Sweet … relief.
Beyond that, I got nothin’. I mean, sure, I should probably bust out The Cure or something, just because, you know? Except it violates the Geneva Conventions, and damn well ought to. Won’t someone please think of the children?
Never mind. Cure jokes never work with nerds.
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Tarpley, Matt. “Mary Monday”. Mary Death. 12 September 2015.
In addition to the obvious, that we are talking about North Carolina, here, there is another aspect we might pause to consider:
After a third-grader tearfully recounted how another boy had called him “gay” during gym class, teacher Omar Currie chose to raise the issue during story time by reading his students a fable about a prince who falls in love with another prince, ending with a happily-ever-after royal wedding.
That decision in April ignited a public outcry from some parents in the rural hamlet of Efland, North Carolina, resulting in Currie’s resignation this week from a job he loved. The assistant principal who loaned Currie her copy of “King & King” has also resigned, and outraged parents are pressuring administrators at the Orange County Schools to ban the book.
“When I read the story, the reaction of parents didn’t come into my mind,” Currie, 25, said Tuesday. “In that moment, it just seemed natural to me to read the book and have a conversation about treating people with respect. My focus then was on the child, and helping the child.”
Currie knows firsthand what it is like to be bullied. Growing up gay and black in a small town in the eastern part of the state, his memories of middle school are of being a frequent target for teasing and slurs.
Right. Welcome to North Carolina. To the one, we shouldn’t be surprised.
To the other, please consider a cetain symbolic value. Twenty-three years ago, Oregonians went to the ballot box and rejected Measure 9, a vicious anti-gay initiative. That year, voters in Colorado passed a similar measure. Amendment 2, as the Colorado version was known, died in federal court, and conservatives still complain about the judicial activism of saying a popular vote in a state cannot overturn the U.S. Constitution. In Oregon, though? The fight in Oregon orbited a library book. To be specific, if Lesléa Newman’s Heather Has Two Mommies was not censored, then a Christian’s equal rights were under siege.
So for all we might recall and raise a glass to the efforts of zealots whose animus has driven gay rights all the way to the marriage equality threshold, it is also important to remember that the running electoral firefight leading from local supremacist ordinances all the way up to questions of constitutional amendments and open insurrection two decades later all started with a book that bigoted parents didn’t like.
There is, then, some symbolic value in this latest tale whispering up out of Efland, North Carolina.
‘Round and ’round, back to where we started.
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Biesecker, Michael. “Teacher resigns after reading students book about gay couple “. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 16 June 2015.
Lisa Keating needs your attention, and she needs it right now:
Six months ago, our 10-year-old began to identify as transgender. This after spending years trying to explain it and find a way to fit in at school and society at large. I’ve written extensively on this process and our experiences, as a family with the intention to give a voice to other families and children like ours.
It is fair, even in the most progressive of families, to pause and take in the Holy shit! moment; this isn’t going to be easy, you know?
There was a lot of anxiety leading up to the first day of school for all of us. Earlier that month Morgan was creating dance videos wearing a sarong. Bouncing over to me to say, “Mama, when I’m wearing this [sarong] I want you to call me Stella and when I’m wearing regular clothes call me Morgan.” I didn’t think much of it naturally saying yes. When my husband came home from work he got the same request. With a slightly, curious raised eyebrow Dmitri agreed. Little did we know that was the beginning of the end for the name Morgan.
You might be asking yourself, “Isn’t Morgan a unisex name?” We tried that argument and were met with complete resistance followed with the proclamation, “Stella would have been what you called me if I were born a girl.” Along with a “take that” type of attitude with a dash of Tweener.
On the first day of school Stella was very nervous and didn’t know which name she wanted to go by. It was a new class, new teacher and none of her good friends were there. She was friendly with many of them just not friends. As we drove to school, I told her to follow her heart, it’s her compass and trust herself.
No, really. Just read.
And then raise a glass: Thank you, Ms. Keating. It means everything in the world to all of us. And even from states away, you have more than either of us can guess at your back.
And we will stand. We will speak. We will fight. And we will win.
For Stella, and all her brothers and sisters.
And for those who did not, or will not, make it through.
This isn’t over, but we are so … almost … there.
Hang on, everyone. Just a little longer.
Thank you, madam.
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Keating, Lisa. “The Mother Of A 10-Year-Old Transgender Daughter Sounds Off On The Significance Of Her Child’s Journey”. The Huffington Post.
This Is 