Desiree at Parenting.com
Tennessee to Ban Teachers Discussing Homosexuality
April 27, 2011
Just a month after a study showed Americans are more accepting of gay parents than single mothers, the Senate committee in Tennessee approved a bill that would ban teachers from discussing homosexuality with children in elementary and middle school, allowing it to move to a full Senate vote. Senate Bill 49, nicknamed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, argues that talk about any form of sexuality other than heterosexuality falls outside of the “family life curriculum” adopted by the state Board of Education. An amendment to the bill requires investigation into whether teachers really are talking about homosexuality with their students, but even so, a teacher discussing homosexuality could be slapped with a misdemeanor, should the bill become law.
Plus: Could Your Child Be Gay?
Republic Senator Stacey Campbell has spent six years pushing this bill, which he says isn’t discriminatory because it prevents people who are against homosexuality from airing their views just as much as it prohibits those in favor. Homosexuality, he says, should be a non-issue because teaching basic human reproduction doesn’t require an explanation of homosexuality.
Plus: Grocery Store Censors Gay Parenting
Opponents of the bill, like the Tennessee Equality Project, argue that not only will it prevent any discussion of homosexuality from appropriate classroom lessons, but it will also limit any discussion of gay issues or sexuality with students who might be questioning their own sexuality, have gay parents, or have witnessed or participated in homophobic bullying. Um, have we completely forgotten the recent, tragic rash of bullying and suicides of gay teens?!
This bill smacks of discrimination and hypocrisy. To leave homosexuality out of any classroom discussion until legislators believe kids are old enough to somehow “not be swayed” sends the message that gay people are at best unimportant and at worst unacceptable. This measure is especially harmful at a time when kids are coming out at younger and younger ages. Plus, research into the family life curriculum, which predictably emphasizes abstinence until marriage, shows a strong emphasis on HIV/AIDS education prevention. How is it even remotely possible to give students full and accurate information about the nature and prevention of HIV and STDs without addressing homosexuality at all?
Do you think teachers should be forbidden to discuss homosexuality before the ninth grade?
April 27, 2011
Just a month after a study showed Americans are more accepting of gay parents than single mothers, the Senate committee in Tennessee approved a bill that would ban teachers from discussing homosexuality with children in elementary and middle school, allowing it to move to a full Senate vote. Senate Bill 49, nicknamed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, argues that talk about any form of sexuality other than heterosexuality falls outside of the “family life curriculum” adopted by the state Board of Education. An amendment to the bill requires investigation into whether teachers really are talking about homosexuality with their students, but even so, a teacher discussing homosexuality could be slapped with a misdemeanor, should the bill become law.
Plus: Could Your Child Be Gay?
Republic Senator Stacey Campbell has spent six years pushing this bill, which he says isn’t discriminatory because it prevents people who are against homosexuality from airing their views just as much as it prohibits those in favor. Homosexuality, he says, should be a non-issue because teaching basic human reproduction doesn’t require an explanation of homosexuality.
Plus: Grocery Store Censors Gay Parenting
Opponents of the bill, like the Tennessee Equality Project, argue that not only will it prevent any discussion of homosexuality from appropriate classroom lessons, but it will also limit any discussion of gay issues or sexuality with students who might be questioning their own sexuality, have gay parents, or have witnessed or participated in homophobic bullying. Um, have we completely forgotten the recent, tragic rash of bullying and suicides of gay teens?!
This bill smacks of discrimination and hypocrisy. To leave homosexuality out of any classroom discussion until legislators believe kids are old enough to somehow “not be swayed” sends the message that gay people are at best unimportant and at worst unacceptable. This measure is especially harmful at a time when kids are coming out at younger and younger ages. Plus, research into the family life curriculum, which predictably emphasizes abstinence until marriage, shows a strong emphasis on HIV/AIDS education prevention. How is it even remotely possible to give students full and accurate information about the nature and prevention of HIV and STDs without addressing homosexuality at all?
Do you think teachers should be forbidden to discuss homosexuality before the ninth grade?
My thoughts on this piece of legislation takes me way back (about 2 years) to a high school setting in which my senior government teacher very tentatively decided to cover what she called "the gay issue."
Being that I live in a small-town-like city in East Texas, you can imagine the republican politics that permeate the air do not tolerate any discussion of homosexuality or any sexuality at all. In the eyes of God and the rest of the Christian community, sex is an act reserved specifically for married people and only meant to produce children.
Fortunately, though many of my family members had been raised in church, and even though I attended quite a few youth groups in my day, I managed to scrape by without having religion forced upon me. My parents didn't talk about it very much, and we didn't regularly attend any church services. The church services I attended in high school were strictly of my own volition and because they were generally the only mid-week nights that most of us minors were able to hangout on.
To this day, I don't really claim a religion. Not anymore, at least. I have, however, taken some of the values that I learned from church and used them to form my own morals, which I don't think anyone with an open mind would disagree with me about. We're talking about your basic lifestyle guidelines.
What really grinds my gears about this piece of legislation, however, is how it so blatantly violates the constitutional right to the pursuit of happiness through some indirect means, such as not allowing teachers and students to discuss homosexuality on a more personal level, as referenced by the article. Desiree is right about teens "coming out" earlier and earlier these days. I believe that through the liberal media, children are being taught to stick up for themselves and how they feel. At least that's what I'd like to believe. However, leaving a young teen without someone more experienced in life matters to talk to, such as a teacher, whose job is to take on the role of the pseudo-parent while the student is on-campus, is unacceptable.
