The mayor of Amsterdam is urging schools to teach young children about homosexuality. According to Mayor Erhard van der Laan, “children hafe to learn that it’s normal in the Netherlands for two men to walk down the street arm in arm. I want to involve schools in that.” The issue is interesting, but shouldn’t there be a prior question: at which age are children capable of understanding the complexity of human relations that ordinarily are not part of their every day life? A second grade child is not dealing with what adults term, “homosexuality.” We need to enter into the mind of a child in order to gain understanding as to how her/his mind interprets what we are teaching.
The adult mind believes all humans should possess rights to marry whom they desire or attend college or secure a job without confronting bigotry. Are those concerns or issues for children? The issue is not whether or not children should learn about homosexuality, but whether they know what the hell you are talking about!!
