So my little sister aged 5 is in a church school and I really don’t want religion influencing her too much. I really don’t want the house becoming even more conservative and I do intend on coming out eventually. I was a shitty person because of religion and I don’t want them to go through that too. I just want to be a good influence.

Anything I can do to prevent her becoming extremely bigoted?

    •  Gaywallet (they/it)   ( @Gaywallet@beehaw.org ) 
      9•1 year ago

      Child accessible media - most modern animated shows for children have LGBTQ+ rep and will likely fly under the radar of even watchful parents. You can also have discussions with her to help frame things more appropriately if you’re around when someone presents a bigoted opinion you can make small remarks like ‘that doesn’t seem very loving to me’. You could also ask accepting religious denominations like the universal life church how to best help a kid, they probably have a bunch of resources available.

        •  Cade   ( @cadeje@beehaw.org ) 
          7•1 year ago

          I’m no expert on children’s programming, but my partner likes watching it. Pro-LGBTQ+ shows (according to him) include Craig of the Creek, Stephen Universe, Adventure Time, and Owl House. Cartoon Network ends up being more loose about LGBTQ+ representation than Disney, though some shows on Disney have had a lot of wink-wink-this-is-queer stuff.

          I would probably get into the habit of teaching her to question things she’s told. A big problem I faced as I got older is the unquestioning acceptance of blatantly false “truths” that took me a while to re-evaluate. Learning critical thinking goes a loooooong way.

          •  archaeoraptor   ( @archaeoraptor@beehaw.org ) 
            5•1 year ago

            I’ve never personally watched Steven Universe, but my understanding (supported by my boyfriend who did watch it) is that the queer rep comes in three categories:

            • Members of an all-female alien species have romantic relationships with each other. Aspects of these relationships are allegorical for challenges faced by queer people (for example, the “purist” aliens persecute the romantic aliens because of their relationships), but the characters in-universe don’t explicitly acknowledge the relationships as queer.
            • Word-of-god from the creator that is not explicitly acknowledged in the text - for example, that a character is nonbinary.
            • Under-the-radar references that would be easily missed by a conservative who didn’t know what to look for.

            For that reason, Steven Universe might be an easier sell for conservative parents, especially for your sister. (I could see some parents getting upset at their son watching a “girly” show - presumably that’s not an issue for you here.)

            I’ve watched all of Owl House and loved it. Spoilers below about the nature of the queer representation, for those who want to watch it (which I highly recommend!).

            spoiler

            The earliest representation I remember is a few episodes in where a mainish character mentions her two dads, which everyone treats as very normal. They don’t come up often, but you can’t forget about them either. Later on in the second season (I believe), the main character starts a same-gender relationship that continues to the end of the series and is much more visible on screen (hugging, kissing). I don’t remember the characters specifically talking about the queerness of the relationship very much, but they do come out as bi in a montage in season 3. Mentioning it because if your parents heavily monitor her media consumption, that might be a riskier bet.