First, reader G.F. protests The Other Charlotte’s take on a proposed sex-education curriculum in Montgomery County, Md., that would have not only taught children as young as 12 not only what homosexuals do but ripped apart religious groups–Baptists, Roman Catholics, and so forth–whose teachings define homosexual activity as a sin. Then, when the kids reach age 14 or so, they would watch a classroom video teaching them how to put on a condom. (See TOC’s It’s Not Your Mother’s Sex-Ed Class, May 3.)
A lot of Montgomery parents have been up in arms over the new sex-ed curriculum–so its proponents quickly dropped in a provision that would bar parents from attending their children’s sex-ed classes. Naturally, the mainstream-media elite has derided the parents who have protested the program as furthering the “homosexual agenda” (in the words of a Washington Times (editorial) as “fundamentalists,” “theocrats,” and the rest.
G.F.seems to agree:
“The article you cite in the Washington Times includes very little in the way of actual evidence that the curriculum in any way ‘promotes’ the so-called ‘homosexual agenda.’
“Not only is the claim of the mere existence of such an existence totally specious; it is important for sex ed curricula to at least tell kids that homosexuality does exist. No matter where you stand on the nature-vs.-nurture debate, all kids will meet someone who is gay at some point, and they need to at least understand what the term means. To teach someone about the Holocaust in no way condones it or encourages people to reenact it; neither does teaching about the existence of homosexuality somehow tell kids that it’s fine. Many gay people start to question their sexuality in high school, and the last thing a struggling teenager needs is a health teacher telling them that this feeling they have–whether they’ve ‘chosen’ it or not–is inherently wrong. That’s a religious viewpoint, and it has no place in schools.
“Similarly, mentioning that there are families with two same-sex parents is also important. Gay marriage is morally wrong to some people, but gay people can still have children and it makes no sense to institutionalize discrimination between child playmates by teaching kids that their friend who has two daddies is a sinner. Parents have always–and continue to in Montgomery County–had the right to take their kids out of a sex-ed class if their own moral and/or religious values conflict with the program. For parents who do have a strong sense of what is right and wrong, I wholeheartedly support their teaching their kids all about the restrictions of Leviticus and Paul. But those teachings have no place in the public schools.”
Trouble is, G.F., none of the parents who protested the new curriculum–and went so far as to file a lawsuit to block it–wanted the condemnations of homosexual acts contained in the Hebrew Bible (Leviticus) or the Christian Bible (Paul) to be made part of sex education in Montgomery County. What they objected to was the fact that the new curriculum would have condemned people who believe in the teachings of Leviticus and Paul.
Even the Washington Post’s Marc Fisher, who’s a liberal’s liberal, objected to this feature of the proposed curriculum in a column yesterday
“True or False, the teacher’s guide asks: ‘Loving people of the same sex is immoral (sinful).’ The state-sanctioned answer: ‘Many religious denominations do not believe this….What is universally understood is that intolerance and hatred is wrong.’
“Now Montgomery County decrees that any religion that considers homosexuality sinful is intolerant and hateful, even if most such faiths teach that hatred is unacceptable and sinners are to be loved.
“The county goes further: ‘Fortunately, many within organized religions are beginning to address the homophobia of the church,’ and then the county lists faiths worthy of praise (Unitarians, Quakers, Reform Jews).”
Pretty amazing, no? Montgomery County deems Baptists and Orthodox Jews bad, Unitarians and Reform Jews good. When I last looked, that amounts to favoring one religion (and its beliefs) over another, a blatant violation of the First Amendment’s church-state separation clause. And that’s exactly what U.S. District Judge Alex Williams, presiding over the parents’ lawsuit, ruled.
And if statements like those in the Montgomery County teacher’s guide don’t promote a “homosexual agenda,” I don’t know what does.
And by the way, instead of devoting precious taxpayer resources to sex ed, why don’t public schools put the dough into, say, phonics ed or punctuation ed? As a taxpayer myself, I want to see my money go to teaching kids how to slip a comma into a clause rather than a condom onto a cucumber.
Speaking of sex, reader W.W. objects to my use of the phrase “vagina-fest” in my report on the celebrations of female genitalia that the radical feminists have made mandatory on hundreds of college campuses around the country. (See my If V-Day, Why Not P-Day?, May 5).
W.W. writes:
“Please don’t ever say ‘vagina-fest’ again.”
I’d be happy never to say it again–when I hear that no one will ever do it again.
Now for some general disapproval from reader V.S.:
“I can’t wait to join your organization. Finally, a group of pompous self-satisfied idiots just suited to my overeating lifestyle!”
You’re welcome to join the pompous IWF idiots, V.S., and we’re delighted that you gorge yourself on our tasty and nutritious internet offerings.