ParaNorman has Gay Character

Picture courtesy of http://www.engadget.com 

When I was in college, a Freshman student killed himself because people found out he was gay and he was worried about it getting back home.  Maybe if people were exposed to gay relationships the same way they are exposed to heterosexual relationships and interracial relationships there wouldn’t be so much blind intolerance.

Via Sandra Rose:

Loyal reader Candy Pooh writes:
Hey Auntie,Let me start off by saying that I love love love your site. Keep it up girlfriend. Well I’m writing to you to see if you are interested in posting something about the openly gay character in the children’s movie ParaNorman that was released in theaters this past weekend. My husband and I took our two sons ages 7 and 12 to see it opening day. We were excited that there was a semi-scary movie for kids and thought it would be fun. Well, at the end of the movie a very muscular, yet dingy, male teenaged character was asked out on a date by a boy-crazed teenage girl. His response was that he and his boyfriend would love to go.MY MOUTH IMMEDIATELY FELL OPEN. I was totally not expecting it, and apparently none of the other parents were expecting it either. When we finally realized that our ears were not deceiving us, we all just laughed. I guess once we got over the initial shock that he came out and said that he was gay, we realized that the joke was really funny.I didn’t have a problem with this but apparently there are some parents who were upset about it, including one that I work with. I would love to see what your readers think about gay characters now showing up in children films. A few years back someone told me to look out for the very popular children book that introduces same sex parents. (Mommy and Mommy took Lil Bill to the park type stuff) What are your thoughts?
CandyPooh

Look, I’m not saying that little kids need to be exposed to sex and stuff like that; however, maybe if parents didn’t act like something as innocent as a joke about a teenage boy and his boyfriend going on a date with a teenage girl was such a big deal, then kids wouldn’t think it’s such a big deal.  No one says anything when Disney characters are getting married and sharing beds, oh wait, I forgot, they are heterosexual so it’s ok.