I got the video below in my inbox this morning, and thought I’d share. It’s from COLAGE, the organization for people with a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer parent. A nice counterpoint to the fright-&-lies video circulated by the hate group Family Research Council as an opening salvo in their war against the FAIR Education Act in California. The fight to defend the FAIR Education Act is going to be the Prop 8 battle, Part Deux, basically: more big money bigotry pushing ballot-box backlash to a landmark win for civil rights. Brace yourselves for another ugly election season out here in the Golden State.
But bigots aren’t the only ones who know how to operate a video camera or get a message out. Here’s how Kyle introduces this video:
Thanks so much for watching and sharing this video about my family! I’ve heard the terrible things Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and others are saying about families like yours and mine. It’s a form of bullying, and I think one of the best ways to respond is by sharing our stories. I’m proud to have two gay dads and a lesbian mom.
We have to grab onto Kyle’s insight and not let go: the homophobic propaganda on which three prominent Republican presidential candidates are campaigning is a cynical, self-interested form of bullying, plain and simple. It should be named as such, and shamed as such. (Bravo, Dick Gregory, for “committing an act of journalism” in his Meet the Press interview with Bachman). And after we name and shame that fear mongering and ignorance baiting, we keep on telling the true stories about our families.
In the video, Kyle encourages other kids of LGBT parents to speak their mind:
Whatever you say, you have a unique perspective that should be heard, that people will listen to, because you know things that other people don’t that can definitely help.
I would sure like to see what these Republican presidential candidates would say if they had to do a town hall-type meeting for an auditorium full of college-age kids of LGBT parents. Faced with hundreds of young people like Kyle Fa and Zach Wahls, what would they say? What could they possibly say to these young people, who know better?
From the description accompanying it at its YouTube home:
This short film features Kyle Fa, teenage son of two gay fathers and a lesbian mom. Kyle shares his unique insights about family, community and equality and the power of COLAGE, an organization for people with LGBTQ parents.
Produced by Heliana Ramirez, Leah Sanchez, Tiffany Clarke and Dave Tuller for the course New Media Technology and Public Health Leadership (PH290), Center for Health Leadership, UC Berkeley. Major funding provided by the Cal Endowment.
Heliana, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a PhD student at UC Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare, has gay dads, too. Here’s COLAGE’s YouTube channel.
I love how he points out that the Michelle Bachmans of the world are bullies, too. So few people seem to see it that way.
Welcome, Molly!
I think that’s a really important way to frame this. We get what a bully is. We none of us approve.
In adults, bullying can include different forms than it does in young people, but preying on the weak I think is common in both. In this case, those preyed upon by opportunistic bigots are weakened by their ignorance: they don’t know better, to be able to dispute the lies. So they believe them. And those preyed upon by opportunistic bully-bigots are weakened by their fear: the age-old (once evolutionarily helpful, now socially hindering) human fear of difference or the unknown. Those elements–ignorance and fear–are not of themselves dangerous until directed toward the oppression or isolation of others by… opportunistic bullies.
We who advocate for education and love have our work cut out for us.
Here in Canada, and it’s more then likely the same in the US, kids with LGBTQ parents face bullying in school, and also outside of school. Having Politicians fighting against our families does not help these kids. We need to fight against bullies and what is being said about our families. I think that if politicians were faced with a town hall meeting full of children of LGBTQ parents they would have to face the fear of the unknown. Blogs like this one and the work of organizations similar to COLAGE can and are slowly changing the minds of politicians but it is an uphill battle. In the words of a little engine I think I can I think I can
Together we can together we can together we can.