You hear it all the time. It’s the battle cry of the Right who
seek to uphold “traditional family values”. I don’t think I
can go a day without hearing that tired phase: We’re
doing this “for the children”! It sounds so selfless when
said aloud doesn’t it?
One of my favorite recent examples is the Super Bowl
“Boob” incident. People were appalled that children saw
the flash of a breast on national television. I am always
astonished at how these same people who get upset about
the natural state of the human body have no problem
letting their children watch the constant stream of violence
on television — from wrestling to bloody gun battles. My
goodness, what would the children think if they saw a
breast instead of someone getting shot and killed!
I recently watched a report on CNN about a camp in the
Bible Belt that sought to help “confused” teenagers who
thought they were gay. Their parents sent them off to this
happy camp run by a minister, who just a few years before
had renounced his decade-long gay lifestyle. The
program averages 4-6 kids at a time. They encourage kids
to keep journals about their feelings and then they share
them with the group. They are then informed why God
doesn’t approve of those sorts of feelings. The Minister in
charge claims that doing this builds the kids’ self-esteem.
It’s all done “for the children” so they won’t suffer eternal
damnation. It of course has nothing to do with the parents
who, when interviewed, admitted they were forcing their
kid to go to this camp, and said they would never accept
their child unless they gave up the gay lifestyle.
The most recent case here in Oregon is the Gay Marriage
issue. Over and over, the only two justifications that the
religious right could offer was some Biblical quote or the
claim they were protecting children from gay parents.
After all, who would dare put children in danger?
Actually, the fact is society does this daily. While they like
to make the claim they are protecting children, the reality
is they do very little to help those children who really
need it.
So how do we REALLY show how much children mean in
this country, especially here in Oregon? Well, the latest
poverty numbers are in and Oregon ranks 30th among the
50 states on that issue. In Oregon, 41 percent of children
are living in such conditions — compared to 39 percent
nationally.
Thirty-six percent of Oregon children live in families
where neither of their parents have found full-time, yearround
employment. This is above the national average of
32 percent.
Just this week we found out that Wal-Mart, which claims
to uphold “traditional morals and values”, has pretty
much given up the idea of building a store here in Albany.
This is perhaps the best thing the city could have done for
local children. In Georgia, more than 10,000 children of
Wal-Mart employees are in the state run health-care
program, which costs that state’s taxpayers nearly $10
million a year. A New York Times report found that 31
percent of the patients at a North Carolina hospital were
Wal-Mart employees.
If people really gave a damn about the children, we would
have all the money needed for education. We would have
medical coverage not just for children, but for their
parents on who they depend. We would have companies
that hired full time, not 29-hours-a-week in an effort to get
around paying benefits. Companies like Wal-Mart would
be made to care about their employees as much as they
claim they do in their commercials.
If people were really interested in “the children” they
would care more about them being adopted into loving
families and not care about what the parents did in the
privacy of their bedroom. These people would rather see
children languish in group homes rather than have a gay
couple adopt them.
Wouldn’t it be nice if people truly did do things “for the
children” and not use these young innocents as a rallying
cry for their greed and bigotry? Talk is cheap — let’s see
these people start putting their money where their mouth
is! Let’s see these people stop complaining when schools
ask for more money. Let’s see these people stop shopping
at Wal-Mart and demand they start paying benefits. Let’s
see these people start supporting loving relationships
between gay couples. Let’s REALLY start doing things
“for the children”!
[Some of the above data comes from Kids Count Data Book
released by the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation. Their
information comes from the 2000 Census and other Census Bureau
data, along with state records.]
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Angela C. Byers
Copyright © 1996 - 2006 Angela C. Byers