Blame it on the Children
By Sara Martinez
I’ve always found it odd when people (usually ones attempting to make some “moral point") rally behind the cry, “Think of the children!!” It’s odd because it’s not like we are advocating for some minority group. We’ve all been kids, and when I was one, I was certainly not aware of anyone thinking of me. Generation after generation, people “think of the children!!” in an attempt to shield them from the immoral sins that lie in wait, ready to seduce them. Sometimes, best intentions are at heart—the desire to protect a group that will soon take over the reigns of the world. But, children should really always be in our thoughts and actions subconsciously, in that we should care about what happens to this world in everything that we do, not just in things that could possibly relate to children. I don’t agree that “think of the children!!” should be shouted out every time a moral debate or issue of ‘decency’ comes up, especially because it mostly seems to be something that people use as an excuse to hide behind.
I recently read an article about a couple of girls that were kissing at some baseball game and were told by an usher that what they were doing was inappropriate; they were nearly ejected from the game. One lady made a complaint to the usher that the two were kissing and groping. I’ve read the article a few times, and it really seems as if it was just this one lady and the usher teaming up against this couple. One person can complain about a same sex kiss and immediately action will be taken. (Recently, a hilarious mayonnaise commercial was yanked because a brief kiss between two men caused a ruckus.) Now, I am the first person to make vomit sounds and passive-aggressive faces when there is PDA nearby, so I can see how anyone might be put off by this; however, it’s obviously a gay issue and not a PDA issue, so of course, I am incensed.
The couple maintains that they were only kissing pretty tamely and certainly not groping. There were also other hetero couples around them getting more into it than they were. The usher apparently said to them that there were kids in the thousands-strong crowd, and imagine if the parents would actually have to explain to them what’s going on! (But the kids would automatically know why a man and woman would be making out and groping, obviously.) This usher, who I don’t believe was at work with any children of his/her own, was concerned for what other parents would have to tell their children. I say, yeah, think of the children. Imagine if parents would actually have to explain to their children what’s going on. Imagine that. Kids would grow up to be little humans that know that homosexuality/bisexuality/whatever they are is completely normal and nothing to feel shame about. They could grow up believing that it’s no reason to be treated differently from anybody else. But if we did do that, there would be all those parents and parent-defenders left without a scapegoat for their prejudice.