The Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota is in the middle of a huge issue regarding its sexual orientation curriculum policy which says that LGBT issues should not be discussed in the district's schools.
And based on the actions of some parents at a recent school district meeting, it's going to be a long slog:
And it got uglier:
Where do you think these folks got this stuff from? Organizations like the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, etc.
You see that's why it's important for the lgbtq community to start focusing on these groups. They are feeding gullible folks bad info which in part is being used to stymie the progress of our children.
And based on the actions of some parents at a recent school district meeting, it's going to be a long slog:
A slew of conservative Christian parents — and even an orthodox rabbi — implored the Anoka-Hennepin School District to purge schools of any mention of homosexuality and demanded that teachers teach about the “ex-homosexual” movement and “gay-related immune deficiency.” One district member even assailed Dan Savage’s It Gets Better campaign as vulgar and accused the popular columnist of teaching children about “three-ways.” Several people testified using little more than versus from the Bible that are often used to demean and degrade the LGBT community.
The controversy in the district is over the sexual orientation curriculum policy also called the “neutrality policy” which says that LGBT issues are not to be discussed in the district’s schools. Six students are suing to eliminate the policy on the grounds that it makes for a hostile school environment and the district announced last month that they are considering scrapping the policy and replacing it with one that deals with “controversial topics” but doesn’t single out LGBT students and issues.
But the Parents Action League, a group of conservative Christians, want the policy to remain.
Brian Lindquist and Mike Skaalerud presented a resolution and list of demands that the Parents Action League wants to the school board to fulfill including incorporating “ex-gay” therapy into the school resources.
And it got uglier:
PAL also uses the term Gay Related Immune Deficiency or GRID. That was the initial name given to AIDS when it was still only a cluster of gay men. It hasn’t been used since 1984 — aside from those in the religious right who have a limited knowledge of epidemiology and biology who use it as a derogatory remark about gay men and HIV.
The Parents Action League has been behind much of the anti-LGBT activity in the district and have been advocating “ex-gay” therapy since it’s founding in 2009.
Barb Anderson has been the spokesperson for the group. She’s also a researcher for the Minnesota Family Council and has accused LGBT advocacy groups of being responsible for bullying and suicides in the district.
At Monday night’s board meeting, she accused the LGBT community of indoctrinating the students of the district.
“On Dec. 25th, on the front page of the Star Tribune, the pro-homosexual media once again held up the St. Paul school district as an example of how the districts should deal with GLBT issues. In St. Paul, the fear of the gay agenda coming into the schools is now a thing of the past. Well, that’s exactly right. There’s no reason to fear it coming in because its so entrenched in their schools that parents have given up all hope of getting it out.”
She said that the “gay agenda” was trying to force Christians into the closet.
She quoted Steve Warren who she called a leader in ACT-UP claiming that his “gay manifesto” from 1987 was the rallying cry for the community. What she didn’t note was the Warren’s article, written under the pseudonym Michael Swift, was satire.
Where do you think these folks got this stuff from? Organizations like the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, etc.
You see that's why it's important for the lgbtq community to start focusing on these groups. They are feeding gullible folks bad info which in part is being used to stymie the progress of our children.
4 comments:
As people become more accepted of homosexuality, the homophobes get more desperate. Since their "logic" hasn't worked, and religious reasons is slowly dying, all at the general adult population in the country, they'll use their vile means on the new, younger generation, in hopes it'll keep the homophobia fresh, and better.
Perhaps the only blessing that can come from this, is that it's proof they're losing. They're not exactly going out in grace, but considering these are people who think that having a 1 man + 1 women relationship is something worth treating people like crap, even kill over...I don't think this is overly surprising.
And along the same vein, just to prove these homophobes are full of it: when are we going the teach the children to be ex-shrimp eaters?
As a parent in this district I take isssue with the school board for violating the constitution by "advancing the religious beliefs" of one group in a public school district. I am quite certain they would NOT be so accomodating to say, Muslims who demanded the all students fast during Ramadan, or if the Jewish leadership demanded ONLY Kosher food be served in every cafeteria. In fact I will go so far as to say I bet these very people would lead the charge against such requests whining about "their personal liberty, religious freedoms, blah, blah, blah" The acceptance of gay people and their right to exist is not a "belief" it is a "FACT". A fact that walks down their halls, teachers in their classrooms and fills the pages of our history and just because one small, but very vocal group "refuses to accept that fact" doesn't mean the rest of us need to.
This group is at least 28 years behind the times. I think that says it all.
Remember what the loathsome Rick Santorum recently said about how he would respond if one of his sons told him he was gay? He claimed that he would love him just as much as before and he would urge him to remain celibate. What this inveterate homophobe did *not* say was that he would tell a gay son to try to pray away the gay, or that he would send him to religious de-gaying camp. Not even Rick Santorum believes in the ex-gay propaganda!
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