Richard AmmonWesthampton, MA – September 30, 2009
Richard Ammon – GlobalGayz.com
The September 27, 2009 New York Times Magazine cover story of a 13 year-old boy who has come out at school is notable in many ways:
-it was published by America’s premier newspaper
-it was made a daring headline story with photos
-it’s about homosexual youth in school
-it is set in conservative Oklahoma
-it includes gay boys and lesbian girls under the age of consent
-it portrays very courageous individuals who risk homophobic behavior
-it also portrays supportive parents, as well as schools and teachers
-it acknowledges that youth well under 18 have romantic and sexual lives
Some readers will say it’s been said before
others will think it’s too aggressive, part of the homosexual agenda
some will not let their children read it
others will gather around it at a parents’ meeting for validation
But one thing the story will not do is persuade believers in sin that same-sex attraction is not a choice. They will continue to believe that sexual orientation is a moral choice and therefore a sinful commission, a volition of behavior. Regardless of the description of children testifying they knew they were gay as young as eleven, the moralists will discredit them and cling to their scriptural position that sexual awakening is somehow proscribed and governed by religious opinion and thus political code – evidenced by some African countries’ currently proposed legislation against homosexuality, adding to the 80+ countries that already criminalize it.
Despite the evidence as depicted in the story that sexuality emerges from the psyche as naturally as pubic hair emerges from the body, the nay-sayers will continue to reject the idea.
There is nothing that can be said using the framework of medical, psychological or spiritual knowledge that will ever cause such people to think differently about human nature. It speaks to the intense grip that ignorance and belief systems have on the human mind even when confronted with obvious testimony to the contrary. Willful ignorance is like willful hate that locks the mind into ‘neurological knot’ in the brain and cannot unwind itself – so tightly that it is willing to become violent, mentally or physically, to assert its false truth.
To counter such ignorance and biased thinking, the truth of these out young gay lives as revealed in the Times story rings of authentic lived-in truth, not a political opinion or dogmatic belief. Real life unfolds in the testimony of these gay youths and over time ‘the truth will out’ as modern society moves into a higher consciousness about human sexuality, beyond the denial-based ideas derived from antiquated books written by mortals who lived in ancient times.
Link to International Gay Youth Organization
Read interview with 14-year old gay boy: “Kids have sexual feelings”
See Age of Consent Index
Also see this recent report: Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Students in Post-Primary Schools – Guidance for Principals and School Leaders
