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Move over, Larry, Moe, and Curly.
Report for
May 14, 2004
This is your tax dollars at
work. The health education coordinator wants to eliminate all of that
ignorant fear of sexual perversion which in turn causes hate. The
president of the county board of health wants to "normalize"
sodomy so that children involved in it can feel healthy about who they
are. Given the recent advent of drug resistant gonorrhea in homosexual
men, HIV/AIDS, etc., no doubt this is a big challenge. Finally, the
lesbian wants to make sure that the government school system reinforces
what she has been telling her children, i.e. that there is nothing wrong
with how she is living. Read the red. Hopefully, it will raise another red
flag for many.
School board to decide if sexual orientation an appropriate
topic
Some parents want subject out of classrooms
By Amy Bounds, Daily Camera, May 9, 2004
http://www.bouldernews.com/bdc/schools/article/0,1713,BDC_2488_2872289,00.html
Discussing sexual orientation in Boulder Valley School District health
classes is proving to be a divisive issue.
People who passionately support or disagree with the idea of schools
covering the topic are flooding the district with letters and speaking at
school board meetings as educators revamp a health curriculum that is
almost a quarter-century old.
The school board plans to discuss the revised curriculum at Tuesday's
meeting, which starts at 6 p.m. at the Education Center, 6500 Arapahoe
Road.
While sexual orientation has been part of the curriculum for years, the
proposed changes would add specifics, such as discussing how the media
portray gays and how students could advocate for a school environment free
of discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The proposed curriculum also would teach students how to find the latest
information about addiction, eating disorders, mental illness and sexual
health - and where to go to get help.
Boulder Valley health education coordinator Katy
Fleming said the district's goal is to provide good information and to
create a safe environment for all students.
"We're trying to dispel ignorance about issues," she said.
"Ignorance can lead to fear, and fear can lead to hateful things.
The gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered kids exist in our
schools and have a right to be there."
The first reference to sexual orientation is proposed for fifth grade,
when students would be expected to identify "inappropriate teasing
and bullying on the basis of gender, race or ethnicity, body size or
shape, disability, sexual orientation, religion, etc."
More details would be added as students move up through middle and high
school.
In 10th grade, students would be expected to demonstrate "an
understanding of core concepts related to gender and sexual
orientation," including discussing ramifications of stereotypes and
reviewing the periods throughout life that gender expression and sexual
orientation develop.
High school students also would be expected to demonstrate "an
understanding of how to advocate for individuals of all sexual
orientations."
Kim Middaugh, a Broomfield parent of two high school students, complained
about the curriculum to State Rep. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, earlier
this year.
Mitchell initially proposed a bill that would have prevented teachers from
discussing homosexuality, but the bill was changed to require school
districts to follow "opt-out" policies similar to the one
Boulder Valley already uses. Parents can opt children out of any part of
the curriculum.
But Middaugh said the opt-out provision isn't enough. She criticized the
curriculum as "confusing and potentially harmful."
"Plenty of middle school students have no interest in the opposite
sex," she said. "Some of these children will hear this
curriculum and falsely label themselves as gay. Just because a child
thinks he's gay doesn't mean he is."
Middaugh said she doesn't buy the district's assertion that discussing
sexual orientation in health classes is necessary to reduce harassment of
gay students.
"Students are protected from all forms of harassment by school policy
and state law," she said.
Broomfield resident Tom Mezzacapo, who has children in Lafayette schools,
said he's concerned that health teachers will contradict what his children
are taught at home.
"Parents, not teachers, should decide what's right," he said.
"If it conflicts with what the parent teaches them, they're going to
be torn. It's a really heavy agenda to bring down on kids."
Some parents have asked the district to include "reparative
therapy" - therapy to help homosexuals become straight - in the
curriculum.
But Fleming said that's not an option because the scientific community,
including the American Medical Association, says "it's ineffective
and potentially harmful."
Other parents, community members and Boulder County Public Health support
the changes.
"We just see (homosexuality) as a normal part
of human development," said Christina Suarez, incoming president of
the Boulder County Board of Health. "It needs to be normalized so
children receive healthy messages about who they are."
Holli Berman, a Boulder parent and a leader at Congregation Har HaShem,
said that, as a lesbian, she doesn't want her children taught "that
there's something wrong with their parents."
"The reality is that there are gay and lesbian families," she
said.
Dr. Michael Catalano of Boulder said he struggled to accept that he was
gay growing up and doesn't want today's students to go through a similar
experience.
"Students don't need us to tell them who they are," he said.
"They need us to respect their unalienable right to figure it out for
themselves."
Students in a Boulder High School health class generally supported
including sexual orientation in class discussions, as well.
Junior Leslie Vedder said students want the facts about everything from
sexual orientation to drugs so they can "make up their own
minds."
Sophomore Colin Gerber said he's glad that teachers are addressing the
topic.
"If you don't talk about it, you're isolating people from main
society and pretending that they don't exist," he said. "It's
acting as if you don't care about the lives of gay and lesbian
students."
The school board plans to vote on the curriculum at the May 25 meeting.
Homo-Fascism
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