And it didn't even take a day before it happened.
Tony Perkins, head of the anti-gay hate group the Family Research Council, was invited on Fox News to "talk" about the situation. Of course it being Fox News, no one who actually had anything to do with the lesson was present.
And Perkins was his usual lying, sleazy self, throwing out catchphrases such as "indoctrination" and connecting the lesson to gay marriage:
Our children should be able to go into a safe environment. They should be safe from bullying and they should also be safe from indoctrination into homosexuality.… I mean, how far are we willing to go with this? When you consider that only seven percent of the animal kingdom is monogamous in their sexual relationships, is that what we’re saying our kids should aspire to? [...]
Schools should be teaching reading, writing and asthmatic, not comparing their sexuality to fishes…This is part of a bigger agenda and this is the problem that Americans are waking up to as this idea about same-sex marriage and all this is working its way through. This is a part of a process of indoctrinating children at very young ages at the expense of actually teaching them what they need to be successful at.
And of course it being Faux News, I mean Fox News, several things were omitted or not emphasized enough about the lesson.
1. It had nothing to do with gay marriage. From an article about the lesson:
Principal Sara Stone has said the lessons are part of a larger effort to provide a more welcoming and safer classroom environment.
2. Parents knew about the diversity lessons beforehand and were able to opt their children out if they desired to do so.
This monstrosity of a news report underscores a pertinent issue involving debates and truth. Sometimes it doesn't matter what the truth is if you can control who is doing the talking.
And if you can control who is doing the talking, then you can control the narrative.
Alvin, you need to get with it! NOM pounced in this story the minute it broke a couple of days ago. Of course they got their info from a hyperventilating right-wing source that didn't report terribly accurately, and on their blog entry used the wildly false headline "School Teaching Kindergartners That There Are More Than Two Genders": http://www.nomblog.com/9051
ReplyDeleteU got me. I missed that one. But what NOM did is what happens (getting the story totally wrong) - and I learned the hard way - when you pounce on a story before it has suitable time to marinate. Now it is getting a lot of play and luckily I was able to cover it as it is happening.
ReplyDeleteGuess what? Biology has proven for millenia that there ARE more than two genders! In addition to the lessons being taught here, humans are born with ambiguous genitalia every 1 in 2000 or so. When doctors attempt to pick whichever sex is more prominent, they get it wrong exactly half of the time or more, and the person grows up realizes their identity does not match their equipment and usually begins transition. Hence the intersex connection to the transgender/transsexual communities.
ReplyDeleteThat's all before we even get into the many people who are physically one sex and mentally another or evenly parts of both sexes...or neither, for that matter. These are all real, normal people.
Good for some schools to realize this is a very important concept. If this catches on, some young trans kids' lives may just be spared for once.
~Sera, transgender lesbian, long time reader, first time commenter. Love this blog!
When you consider that only seven percent of the animal kingdom is monogamous in their sexual relationships
ReplyDeleteAs the saying goes, 87% of all statistics are made up. I don't suppose they actually cited anything?
TYPO: "asthmatic" should be "arithmetic"
ReplyDeleteI am so tired of of this kind of hate speech. I goes unchecked by the ones who say they are fighting for us. I am tired of our sweet and sappy way they have combated the problem.
ReplyDeleteI have started making the kind of commercials I would like to see. Blunt and to the POINT can be found at my blog,
Lincolns Wet Paint at http://bjlincoln.blogspot or lincolnswetpaint at youtube.
I love what you have to say and how you say it. I read your blog every day and often cross post your commentary. Thank you for your hard work and insight.
Thank you for your kind words, BJ.
ReplyDeleteAnd I LOVE your commercials ;p
I'm also sick of seeing these lies get traction. The religious right has dominated this issue for way too long, and it's GREAT to see someone pushing back. This blog has become "must" daily reading for me, along with the Hatewatch blog of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Keep up the great work, Alvin!!
ReplyDelete