. You know, if you’re going to protect your chidren from the corruption of same-gender kissing, you really should do a better job!
posted by Regan DuCasse on
Yes, jpeckjr, there is something odd about how people feel children will be damaged by same sex affection.
True story.
A close friend of mine worked in a strip mall where a video store is frequented by gay folks. Her twin boys were six years old at the time. While she was with them, the children witnessed two men kiss each other on the lips and hug.
At first she wasn’t sure what to do, but her children reacted first and made her realize she needn’t have worried.
Because…
They said HAPPILY “oh, mommy look…those men love each other so much!”
And she answered, just as (relieved) and happily, ‘yes, they do!’.
And that was that.
Considering how much violence, and bad manners and disrespect children are seeing everyday in entertainment as well as in casual street encounters, Witnessing love between people is sadly, something we don’t get to see as much as we should.
BTW, those beautiful young men she raised are now nineteen years old, and they themselves are very gay supportive and as caring as any good men ever could be.
posted by John Howard on
Well, it’s bad because it is so hard to switch, it’s hard to be Bi. If someone enjoys kissing someone their same sex, they believe also that it would be wrong to try to love someone of the other sex, they wind up stuck thinking they have to partner with someone of their same sex.
And if they believe that, they wind up demanding same-sex conception and genetic engineering and donor sperm and disrespecting families that try to uphold biological kinship ties.
It would be different if we told kids that everyone was Bi, and they could kiss whoever but still have biological children with someone they love, but we don’t, we tell kids that everyone is either straight or gay, and Bi people are just on the fence or freaks. We teach that it’s better to just be gay, and indeed that it is a vicious lie to be straight. This makes people dependent on reproductive technology and further destroys the values that hold families together, and takes away a very valuable source of happiness from people.