To me childhood should be a time of innocence. There is no pressing national need to lower the age of exposure to the seamy underbelly
Yes and no. You've had kids, so you know that what happens is you watch them closely and make judgment calls on when they're ready to learn about what.
I never really cared about whether my kids knew where their Christmas presents came from, except inasmuch as "Santa" could be leveraged to make them behave in the midst of their extended family trying to spoil them. If my kids asked me where babies come from, I forthrightly told them, though I didn't get into the details of sexual attraction and what intercourse is like because they'll find that out on their own in just a few years. My kids have asked me why we have wars, and I try not to answer with silly platitudes like "because there's bad guys out there and we have to fight them off", I try to convey the moral and political complexity of war, as well as both its awesomeness and its horror, in a way they can understand but won't make it impossible for them to fall asleep.
As a parent it is wonderful to observe and enjoy the innocence of children. But preserving it at all costs is foolish. The real world is not like the cartoons, and bit by bit they learn this. You don't have to do anything to actively make them learn it, either, but kids who enter the real world having been completely sheltered from its ugliness are unprepared and unnecessarily vulnerable. I've seen what happens to young people who experience the shock of real life all at once, and it's a lot worse than an awkward conversation with their parents or a cringey lesson from a teacher.
The agenda seems to be for LBGTs to get into the face of a normal society. If you don't believe that just watch a gay pride parade.
I don't think LGBT-whatever is some monolithic group. Gay pride parades are one thing, gay people are another. Some of the gay people I know find gay pride parades embarrassing, others find them fun. I find gay pride parades and 4th of July parades both annoying.
To suggest that normality is something being promoted by hucksters on the other side of the country is a bit disingenuous.
No, it's fear and pearl-clutching that are promoted by hucksters. It's a way to rally the troops to get them to do what you want.
All that is needed for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.
This is a platitude. Doing something based on fear and ignorance and political grandstanding is worse than doing nothing.