https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
This post/poem is repeated on my
general blog.
Ignorance is a darkness from which
we can only hope to be rescued by the dawning of enlightenment’ the irony
being, that relatively few of us recognize ignorance when it is staring us in
the face so will not accept that they need rescuing. My parents were of a
generation brought up to believe the worst of same sex relationships, and
passed these stereotypical sentiments on to me. I, hated the closet darkness
imposed, but lacked a mentor to show me that these sentiments were simply
untrue and I had no need to feel ashamed because I am gay. The dawn of
enlightenment was a long time coming for me, and I did not come out to the
world as a gay man until my mid-thirties.
The Department of Education here has
finally seen the light too, and any school curriculum (from 2020) will need to
include LGBT issues in a sensitive but realistic context of teaching education,
even at primary school level. I would hate any child to go through what I went
through so I applaud this step in the right direction. Sadly, many parents are
demonstrating against this, at various school gates, on religious grounds.
One parent recently put it to me
that it was wrong to put ideas into the heads of children “as young as five,
for heaven’s sake!” My answer to that was “Never underestimate a child’s
feelings or assume, as a parent, you know all you need to know about your own
child. Even at 5 years-old, I loved dressing up and pretending I was a fairy or
princess in a fairy tale. No, I did not grow up to be transgender, but I was -
albeit unknowingly – touching base with sexuality; getting in touch with my
feminine side would eventually help me understand that sexuality is not the
prerogative of heterosexuals and, in time, would see me emerge as a gay man.
The parent in question, insisted “that’s all very well, and I’m no homophobe,
but what is a young child to make of being read stories around gender
orientation or same sex relationships?”
I know lesbian and gay partners who
have adopted children, not least to give them a loving, caring upbringing as
opposed to the well-meaning but necessarily detached atmosphere of a Children’s
Home. These children will go to school. One of the wonderful things about
children is that they are entirely without prejudice…unless it has been passed
on to them in the home. It is perfectly feasible that a five-year old with two
mums or dads will be mixing with and chatting away with other children; the
latter may well be fascinated, even excited to discover that such home
situations exist. How sad then that ignorant parents are likely break up such
friendships without giving them a chance to flourish. Some of my best childhood
memories are of children with whom I used to play, including those from the
only black family in our street; any adult prejudices simply went over our
heads.
LGBT relationships have existed in
societies worldwide since the beginning of time, albeit often behind closed
doors; human nature, like nature itself, is – and deserves to be – an open door
through which anyone is free to enter, regardless of culture, religion,
ethnicity or sexuality.
‘How did it happen that their lips
came together? How does it happen that birds sing, that snow melts, that the
rose unfolds, that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees on the
quivering summit of the hill? A kiss, and all was said. - ‘Victor Hugo (Les
Miserables,1862)
“Veil after veil of thin dusky gauze
is lifted, and by degrees the forms and colours of things are restored to them,
and we watch the dawn remaking the world in its antique pattern.”
- Oscar Wilde (The Picture of Dorian Gray. 1890)
- Oscar Wilde (The Picture of Dorian Gray. 1890)
This poem is a villanelle.
WHEN ALL’S SAID AND DONE or L-O-V-E, (HUMAN) RIGHTS OF WAY
Home truths will have their say,
make themselves known,
enlighten us, come dawn of day
Where prejudices holding sway
in the name of (any) religion,
home truths will have their say
Listen, play deaf, come what may,
history will see its tides turn
enlighten us, come dawn of day
No God to whom Believers pray
would have cast the first stone;
home truths will have their say
Human rights, too, deserve a say,
to make themselves known,
enlighten us, come dawn of day
A God of Love has love hold sway
wherever its seeds be sown;
home truths will have their say,
Copyright R. N. Taber, 2019
