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These Kids Are Screwed, But They’re Smiling About It

To be honest, it makes me wonder whether their parents are just trying to sabotage them. Why else would you go out of your way to teach your kids to hate like this? The photos here were taken from this rather upsetting post, where Matt Stopera asked the youngsters demonstrating against marriage equality to write down why they thought marriage should only be between one woman and one man. First things first: a little humor to lighten the situation, because that’s the best way to deal with the sort of anger I feel about this. (All captions are solely the inappropriate ramblings of my own mind.)

“One man and one women” – I think you are a little confused over the use of the singular versus the use of the plural. Get it straight – you should be good at that.

Aside from the unfortunate eye-make-up (ewww indeed – and we will never help you out with that if you don’t change your hateful ways) here is another instance of that tricky woman/women confusion. One would think that, being so staunchly against being with another woman, she would be less confused.

You know he’s on FaceBook angering everyone with this sort of misplaced-apostrophe madness.

Wait, marriage unites parents to their children? Umm, no. “Marriage is a child-centered institution, not an adult-centered one…”? Okay, that’s gross, and you are dumb.

Bitch, please. (What? She can call her Dad a ‘Queen’ but I can’t call her a bitch?)

YOLO? In your case, here’s hoping…

Oh you poor thing, it’s spelled “marriage”. And “believe” – look, you even got it right the first time!

Everyone makes mistakes.

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Now onto some slightly more serious commentary on these photos. They’re sad, disturbing, infuriating, and insulting on a number of levels. First and foremost, if you’re teaching your kids to hate like this, they’re going to have pretty miserable lives. I don’t care how much they’re smiling now, they’re in for a rough ride. Along those lines, if this is how you prepare your kids for the real world, they’re going to be in even deeper trouble. (Unless you’re going to work in a church, reciting Bible verses will get you nowhere.) But more troubling than that, an attitude of exclusion and narrow-minded thinking will set you even further back. We’re already starting to lag behind the rest of the world on this issue.

Finally, in what may be most damaging for the children here, consenting to have your picture taken with such signs will have lasting effects. These pictures are going to be their legacy. It will be a legacy of intolerance and ignorance. It will be a legacy of hate. These smiling portraits of active suppression will be their lasting contribution to the world. From this moment forward these photos will live on – in posts like this, on people’s hard drives, on FaceBook – and they will never be completely eradicated. They have cemented their status of being on the wrong side of history. Their own children may one day look with shame upon these pictures, wondering at how the mother or father they loved so much could put forth such hateful words against innocent people they never even met.

As upset as this makes me, as wrong and ignorant as it is, it won’t change my love or affect my future. It’s only going to affect theirs. That’s the saddest thing of all.

UPDATE:

The best rebuttal ever, by the pro-marriage-equality side, when asked to write a message to those who oppose marriage equality. (I don’t even need to correct – or add – anything, and it was much classier than mine.)

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