Originally Posted by Niall (Post 6773609)

I know, and that's completely disgusting too. But just because it's a religion doesn't mean it should be condoned. I actually think it's even more wrong to let them fester with such toxic opinions given the wide spectrum of people they influence - and I don't just single out the Catholic Church in this, I used it as an example because it's the one I'm most closely acquainted with.

It just really irks me to see groups get carte blanche over these matters just because they believe 'God says so'. Especially given the fact that in another 100 years they'll only adopt the views of wider society anyway.

Originally Posted by Niamh. (Post 6775295)

aw that's awful Ammi, my kids have been aware of homosexuality since they were quite young and neither of them would bat an eyelid at a gay couple or think there was anything strange about gay marriage and I think that's the right way to go about things and to really nip homophobia in the bud

Originally Posted by the truth (Post 6775318)

lets hope Christians get as much leeway to express themselves too

Originally Posted by Niamh. (Post 6775320)

Well, their schools are Catholic run (as are 90 odd percent of all schools in Ireland) so yeah they get to express themselves plenty

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet (Post 6775336)

90 %?

That is sickening

Originally Posted by the truth (Post 6775318)

lets hope Christians get as much leeway to express themselves too

Originally Posted by Ammi (Post 6775340)

..yeah they do, all religions do even though it's a Christian school, we teach all different religions... when we meet someone and marry them, we kind of take it for granted that we don't have to hide that from anyone and can 'celebrate' it by talking openly about our partners and it's wrong that, that doesn't apply to everyone equally...

Originally Posted by Ammi (Post 6775266)

..yeah, sorry if I seemed as though I was getting on my high horse a bit there because I really wasn't...

Originally Posted by Ammi (Post 6775266)

hmmm, it's actually less to do with religion specifically but more of a worrying prejudice that is being carried through generations...at school, we had two marriages in the same year, one heterosexual and one homosexual and the heterosexual one/member of staff is allowed to say, hey this is my intended OH/who I married and introduce them as such to the children..but the homosexual/member of staff isn't allowed to say anything other than ..this is a friend....I know that the children we have are very young to understand sex very much but that would be the same if it was sex between a heterosexual couple or a homosexual couple... so no one is talking about sex as such, just a marriage between two people who love each other..even pre-school children understand weddings and brides/grooms etc and what their perceptions of them are..anyway, so long as male/female marriages carry on being portrayed as the 'norm'/and as the only thing young children are given as 'examples', prejudice and intolerance will continue on and on..as they get older, some views and minds will be 'educated' but unfortunately others won't because they will stay with what was instilled in them from an early age....

Originally Posted by the truth (Post 6775353)

im glad gay people have equal rights. but the whole subject does bore me to death. hopefully we can all know move on and get on with far more urgent matters, starting with the grotesque NHS cover ups in wales.

Originally Posted by Niamh. (Post 6775295)

aw that's awful Ammi, my kids have been aware of homosexuality since they were quite young and neither of them would bat an eyelid at a gay couple or think there was anything strange about gay marriage and I think that's the right way to go about things and to really nip homophobia in the bud

Originally Posted by Niamh. (Post 6775339)

mmm I think it's something like 96%, which is crazy, it gives you very little options when you're sending your kids to school

Originally Posted by daniel-lewis-1985 (Post 6775731)

That's good to hear, hopefully the majority of this generations parents are doing the same as you and homosexuals in school will be seen as regular kids and not the *gay kid.

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier (Post 6775827)

My kids have a set of gay "uncles" (one of my best friends from school, rather than an actual sibling) so for them it's definitely completely normal. I think it's changing all the time. People being openly gay at highschool age was quite rare even when I was there (10-15 years ago), my friend didn't even become openly gay until just after school (although, we all knew anyway). But my sister in law who is just 18 now had several gay friends through high school. It seems to be pretty abnormal for modern teens NOT to have openly gay friends in their group. So I reckon when today's teens are old and grey, the landscape will look very different.

Originally Posted by daniel-lewis-1985 (Post 6775847)

I hate to say it but its trye when I was in high school 12 years ago I picked on the gay kid just because my mates did which is an arsehole thing to do.

Didn't properly come out till I was 22 could never have done it back then. I think people were more afraid of turd burglars than the millennium bug.

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier (Post 6775819)

We have a friend affected by this predicament over in ROI. She isn't religious and isn't raising her daughter Catholic, she went to Catholic school herself and hates everything about it, but there are very few options for her. All of the local schools are Catholic run (within a radius of dozens of miles) and the only other option is home-schooling, which would be financially impossible.

I would feel horribly trapped in that situation. There's no way I'd send my kids into a religious education system, but home schooling wouldn't be logistically feasible... No idea how I'd get around it, actually.

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet (Post 6776944)

I hope everyone watched Rev last night, it was all about Gay marriage in church

Originally Posted by Livia (Post 6776949)

You know it wasn't a documentary... right?

Originally Posted by Niamh. (Post 6776942)

It is tough, there is a non denominational school in the city but logistically speaking it would be a nightmare and also, I wanted to send my kids to school locally so they have friends in the area and find it easier to get involved in local activities because they know all the kids around. The government are apparently trying to phase out "state" run catholic schools but it's a very slow process and a mammoth task really consider that almost all the schools in Ireland need changing

Originally Posted by Cherie (Post 6777064)

So did you kids take First Communion and Confirmation Niamh or did you opt out?

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier (Post 6775819)

We have a friend affected by this predicament over in ROI. She isn't religious and isn't raising her daughter Catholic, she went to Catholic school herself and hates everything about it, but there are very few options for her. All of the local schools are Catholic run (within a radius of dozens of miles) and the only other option is home-schooling, which would be financially impossible.

I would feel horribly trapped in that situation. There's no way I'd send my kids into a religious education system, but home schooling wouldn't be logistically feasible... No idea how I'd get around it, actually.

Originally Posted by Niamh. (Post 6777067)

They did them which I feel completely hypocritical about but I didn't want them to feel different to everyone else in the school. It's bad I know.

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier (Post 6775819)

We have a friend affected by this predicament over in ROI. She isn't religious and isn't raising her daughter Catholic, she went to Catholic school herself and hates everything about it, but there are very few options for her. All of the local schools are Catholic run (within a radius of dozens of miles) and the only other option is home-schooling, which would be financially impossible.

I would feel horribly trapped in that situation. There's no way I'd send my kids into a religious education system, but home schooling wouldn't be logistically feasible... No idea how I'd get around it, actually.

Originally Posted by Cherie (Post 6777091)

[/B]


So what would you do if (in this scenario you are unable to home school and private schooling is not an option :D:) the two schools available to you were

(a) a failing non denominational school or

(b) a high flying religious school