Dylan McEwan

Period 5
Tradition, LGBT, and NAMBLA
On December 1st, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white
man after being asked by the bus driver to stand. There were more white
passengers than white seats so the driver had to ask 4 people in the color section to
stand. 3 complied and stood, except Rosa Parks. She believed she shouldnt have to
give up her seat for a white man because she considered them equal to her and
that she was equal to them.
This was against tradition so much so that she was arrested. On the bright
side, this lead to a boycott that would be a leaping step for independent rights and
equality in America. This was completely against tradition but in the end, it worked
out. The same issue lies in the LGBT community. It is against tradition, but people
stood up for that they believed in and eventually it all worked out. The list goes on
and on. I am very sure that in a couple years, we will see another revolution within
our culture.
But, there is a downside. As rules and tradition get looser, they begin to
merge. Eventually we could be looking at a single culture which puts our society at
a very big disadvantage. I heard this theory that is kind of hard to listen to, but it
makes sense and is kind of scary. If we go back many years, being gay or lesbian
was very out of the norm, illegal, and frowned upon. Obviously very taboo. There is
something called NAMBLA. This stands for North American Men and Boys Love
Association. Basically, NAMBLA is a pedophile and pederasty advocacy organization
in the United States. It works to abolish age-of-consent laws criminalizing adult
sexual involvement with minors and campaigns for the release of men who have
been jailed for sexual contacts with minors that did not involve coercion. This is a
very real and scary thing. I am not saying in any way that the LGBT community has
ANY correlation with this group, but it is scary knowing that they maintain the exact
same argument. It is not a decision or their choice, you are born this way. Very
controversial stuff but they follow the same arguments and reasoning that the LGBT
community follows. Obviously these ideals and motives the NAMBLA organization
follows are out of the norm, illegal, and frowned upon and all this universal talk
about equality and love is love makes it scary to think that we may be going down
the same path.
As walls of tradition continue to be broken down, how long will it take until we
have crossed the line? Obviously we will never cross the line since after every wall
we break down, we draw a new one. I hope this added some perspective to the
importance of tradition.

*DISCLAIMER* dont get any ideas. I do not follow the NAMBLA organization
whatsoever. I do support the LGBT community in its entirety.