This statement was released on Tuesday, July 3, in Rockville, Maryland.
The Maryland State Board of Education ruled in favor of Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Tuesday clearing the way for the 8th and 10th grade health education curriculum to include two lessons that promote tolerance, empathy and respect for all people regardless of sexual orientation and one 10th grade lesson that demonstrates the proper use of a condom.
The Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, a coalition which includes PFOX, has been battling the Montgomery County school board for two and a half years over the content of their sexual education curriculum.
Nancy Navarro, president of the Montgomery County school board, had this to say:
The State Board rejected each and every legal challenge brought by the opponents and determined and that there was no valid reason to overturn our decision. It is my hope that the litigation in this matter will finally come to an end as we move forward with the lessons that teach that all people deserve to be respected regardless of their sexual orientation.
According to TeachTheFacts, the CRC has stated that they intend to file a suit in federal court.
I would like to know what PFOX really thinks it can accomplish with this action.
Teaching about sexual orientation isn’t teaching about sex. And teaching about sex, how to protect oneself physically, but to also teach on emotional and physiological reactions in relatioships and how to cope with them successfully, IS the duty of the school.
What are PFOX’s reasons for NOT teaching this. Prejudice really.
There is no excuse for a school to engage in keeping young people ingorant. No tax payer, including gay citizens and THEIR children, could possibly appreciate darkness falling on a crucial issue.
PFOX doesn’t have a better plan, or better solution. And what they espouse isn’t new. It’s already known to be ineffectual and unworkable.
Knowlege is power….so why don’t they want these young folks to be more knowlegable?
All PFOX want to teach is that people, who experience same sex attractions do not have to be gay or have gay sex. An individual have choices and some will choose not to identify themselves as gay or not to have gay sex, because of religious beliefs. PFOX include these individuals in the category “Ex-gays”. Does these persons not deserve the same respect and tolerance as GLBT-persons? All persons deserve respect and equal rights.
Niels Plougmann, while we all here agree ex-gays deserve the same respect and tolerance as GLBT persons do, PFOX and other organizations like them in turn don’t believe GLBT people deserve those same rights. Their rhetoric has clearly demonstrated that we are less than dirt because they find that proof in their interpretation of Scripture.
Yes, everyone has the right to define themselves. If those who wish to take on a lifetime struggle of denying their sexuality for their religion then more power to them. However, when they begin to move into demanding through legislation that we conform to their religious beliefs (being gay is sinful and sick therefore they don’t deserve hate crimes protection) then PFOX and organizations like them have a fight on their hands.
Yes, Niels, all persons deserve respect and equal rights. And that’s exactly what PFOX works against in what can only be termed as anti-gay rhetoric. PFOX is not interested in teaching truth but in slandering gay folks and making sure they do not experience the equal rights you claim all persons deserve.
The two things you have just suggested are radically different concepts. To not have gay sex because of religious beliefs is a logical, understandable, attainable goal, and I respect those who want to live that way, though I disagree. To not identify as gay when a person is same-sex attracted is misleading and dangerous; what would your opinion be of a white man who chose to identify as black, or a Christian who referred to his beliefs as “Buddhist,” though they blatantly are not?
I am all for same-sex attracted people who want to live out their religious beliefs with integrity; but to deny the reality of who you are, and then to use your own intentional ignorance as a building block to attack those who do not do the same is a completely different situation.
I agree. I wish PFOX and and other ex-gay groups would keep fighting for equality, tolerance and anti-discrimination measures and protection against hate crimes for GLBT- people.
If some want to “leave homosexuality” for religious reasons I wish them peace. But when they become anti-gay and start beeng pawns for organizations that think GLBT-people are “less than dirt” and sinners by nature, and politically fight against equality and basic human right and decency in the name of Christ … it makes me sick.
PFOX and other exgay organizations and exgay individuals are however sometimes victims of intolerance and hate too from those who think that it is not possible to change. They say they want protection from hate crimes and anti-discrimination too. They fail to recognize that as long as they deny GLBT-people they same rights and tolerance they demand, they have a double standard. All deserve equality and respect. Ex-gays and GLBT-people.
