Teacher at Mich. school takes "gay" out of "Deck the Halls"

[booksnbeats]

The war on Christmas continues! But now it's also anti-gay!

Link here: http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/michigan-school-don-we-now-our-conservative-censored-apparel/news/2011/12/05/31250#.Tt1RzNWvl2I

The “War On Christmas†has taken a new turn, into the war on “gay apparel,†thanks to a teacher at Traverse City, Michigan’s Cherry Knoll Elementary School, which has censored the word “gay†from the song, “Deck The Halls,†a sixteenth century Welsh song with some lyrics from the nineteenth century.

In other words, for 500 years, “Don we now our gay apparel†was just fine, but now that conservatives are at the helm, we wouldn’t want children to think their clothes had a sexual orientation not approved by them.

This is so ludicrous and goes right to the heart of both what’s wrong with anti-​gay conservatives, and the fact that people paid to teach children refuse to teach children.

Was it just a little too much to bear to respond to a six-​year old’s question, which no doubt has been voiced about a gazillion times, “what’s gay apparel?â€

Was it too hard to say, “festive�

Dan Savage notes, “Someone had to straighten out that carol — can’t have children donning gay apparel.â€

Some folks on Facebook are a little peeved — and rightly (or, leftly, I suppose) so, leaving these comments on the school’s page:

“This is a joke right? It’s like a bad SNL skit.â€

“maybe next time we can trust our youth enough to have a conversation with them. imagine what could happen if we had a dialog and were able to truly listen. lets try teaching instead of indoctrinating.â€

“You are seriously messed up if you think gay apparel in that seasonal song is referring to homosexual. Truly sick people.â€

“T’was three weeks before Christmas, and all through the school

Smart folks were calling that principal “foolâ€.

The Fundies were lurking and fearful that SIN

Would frighten their children and come creeping in.â€

“While you’re at it could you please drop “cherry†out of the name of your school, as it is far too provocative a term to use around children. Ridiculous.â€

Apparently, the censorship came from the schools music teacher, and a parent alerted the principal, who is going back to respecting 500 years of Holiday tradition.

The music teacher substituted the word “bright†for “gay,†in teaching students the lyrics. I suppose there’s some solace in being called “brightâ€â€¦

For those of you less afraid of gay apparel, here are the words:

Deck the halls with boughs of holly,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

’Tis the season to be jolly,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Don we now our gay apparel’

Fa la la, la la la, la la la.

Troll the ancient Yule tide carol,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

See the blazing Yule before us,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Strike the harp and join the chorus.

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Follow me in merry measure,

Fa la la, la la la, la la la.

While I tell of Yuletide treasure,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Fast away the old year passes,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Hail the new, ye lads and lasses,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Sing we joyous, all together,

Fa la la, la la la, la la la.

Heedless of the wind and weather,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

[CanadianHippie]

Ok, now it's gone beyond crazy to stupidly insane crazy.

[library_youth]

Being a lifelong Michigander, I was interested to see what part of Michigan this was. Not surprised to see it's Traverse City. It's a pretty right-wing area.

My husband's aunt, uncle and their kids live there and they're quite conservative in their beliefs. When we visited with them recently, their teenage daughter was wearing a pro-life t-shirt with a picture of a fetus on it and the words "I AM A PERSON" underneath it. Their teenage son refers to Democrats as "Democraps." :roll:

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Perhaps someone is trolling the ancient Yuletide carol a bit much over there?

I agree, it does sound like a bad SNL skit.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Their teenage son refers to Democrats as "Democraps." :roll:

Heh. I've heard "Demoncraps" here in Illinois, myself...

[Crackedeggs]

I call em Demokins and Republicrats. I really hate the two party system, it allows for no shades of grey, and they just pit us against each other. Meantime congress, senators, and corporate criminals of both varieties laugh all the way to the bank.

[browncoatslytherin]

*shakes head* so we can't censor anything christian about the holiday season, but they can censor whatever the hell they want?? does. not. make. sense.

[dirtyhippiegirl]

Pff. Isn't it a rite of passage as a child to snicker at that particular line? "Heh, heh, gay apparel."

[ladypuglover]

Pff. Isn't it a rite of passage as a child to snicker at that particular line? "Heh, heh, gay apparel."

:lol: I think so. ;)

Now, I have a question for everyone, is there really such thing "gay" clothes? Other than backless chaps, I'm not seeing anyone wearing "gay" clothing. :roll: Hmmm now I want to find that good looking gay man who wears assless pants but I doubt he is weaing them in our single digit weather. :(

[Wolfie]

Pff. Isn't it a rite of passage as a child to snicker at that particular line? "Heh, heh, gay apparel."

Yeah, I avoid songs with "gay" in it as much as possible, simply to avoid the snickers. But they do occasionally show up, and it's not because I don't like them. (I would not change the words) But I teach in a strange area where the white families are mainly very conservative, and then there is a large immigrant population, that still has the traditional "values" from their country since there is such a large population. The anti LGBT in the area is really sad.

(Of course I've looked at a middle schooler who called somebody a faggot, then told them the original meaning of the word and asked if he really meant that the person should be burned? I am not sure if it stopped it, but hopefully it put some thoughts in the child's brain.)

