Rep. Skelton (D-MO): DADT Repeal Means Talking to Kids About Homosexuality

[racaulk]

Lawmaker Warns "Don't Ask" Repeal Means Talking to Kids About Homosexuality

Conservative Missouri Democrat Rep. Ike Shelton, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said today that the military should keep the "don't ask, don't tell" policy intact in part to avoid parents having to talk to their children about homosexuality.

Congress has moved toward authorizing repeal of the Clinton-era policy, which bans gays from serving openly in the military. The House voted to overturn the law last month.

If a repeal provision gets through the Senate - a fierce fight is expected in the coming months - repeal could go into effect after the conclusion of a Pentagon study ending December 1st and subsequent approval from President Obama and military brass.

According to the Associated Press, Skelton told reporters that repeal of the policy could put families in a difficult position because it could prompt children to ask about homosexuality.

"What do mommies and daddies say to their 7-year-old child?" he asked.

Skelton, one of the 26 Democrats who opposed repeal in the House, added that his "biggest concern are the families."

Link: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20007160-503544.html

So because some parents may not want to have uncomfortable conversations where they would have to tell the truth to their children, we should deny equal treatment and protections to our men and women in uniform? What a completely ridiculous and absurd assertion to make...especially when the person making it is a Democrat.

:eyes:

[SacredCow]

1. Aside from the fact that it's a total bullshit argument....

what the hell is he talking about? how would it prompt more questions than any other homosexuality-related news story? or for that matter- a Focus on the Family brochure that demonizes homosexuals?

:shrug:

[racaulk]

5. For real!

Also, what's so damn hard about telling your children that there are people in the world that are different and that no two people are the same? It's not like that's a new and groundbreaking approach to parenting. I learned that exact same lesson watching "Sesame Street" in the early 1980s. A show that, coincidentally, featured a not-so-ambiguously gay couple.

[SacredCow]

8. I had a gay cousin...

my parents gave me info on a need to know basis. By the time I was old enough to comprehend- they gave me the full run-down and it scarred me for life... :sarcasm: Seriously, I distinctly remember thinking, "Oh. OK. Whatever," and going about my business. They didn't have to explain the concept or mechanics of gay sex to explain homosexuality- and that's the disconnect that so many people seem to have.

If Skelton was being truthful, he'd have said, "It would mean that parents would have to picture two guys going at it, and that's just icky! Ewwwwwww!!!"

[Bill McBlueState]

2. "Don't ask don't tell"

is not a parenting strategy.

[Posteritatis]

7. Skelton missed the memo on that, alas. (nt)

[DURHAM D]

3. It seems to me that kids need to talk to their parents.

Kids are over this issue.

[racaulk]

4. Agreed.

As time marches on, kids coming out while still in school is becoming more and more of a nonissue for their peers. I think the increasing visibility and incidence of gay and lesbian parents is helping this trend as well. There are definitely some parents out there that can use an education from their children in this area!

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Well, most kids. Some are bullies about it and traumatize others. :^(

[MineralMan]

6. Yah...kids are not aware that some people are gay...

You bet.

""What do mommies and daddies say to their 7-year-old child?" he asked. "

Instead, ask them about it. They'll say, "Who cares?"

[ZombieHorde]

10. My wife and I talked about sexual orientation to our daughter when she was eight.

We also explained transgendered people. One of our babysitters is gay and the other is a transgendered male, so the conversation was really easy for all of us.

[Ian David]

11. So, repealing DADT means that parents will have to talk to a seven-year-old about homosexuality...

... because they might someday join the Army when they're 17, where they might have to KILL PEOPLE... and Ike Shelton's problem is with the gay part.

Right.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4tAXnpmFOz8/RtNhgCvcgRI/AAAAAAAABkQ/cGDEH30HZ90/s320/Ike+Skelton+2.jpg
"Son, you might have to take another human life. You might even be killed yourself. But that's not important. I need to tell you that some guys in the Army might look at your penis in the shower."

[Mendocino]

12. Billy now that you're about to

join the post-DADT military, we have to break the news to you, there are people known as homosexuals. They will stare at you in the shower. They will make goo-goo eyes at you. BEWARE

Uh, dad you've been telling me about them since I was five. I'll be cool. Anyway I have something to tell you, I'm gay. Now I can tell the Army too.

[4lbs]

13. Yeah, wow, like it's so difficult to tell the kids "Gays and lesbians are people too."

OOhhh. Wow. That hurt. I was sweating the whole time.

[ShadowLiberal]

14. This just shows how desperate the bigots are for valid sounding reasons to keep DADT in place

The fact that the bigots who support DADT are now going "think of the children and how we'd have to explain it to them" just shows how desperate they are to have an actual argument beyond "gays are bad" to use in the media. The bigots see that the argument about military cohesiveness isn't working, so this is just about their only other argument in favor of DADT beyond simply bashing gays and using that as the justification, which they know won't play well in the media.