Times Are A-changing

Herb Pinney

   My parents were born in the first few years of the 1900s; adding our years together we have covered well over one hundred years of American history, almost half of our national history.  There have been a lot of changes in our lifetime. My mother and her family traveled from Mexico, Missouri, to Great Bend, Kansas, in covered wagons. There has been a major change in dress, transportation, entertainment, and morals since then.

   Early in the 1970s my folks visited us at our home in far south-eastern Texas. We took them to visit our eldest son in New Orleans.  That visit included a walk on the public sidewalk along Bourbon Street.  As we were taking in the sights of this part of the world we passed a table dance club with an opening in the second story wall, and a lady advertising for the nearly nude club swung out of the building on a trapeze swing, clothed mainly with her imagination. My mother about fainted.  This was not a normal sight for a Kansas farm girl. She was sure we should go call the police and report public nudity. It took a black cup of French roasted coffee to calm her down and explain Constitutional freedom of expression; “Yes, Milly, you are no longer in Kansas.”

   I could only imagine how she would have responded to an article in the A section of the Albuquerque Journal of June 12, 2019, entitled, “Drag queens to read for children at library.” This reading program is featuring the Equality New Mexico, an LGBTQ advocacy group. This program is designed for gay males to dress in drag and read gay lifestyle books to children of 3 to 7 years of age. Every moral fiber in me screams, this is wrong!  This group has been given constitutional protection by our allowing the courts to legislate laws.  Yes, the LGBTQ advocacy group now has full freedom of expression, under freedom of speech. They are also forcing us to accept and agree with what they do, even if it is against our moral beliefs. 

   Shelle Sanchez, Director of the Cities Cultural Services that oversees the library, says the program has generated a large volume of calls; most are in favor of the program.  When will we Conservatives learn from the Left?  I am sure the LGBTQ group had their whole group to call in support, while Christians and Conservatives are “too busy” to take a stand.  You can bet that “Kansas Milly” would have called.

   Their stated purpose was to promote diversity. I really am against teaching 3 and 4 year olds about sex of any kind; other than the moral family of accepted sex between mama and daddy. Which behavior has the purpose for young lives that see mama and daddy kissing and hugging to reassure them that our family is safe and secure from divorce. My wife’s and my large family knew there were reasons for our bedroom door to be closed at times; we were “Making love.” That led to 67 years of marriage ending only by death, and happily married children and grandchildren.

   What is the Conservative or Christian that is against this open display of offensive sexual behavior to do? Number one, make your opinion known by calling and addressing the moral problem to those involved. The one thing we don’t want to do is to boycott this kind of program with anger and signs.  This just promotes anger and hatred.

   There is a war going on for the minds of our children, grandchildren, and greatgrands; we Conservatives, and Christian adults are the front line of defense.  It is time for families and churches to counter punch the LGBTQ attack of the drag queens and teach true male and female gender and biblical sexual relations. We can hide our heads in the sand and hope this attack goes away.  The public schools in general are in bed with the LGBTQ Advocacy group. We are heartily out numbered by active numbers—this should not be—there are way more conservatives and Christians than there are LBGTQ members.    

   We are losing the battle for the minds of our progeny; we must wake up!  Our youth are being taught that sex before marriage is normal and accepted; so, “put off getting married and just enjoy premarital sex.” That all love relations are equal and right and acceptable. Before the Senate is HR-5 that will remove any restraints on gender and sexual open practice. It is time you informed yourselves and took a stand. —hp 

Afterword:

   This past Saturday the drag queens showed up at the Albuquerque Public Library with over 300 children ages 3 to 7. They won the children’s hearts and minds by using old youth group or child care group’s sing-a-long songs. Doing exactly what I advised against, one objector came in the gathering room  and began calling the ones leading the program names  and accused them of corrupting the children. The children responded to protect the drag queens, forming a bond between the leaders and the gathering. Once again,  Christians  and conservatives walk away  doing the  anti-Bible thing  with egg on their face. The results, Albuquerque  Journal gave this drag queen program a portion of two A section pages  and color pictures, a positive review;  and the children left  with new friends, a reason in their minds to hate the opposition. I just wonder how many of those children were in Sunday School the next day? How many churches in their neighborhood even offered Sunday School?  Or how many big churches would fill out the paperwork, spend the money to establish a Christian reading room for 3 to 7-year-olds on a following  Saturday?  —hp 

 Afterword 2:

   This hot potato will not go away. The June 29, 2019, edition of World Magazine had an article by Andrée Seu Peterson on page 87, A Mess on the Shelves discussing this. Andrée Seu went into her local library to get a children’s book by  Max Lacado for a puppet program. Even with the librarian’s help, Max was  not found.  He had been replaced by a  number of LBGTQ books, Andrée said. “I grabbed three colorful hardcover books from the LGBTQ display, sat in the kids’ room, and read them one by one:

Transphobia: Deal With It, by J. Wallace Skelton, is a large-picture book that starts with a bang. Certain female students complain to the coach that a trans girl (i.e., biological male child “transitioning” to, or declaring himself, female) on their team has an unfair advantage in competitions. These complainers are schooled in short order. One by one, other unenlightened objections against fellow trans students are set straight. Trans is to be celebrated.

Princess, Princess Ever After, by Katie O’Neill, manages to have it all: LGBTQ, race, and toxic masculinity propaganda packaged in one revisionist knight-in-shining-armor story. A (white and weak) princess named Sadie is rescued by a dashing (black and butch) princess named Amira, and they ride off on Amira’s horse into the sunset and love “ever after,” but not before making a dunce of a boorish and bumbling (white male) prince who is not up to the job of rescuing.” These books we re in hall way racks the kids had to walk around to pass.

  I Googled, “the ALA (American Library Association) official magazine, American Libraries. The home page featured a drag queen in a hot red dress, faux pearls, garishly painted eyes, and a strawberry blond wig, dancing in seductive manner before a roomful of sponge-like 3-year-olds, the caption promising to bring this show on the road to all of America, including “red-state towns like Juneau, Alaska, and Lincoln, Nebraska.”

    What if churches in town like  Las Cruces each took a Saturday kid’s reading time and filled the schedule for the next 52  weeks?   We could freeze out the LBGTQ drag program.  That would require the churches getting off their fat back pockets and getting involved in the culture wars.

   Let me ask a  question, do you think Jesus meant the ones that harmed, or the ones that neglected, when he said, “It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin”? —hp