COL Reports: Students All Set to Learn about 'Gay History' in California Schools

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
12/12/2011
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

California law adds gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people to the list of minorities that curriculum must cover.

In January a new law takes effect in California that will affect what kids are taught in school about those who self identify as lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgendered people.They will now be treated in the same way as members of racial or religious minorities. The law is known as the California Fair Education Act and mandates that school districts and schools are to individually decide how this subject should be approached.

California public schools have added gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people to its list of minorities

Facebook Delicous MySpace

Twitter Stumble Digg

More Destinations

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - One of the common objections to the new law is that these topics are subjects which are best discussed at home and in the church or religious institution because they deal with fundamentally moral issues. However, some California lawmakers have disagreed.

Another objection is that how one engages in non-marital sexual acts with a person of the same gender - or if one struggles with confusion over their own gender identity - will now, as a result of the law, be elevated to the level of a civil right. That the law is a part of arevolutionary cultural agenda.

Another objection is that parents are once again being bypassed by a State government which fails to recognize their primary role in the teaching and formation of their children.Their input is not valued. In addition, the parents seriously question the propriety of having the public school classroom used for this purpose at all.

Schools in Los Angeles have already made changes to their curricula to comply with the new law. Danielle Tacklender, an English teacher at Los Angeles' Grover Cleveland High School complies with the law by having her students read the book "Luna" by Julie Anne Peters. In fact, Tacklender says she has been teaching the book for seven years. The book is about a "transgender" teen boy who dresses as a girl and claims his body "betrayed him".

Tacklender says she does not teach the book any differently than others in her 10th grade class. She uses "Luna" to teach new vocabulary and different ways of thinking about pronouns. Class discussions and lectures focus on gender identity, sexual orientation, and gender roles in literature. What is clear is that gender is no longer being viewed as a given; a gift. Rather, students are being taught that gender is now a choice.

Tacklender explains that she has not had any negative feedback from parents, students, or the schools. She said, "no students ever say they change their sexual orientation because of it." Of course, many parents would say that this response from the teacher betrays the problem. It reveals an agenda aimed at the restructuring the moral and social norms of culture.

Advocates of the homosexual equivalency movement claim that efforts like Tacklender's are necessary because only a small percentage of students think favorably about lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people. In fact, Scott Hirschfeld, director of curriculum at the Anti-Defamation League explained that students can go through their entire education without ever learning about LGBT people. He explained, "they are really getting an incomplete history. The reality is that in most schools this is not a standard part of the curriculum."

Whether or not this should even be a standard part of the curriculum is an issue that is a matter of debate in California. Although the law will take effect in January, ballot initiatives responding to it are already being prepared.

According to the attorney general there are at least five initiative measures waiting to be reviewed and they could appear on the November 2012 ballot in an effort to repeal the changes taking effect in January.

Defenders of the law argue that what are now called "LGBT issues" are not the only ones covered by the law, but that the law also applies to Native Americans, people with disabilities, and other minority groups.Of course, the laws are already in place to encourage diversity and promote fundamental human rights. The elevation of "LGBT" to the category of a "civil right" is a much bigger issue, according to opponents of the law. It reflects an effort to elevate sexual behaviors to a civil right.

The homosexual equivalency advocates say the law bans instructional materials that reflect poorly on a person because of their sexual orientation. Opponents of the law say there are no such materials. Rather, that the subject of "sexual orientation" is not handled at all, and rightly so. They maintain it is a matter which is best handled in another forum, like the home, and not in a classroom.

They maintain that the law actually advocates for an entirely different approach to human sexuality. That the law is actually a part of the propaganda advocating an agenda intended to change the culture. The changes in the law are in addition to already existing law which mandates that various ethnic groups and people with disabilities receive a proper share of attention in the classroom.

If any of the counter-initiatives pass, they will undo the changes that are taking effect in January.

What do you think? Is it right for this approach to these issues to be taught in California public schools? Share your thoughts below.

� 2011, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered, schools, California, public education

NEWSLETTERS »

Rate This Article

Was this helpful to you? Very Helpful Somewhat Helpful Not Helpful at All

Would you be interested in more articles like this? Yes, I am Interested No, I am not Interested

Rate Article

1 - 10 of 42 Comments

Pamela
1 year ago
@Vance, once again, gay sex is a sin, not being gay. We can promote gay kids to be truthful and open about themselves and not lie to everyone, and also promote abstinence. Being gay is not something these children choose to be and we should not be demoting these kids for it, and we should not ask them to hide their sexuality.

http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/religionandschools/prayer_guidance.html

