Getting down with the boys.

[Fragony]

Sigh.....it just never stops. german 14 year olds get an important new discipline at school, how to pick up gays. Of course this is to ehhhhh, I really dunno

We are all homosexuals, let's not be gay about it.

[Fragony]

Oh yeah, background. Well we aren't talking about gay children here, but (still) heterosexual kids. They have to roleplay, a game where they pick up gay people. Hold hands and such. Maybe a peck on the cheek? A hand on the knee? These skills must be carefully nursed after all. Nope, no pressure whatsoever

Soooooooo this is all good again huh?

[Banquo's Ghost]

Oh yeah, background. Well we aren't talking about gay children here, but (still) heterosexual kids. They have to roleplay, a game where they pick up gay people. Hold hands and such. Maybe a peck on the cheek? A hand on the knee? These skills must be carefully nursed after all. Nope, no pressure whatsoever

Soooooooo this is all good again huh?

Honestly Fragony, you need to relax.

Homosexual preference is an inbuilt drive. It cannot be learned or imposed.

If that were the case, the entire US Penitential system would be turning out ex-convicts with an excellent fashion sense who immediately turned to flower-arranging and singing a capella on release.

[Fragony]

Honestly Fragony, you need to relax.

Homosexual preference is an inbuilt drive. It cannot be learned or imposed.

Then what purpose does this serve, let's start there. What has this to do with raising awareness, that is the aim of course. When I get kids I send them to Saudi Arabia.

[Banquo's Ghost]

Then what purpose does this serve, let's start there. What has this to do with raising awareness, that is the aim of course.

One would imagine it helps young people normalise the sight of same-sex couples. In an ideal world, they wouldn't need the roleplay to do this because gay people would not be demonised and children would be exposed to so many negative stereotypes.

Personally, I don't think the roleplay process you have described has much value, but I am certain it won't turn a potentially heterosexual child into a homosexual one, any more than making the little girls and little boys hold hands in pairs will make them turn out to be happily married hetero couples.

Crikey, in my day (very dim and distant past ) any contact with girls was explicitly frowned upon, and before the age of about eleven, my friends and I would have avoided touching girls like the plague. The nuns told us that girls were pretty close to the spawn of the devil. Such indoctrination didn't linger long after normal proclivities kicked in.

You can't tell someone what their sexuality must be. You can impose prejudices and strictures to confine people to a societal norm and make them very unhappy.

I simply don't see why you feel so threatened by people expressing themselves. Since homosexuals don't appear to be mandating you to follow their choices (in marked contrast to your apparent position) what's the problem? I have several gay friends, two of whom chatted me up before we became friends. I took it as a compliment. Never once did I feel threatened in my own sexuality by them, their friends, or the parties they took me to.

I don't understand the fears, truly. I'd like to try and get my head round it, if you will try and explain.

[Fragony]

I don't understand the fears, truly. I'd like to try and get my head round it, if you will try and explain.

Well a school should teach math and things like that, not force kids to hold hands and force them to act like gays. Just getting a bit too much. Here we have gay people that just tell about it in front of the class, that is good. This is not, it's pushy, patronising to the extreme, and it just serves zero purpose.

[Strike For The South]

wow. If someone tried to do that here he would get pumped full of lead. Good to see yall are so progressive

[Ser Clegane]

Oh yeah, background. Well we aren't talking about gay children here, but (still) heterosexual kids. They have to roleplay, a game where they pick up gay people. Hold hands and such. Maybe a peck on the cheek? A hand on the knee? These skills must be carefully nursed after all. Nope, no pressure whatsoever

Soooooooo this is all good again huh?

You got that from the B.Z.?

[Fragony]

You got that from the B.Z.?

Nope here.

http://www.hln.be/hlns/cache/det/art...bron=homeArt11

This Jürgen Zöllner, who is he? He gay himselve or just an activist? Would be very interested to know.

[Ser Clegane]

he is the senator for education, science and research in the Berlin government

[Fragony]

From the social democratic party, who would have thought. Well he isn't the one behind it, school itselve, no bigger idiots then idiots that work on schools. So is this actually true because I can hardly believe it. Would also be nice for those that are no doubt going to defend this that they aren't defending a hoax.

[Ser Clegane]

So is this actually true because I can hardly believe it. Would also be nice for those that are no doubt going to defend this that they aren't defending a hoax.

The only news source I found this mentioned in is the B.Z. (your Dutch article also seems to be based on the B.Z. article as it basically seems to be a summarized version).
I am not sure how relevant this really is as the article only refers to learning materials that are offered by the "Intitute for School and Media Berlin-Brandenburg" and are recommended for students in 9th grade and upwards - so these are materials that could be used by schools in Berlin and Brandenburg. The article gives no information about any schools that actually use these materials and I doubt that these roleplays are part of the mandatory curriculum.

Considering the nature of the B.Z. it is not unlikely that this is actually a non-issue.

I have to admit though that in 9th grade I would not have been particularly happy to participate in such roleplays (the B.Z. article shows to examples of the situations for the roleplays).

[Husar]

That's very nice, kinda aestethic. Now if it were two men I'd think exactly the opposite.

What does that tell us?(apart from the fact that I'm not asexual...)