This book is about two kids who have an uncle that comes to visit for the first time. Their mother tells them that her brother is gay, but she doesn't get a chance to explain. The kids go out in the neighborhood and ask people what being "gay" means. They get the stereotypical responses back such as "it means he's a fag" or "queer" or "they dress up in women's clothes because they want to be woman"...etc. Even when the kids ask their mother if their uncle is married she responds and says "no he's not married, he's actually gay". That statement kind of disturbed me a little bit because I support gay marriage and gay rights. People need to accept it and stop acting like being gay means they are bad people. Anyways, the book continues and the uncle arrives. The kids are surprised to see that he is nothing like they had been told or what they expected. He looked like a normal guy who liked to do normal things. The book illustrates that gay people are just like heterosexuals and it also explains that gay men fall in love with other men instead of women. Also the same for lesbians, except the opposite (women fall in love with other women instead of men). I liked this book because it shows many different stereotypes that ignorant, heterosexual people hold against gay people. I think kids need to read books like these so that when they do meet or see a gay person they understand that they are just like them, NORMAL. This book is controversial because some parents and teachers do not feel comfortable with their kids learning about gay people because they don't believe in it and think that it might turn their child gay....which is ridiculous! I believe that gay people deserve the same rights as everyone else and they shouldn't be discriminated against because of their own personal choices.
It sounds like this book is trying to make gay people more relatable like the book Daddy's Roommate. This book showed lots of things the character's dad did with his roommate (who happened to be another man). I liked how attention is based on realistic activities and not just stereotypes. The main character, Dad, and partner spend time at the park, doing yard work, playing games, and other normal activities heterosexual couples participate in regularly. Being gay doesn't mean you dress in drag and wear sparkly clothes all of the time. I think both of these books help encourage understanding.
ReplyDeleteI think that this book is attempting to shed some of the outrageous stereotyping that the gay community has experienced. I did like your statement about the whole "He's not married, he's gay" thing; I have never read the book, but does it explain to kids about the struggle for gay rights that was happening around the time that book was published or even today in some states? I just wounder if that statement would still be the same today (at least in Iowa).
ReplyDeleteRight on. Homophobia has become a ludicrous epidemic in this country, and why? Ignorance and intolerance. I think that there should be more books like this out there to help educate children, to tell them the truth about being gay. It doesn't mean that you are bad, weird or wrong and the sooner we can break that stereotype the better off we are as a society.
ReplyDelete