[fundiefan]

About ten years or so ago, my niece's school did the same thing. They claimed they took 'gay' out and made it 'bright' for teh gays. They claimed they didn't want the kids thinking that the word gay in the song meant the same as gay means now and they were hoping to avoid 'teaching' them that teh gays wore a certain type of apparel. Or, some such stupid thing. I don't honestly remember their circular, not very well disguised reasoning.

Surprisingly - seriously surprising for this totally conservative, snooty suburb (it happens to be where I live now, in an apartment, but at the time I didn't. And, even though I live here to be near my family, I still think of it as a conservative, snooty suburb. It is, in fact, among the snootiest suburbs of the wealthiest county in the state and it is about as stereo-typical as you can get)...anyway. Surprisingly, the parents kind of had a fit and had petitions going and such and by the next Christmas, there were no more changes to song lyrics.

[IrishRose]

dirtyhippiegirlwrote:

Pff. Isn't it a rite of passage as a child to snicker at that particular line? "Heh, heh, gay apparel."

Yes..it's definitely a rite of passage. I've never heard of someone taking "gay" out of "Deck the Halls," but they took "gay" out and put "fun" in the song "Kokoberra" when I was in elementary choir. The line was "gay your life must be" and they changed it to "fun your life must be."

LadyPugLover wrote:

I think so.

Now, I have a question for everyone, is there really such thing "gay" clothes? Other than backless chaps, I'm not seeing anyone wearing "gay" clothing. Hmmm now I want to find that good looking gay man who wears assless pants but I doubt he is weaing them in our single digit weather.

Assless chaps are the only thing I can think of. I mean obviously people can take normal clothes and make them look gay like Nathan Lane's outfits in The Birdcage when he wasn't in drag. One of the arguments at my old job about my old boss was he didn't dress nice enough to be gay (most of the staff thought he was gay including me...major gaydar ping...heck, my hubby who has no gaydar thought my boss was gay the first time he met him) but he isn't out. I don't know what dressing nice enough to be gay means...you know? Some gay men have fabulous style and others don't although I personally thought (and think) my old boss looked great...but then again my usband says I'm attracted to gay men too. Not attracted to, they're just usually damn good looking, you know? At least the ones I know personally and the celebs I like.

[emmiedahl]

I learned the Kookaburra song, with the line "gay your life must be". I don't see the big deal; let the kids snigger and give them stink-eye. By the time they are adults, it's not funny anymore. Do we have to be modest in speech as well now?

[O Latin]

Oh, for the love of heaven and earth. :roll: Why not use that as a way to talk about how the meanings of words can change over time? It drives me absolutely nucking futs when people change the words to traditional songs, usually to make them more politically correct (like changing "mankind" to "human kind" or something. Can't we just accept that people saw things differently X number of years ago, and that is reflected in things like song lyrics? Sorry for the mini-rant, but this is a major pet-peeve of mine. I like my hymns and carols in their original(ish) form, thank you.

Oh, and "festive" doesn't fit with the tune.

[FJismyheadship]

Did you guys see the Fundie comment??? I wonder who wrote that haha

[JesusFightClub]

Pff. Isn't it a rite of passage as a child to snicker at that particular line? "Heh, heh, gay apparel."

Yes! ;)

Or to sing that bit about a *hundred* times louder than the rest..."our GAAAAAAY apparel...."

Some people never grow out of this. We like a good rendition of the Internationale at my house, and we use the version with the line "and at last ends the age of cant". And what does "cant" sound a bit like....? ;)

Some comrades are more easily amused than others. I think it's fair to say that a room of people howling "THE AAAAAGE OF C*NT!!!!" and then falling about laughing has featured in my life more than it should have.

[Aurora]

Yes! ;)

Or to sing that bit about a *hundred* times louder than the rest..."our GAAAAAAY apparel...."

Some people never grow out of this. We like a good rendition of the Internationale at my house, and we use the version with the line "and at last ends the age of cant". And what does "cant" sound a bit like....? ;)

Some comrades are more easily amused than others. I think it's fair to say that a room of people howling "THE AAAAAGE OF C*NT!!!!" and then falling about laughing has featured in my life more than it should have.

Oh, I thought that was gonna be the age of camp!

[Brainsample]

:lol: I think so. ;)

Now, I have a question for everyone, is there really such thing "gay" clothes? Other than backless chaps, I'm not seeing anyone wearing "gay" clothing. :roll: Hmmm now I want to find that good looking gay man who wears assless pants but I doubt he is weaing them in our single digit weather. :(

Should Gay Paris be banned? Or the film for kids, Gay Purr-ee, the animated film with the voice of Judy Garland from the '60s? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_Purr-ee

Deck the Halls is a little funny, too. I remember silly jokes going around in elementary school about hitting people in the halls, beating on the walls, putting decking on the walls...

[tabitha2]

I think the Flintstones theme should banned...They were having a gay old time together remember.

[crazyforkate]

We once did a version of "Someone's in the Kitchen With Dinah" with extended verses, and one of the lines was "playing on the cymbals gay". The music teacher would scream, "AND REMEMBER, EVERYONE, GAY HAS TWO MEANINGS!!!!!!!!", which would only make us laugh more because she looked so desperate.