Letter: Sad to see how the kids are affected
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Following the rally and counter-rally in Lexington Center on Tuesday, Sept. 6, people from both sides were interviewed by the TV news media. I happened to walk by just after Neil Tassel, one of David Parker's lawyers, began his interview. Mr. Tassel made a number of comments and comparisons which I found to be inaccurate and unkind.
The saddest part for me, though, was watching one child standing near me, who is maybe 7 or so years old, hearing Mr. Parker's lawyer talk about how this child's family (or maybe the families of some of his friends) is not as good as others. He looked up at his parents, and at everyone around him supporting our schools and families, wondering how someone could say the sort of things that he was hearing. After a few minutes, when he was literally on the verge of tears, he asked his parents if he could go stand a little further away, and went.
We know what happens when children are given the message that their family or the family of their peers is not equal to other families. It hurts all the children by creating a gap between those whose parents have opposing viewpoints. What Mr. Parker is asking of our schools would portray, to every student in the classroom, some families as being superior to others.
To consistently give the message to children that not all the families represented in their classroom are adequate does a disservice to everyone.
That's what this issue boils down to: how adults not supportive of all families affect kids. I saw firsthand how the attitudes of folks like Mr. Parker would, and already do to an extent, affect all children in the schools, and it's simply disheartening. That someone can witness what I saw of that child's experience (or picture the same messages coming in an unspoken, constant way directly from a child's friends and classmates) and still be in favor of what Mr. Parker has unfairly and offensively demanded simply leaves me wondering - and very sad.
Eric Eid-Reiner
Russell Road
The problem with this the entire 'family' argument is that, no matter how you slice it, 2 homosexuals do not constitute a 'family' whether children are involved or not.
The family was originally defined by God for the companionship between a man and a woman resulting in the procreation and rearing of their children. Divorce was the original distortion of the family and now the homosexual community is deforming it further to gain legitimacy for their depraved lifestyle.
Sounds as if Eric Eid-Reiner drank the koolaid.