That is a link from the U.S department of education, if you read through it, it states that a student should not be penalized for including religious connotations in their assignments. Further more a student can not be expelled for wearing a cross, unless the school has rules against all jewelry. Now back to the story about jamie king, he was teased every day for being gay, so he fought back be flirting with his bullies and making them uncomfortable. Now two wrongs don't make a right but that in no way makes shooting him acceptable. And you say christian kids are more bullied than gay kids. Think of the most used discriminatory word in our culture now, it used to be the N-word but now it is the F*G word. If you walk into a high school you can hear it almost every other word. And at least christian kids have a support group, their families and parish; while LGBT kids are shunned at school and disowned by their parents.Also when you lump the liberals and gays together, you are saying that if you are gay, you have to be a democrat. If we do this to 10% of our population we might have 4 more years of he who shall not be named. Vance we don't have to give gay kids any special treatment, but we should give them less rights than the other kids. Just treat everyone like Jesus would, as his neighbor.
Vance
1 year ago
Pamela, I am aware of the shooting incident. The gay kid made a sexual advance on the shooter as the follow up story went. There is no excuse for violence. There are loads of stories about Christian children being expelled from school for wearing crosses or drawing religious symbols on their art work. You will get these stories on Christian websites and Drudgereport.com but you won't hear any thing from ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, or MSNBC. After the parents threaten or file a law suit, the school principal apologizes. No I do not hear much about the beatings of effeminate boys or Tom Boy girls. I worked in a school and I never witnessed any such harassment. I did witness students picking on other students who were perceived as being over emotional or unsociable. But never for Being Gay. Yes, there were effeminate boys but they were accepted by the other classmates. I believe it is highly immoral to 'Promote' homosexuality to children and push them into it as something normal and acceptable. God says in the Bible that sodomy is a rebellion against him and the natural order. The Liberal Establishment says otherwise. I vote for God.
Pamela
1 year ago
@Vance, when is the last time someone has been beat up or killed in america for saying merry christmas in a public school. A trial just ended where a teenager brought a gun to school and shot an eleven year old boy for flaunting his homosexuality. And there are countless stories of gay kids being beat up and teased at school every day. These are KIDS, eleven and twelve year olds who are already confused about their sexuality. You propose we should block them from ever hearing the word gay. That will lead to even more confusion.
Vance
1 year ago
Pamela, don't worry, Homosexuals are well represented in the media and by the Marxist Democrat Party. It isn't the Homosexual that is bullied or discriminated against rather it is the Christ believers who are subject to bullying and persecution from teachers and principals. The Christians can't say Merry Christmas, Jesus Christ, or even have a Christmas Tree in the classroom. Adults are not permitted to wear holy medals at work without threat of being fired from their jobs. According to the public school system you can flaunt your Homosexuality but hide your belief in Jesus Christ.
Bulbajer
1 year ago
Pamela, great comment.
Pamela
1 year ago
@Vance, I have three children and I know they are not spoon fed homosexuality each day at school. For the most part none of them know what homosexuality is. This law in California isn't requiring a "daily dose" of homosexuality, but that homosexuality is not excluded from them. When children don't know why people are different, that leads to them ridiculing and discriminating against such persons. Gay people aren't lepers that we need to be shielding our children from, they are just a different group of people that make up the mixing pot of America.
Vance
1 year ago
The children in our current society are spoon fed daily that being Homosexual is normal and acceptable. This comes from our Liberal Establishment Media and the Marxist Democrat Party. There is NO counter to this message coming from the pulpit. The pulpit is silent or sympathetic to homosexuality. California's Gov Moonbeam Brown is a sick pervert who means to have this filth shoved down the throats of the children. The Catholic Bishops and priests are forfeiting the game to the enemies of the church and the children are the victims.
Edward Nigma
1 year ago
When issues like this arise, one must refer to the CCC. It is a modern source of answers for questions like these. It states that homosexual acts are sins, not being homosexual. There is nothing wrong with teaching about homosexuality. LGBT people make up 10% of our country, so one in ten kids in school is going to have homosexual tendencies. Schools are not teaching about homosexual sex, but homosexual figures in history that made a difference like Harvey Milk. Usually social topics come up in english classes with books, for example the scarlet letter, in it a woman commits adultery, since there is a sin in the book does that mean that we shouldn't let our children read it? President Nixon was involved with Watergate, that can be considered a sin, but does that mean we can't teach about Nixon? When people alienate gays it leads them to acts like suicide, which the church teaches as an unforgivable sin, preach love not discrimination!
Vance
1 year ago
JeanCatherine, thank you for reminding us about the Voucher System. It is true that we have the option. The Marxist Teacher Unions and the Democrat Party would have us believe that we do not have this option. We Catholics need to be engaged in local politics and school boards.
DLL
1 year ago
A gay child used to mean a happy one with an effererence and loving disposition. Times have changed. In truth in what is referred to as gay history has no history at all. Gay doesn't mean the same thing in this day and age as it did 50 years ago. The designation that described same sex interactions as "Gay"never existed. Terminology has changed. Homosexual behavior was a psychological disorder 50 years ago. People who were homosexual,right or wrong,were advised to get help for their condition. There is a strong history for the mistreatment of homosexuals. That is wrong. Homosexual history can not be taught in an ethnic sense as "Gay History" because the reference to the designation "Gay" is incorrect in a historical context. The term "Gay" is a newly created meaning understood currently in its newest form of definition. Children must learn definitions and references to history as understood through the sense of those that lived in the times past and interacted with one another in the sense that they understood each other in their time frame that they lived in. Today the Gay person is liberated and approved of 50 years ago the gay person was non existent,at that time homosexuality was a disease to be treated like cancer. It was considered humane to find a cure for the desease of homosexual behavior,never cruel.

Prev12 3 4 5 Next

Comments submitted must be civil, remain on-topic and not violate any laws including copyright. We reserve the right to delete any comments which are abusive, inappropriate or not constructive to the discussion.

Though we invite robust discussion, we reserve the right to not publish any comment which denigrates the human person, undermines marriage and the family, or advocates for positions which openly oppose the teaching of the Catholic Church.

This is a supervised forum and the Editors of Catholic Online retain the right to direct it.

We also reserve the right to block any commenter for repeated violations. Your email address is required to post, but it will not be published on the site.

We ask that you NOT post your comment more than once. Catholic Online is growing and our ability to review all comments sometimes results in a delay in their publication.

Name *

Email *

Comment *

Send me important information from Catholic Online and it's partners. See Sample

Post Comment