Your response to those who believe that early childhood centers should avoid the inclusion of books depicting gay or lesbian individuals such as same-sex partnered families.
I do not agree with this idea of of avoiding the inclusion of books and things that depict gay or lesbian individuals. Gay and lesbian individuals are apart of the society and world that we live in that is reality. Avoiding having that in books won't stop the fact that children will learn about it someday. What better way for them to learn and really understand the meaning of it than in school and with people who can really explain to them what it means at an early age instead of them being confused about it later on in life. There are certain things that I understand adults want to protect children from, but this shouldn't be one of them a person and their sexuality is just who they are and should not be discriminated against or hidden from the world, Although children still may not fully understand all aspects of it until they are older, don't hide it from them and allow for them to come across it one day and be confused.
If you have ever used or heard homophobic terms such as "fag," "gay," "homo," "sissy," "tom boy," or "lesbo" as an insult by a child toward another child? Or, by an adult toward a child? Describe what occurred. How might these types of comments influence all children?
I have never used offensive terms such as fag, gay, homo, sissy and so on. I have however witnessed it being used with a close friend of mine. He was always into musicals and shows that involved singing and he would always hang out with more girls than guys and in high school we had the typical bullies that would call you names or make fun of you and I remember one time this kid came up to him and asked him why he hangs around all these girls and he called him a "fag" and during that time that was a bad word to us and everyone was in shock that he called him that and my friend didn't know what to say so he just ignored it and the boy laughed and called him a sissy and walked away. At the time I did not know that my friend who is still my friend was gay and he was struggling with coming out to everyone and that just set him back even more and it took him a while to actually tell people that he was gay because of how our society is and was towards gay individuals and by the time he finally came out we all that are close to him knew it we were just waiting for him to tell us. It was great that we all supported him in his sexuality and didn't judge him even his family was really supportive because it was something that we all always suspected he just never said it. Now he is more comfortable and open with his sexuality and doesn't hide it at all and although he may still get some discrimination towards it, it is not nearly as bad.