Young people who discover their same sex attractions should be met with proper counseling, understanding, tolerance and love. Many christians are able to do that, but the “Turn or Burn in Hell people” are really scary. Basically I think PFOX and CRC want to present their message that change is possible, alongside with the more secular messages. It must be possible to present both sides and agree to disagree.
Neils,
It is impossible for reasonable people to take groups like PFOX seriously when they make inflated and untrue claims, “mimic” the gay rights movement, and insist on the absurd notion that ex-gay is another, seperate orientation. While I’ll grant you that there may be times when ex-gays may get their feelings hurt for claiming to be ex-gay, they are not denied rights and privileges the way gay folks are. In your first post it sounded as if you were empathetic with the mission of PFOX, but it seems even you can’t get behind the ilk of their tactics when it comes down to it.
PFOX is just another part of what should be called “The Shame of America’ This refers to the religious and often ignorance based fears of and hence hatred toward a minority of people, perhaps 5% of the population, who have same sex attractions.
Certainly, I’ve met a few bi-sexual people who might be called ‘in the middle’, who might well live as str8 people or claimed they have ‘changed’. I’ve also met 3 men who were married, and after a decade or two finally admitted that they were gay. Two I know divorced, both helped their wives to find new husbands, and both are still very close to their children. Imagine living a lie for decades, hiding every day who you are, and fearing that one slip up, and your social acceptance suddenly ends and you become to some number of people an ‘untouchable’. “All in the name of God”. If we followed the bible literally, virtually everyone of us would be murdered for eating shellfish, wearing different kinds of cloth at the same time, etc, etc. Of course, one is asked if those who support gay people ‘changing’ their sexuality are also admitting that they have same sex attractions. Why don’t some portion of them change? I am waiting.
One of the jobs of our schools is to build good citizens, and that includes such things as teaching the politics of brainwashing, fear, and hate, and the history of terrible terrible crimes done in the name of God. Also the lies that still spill forth today from some right wing religions. They continue to propagate these lies because to admit they were wrong in the past calls into question the question of their ‘infallibility’, and then their house of cards comes tumbling down.
Teaching our children that some people are different re sexuality is just another part of teaching about sex in general, to try and remove the mystery, shame, and excitement. We need to give all our children professional guidance on this very complex human emotion. Kids are going to find out about sex anyway, so professional explanations are a lot better then the lessons “on the street” we had when we were 10-18 years old
Our gay citizens deserve our respect, acceptance and even friendship. Teaching this in our schools is key to building a better nation of educated people. Montgomery county is to be congratulated. Not only do we need to teach about sexuality in an age appropriate way, but we need to expand this to teaching some basics about psychology, mental illnesses such as Obsessive Compulsive Disease, and even more importantly how we as humans can be brainwashed into even absurd or monstrous beliefs in the name of ‘faith’. If you don’t believe this, please go look up 9/11 as the ultimate example of religious brainwashing. It goes on here as well, but in more subtle ways, poisoning a part of our society, while claiming many thousands of gay kids as suicides every year. All in the name of God!
While I agree that being a gay teen in even the most tolerant areas of this country can lead to great despair and anguish through the callous views of others, I’m not sure we can say this leads to “many thousands” of kids dying from suicide each year. Do you have a link to support that one?
From USA Today 2/5/07:
Even assuming that a huge chunk were gay, we don’t have “many thousands of gay kids as suicides per year”.
However the principle point remains true: suicide is a problem for LGBT youth.
The irony is that, IMO, Fundimentalist thought is partly responsible for the dispair that would lead someone to committ suicide.
Benton,
I agree with that opinion. It’s sad that so many in “the church” can look past and really love and accept folks with all sorts of behaviors they consider to be sinful, (greed always comes to my mind first) yet since this behavior is so foreign and somewhat “icky” to them, they seem to place it high above the rest on the list of sins….quite possibly at the very top in many cases.