Nebraska largely scraps gender identity lessons after uproar

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By GRANT SCHULTE

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska education officials announced Thursday that they have largely scrapped plans for gender identity lessons in public school curriculum after an uproar from conservatives who argued that the topics weren’t appropriate for children.

The new draft of the proposed sexual standards from the Nebraska Department of Education came after agency officials faced intense criticism from parents, school boards, state lawmakers and Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts, who held town hall events to blast the proposal. Opponents flooded a meeting of the Nebraska State Board of Education, an elected board that oversees the agency.

“What we’re really trying to do is understand what Nebraskans as a whole accept as a standard and an expectation of what our students learn in school,” Matthew Blomstedt, Nebraska’s education commissioner, said Thursday at a press conference. “There’s always going to be a little bit of tensions over those types of issues, especially in this sense.”

Nebraska currently has no statewide sex education standards. Even if adopted, the proposal would just be recommendations that would be optional for school districts.



FILE - Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts speaks Feb. 26, 2021 during a news conference at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Neb. The new draft of the proposed standards from the Nebraska Department of Education came after agency officials faced intense criticism from parents, school boards, state lawmakers and Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts, who held town hall events to blast the proposal. (Kenneth Ferriera/Lincoln Journal Star via AP File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/religion-education-gender-identity-nebraska-e58c8f53a7405e2e1e8a5d85a68739f2

[SunSeeker]

1. Inappropriate for kids?? Why?

I guess they want gay kids to continue to get bullied and commit suicide.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

3. Gender identity is a different subject than sexual orientation, just saying ...

Also, it's Nebraska.

Many people there don't want any of your liberal learnin' infecting the minds o' their young folk!

[SunSeeker]

8. I know. These classes were supposed to cover a broad range of sexuality subjects.

From the article:

The original draft would have suggested lessons about family structures, including same-gender families, for kindergartners, and a discussion about gender identity and stereotypes for first-graders. Sixth graders would have learned about a range of gender identities, and seventh graders would have been taught about different types of sex and how diseases are transmitted.

[Initech]

5. I don't know. But they are getting more and more batshit insane on this issue.

Fox News, OAN, and Facebook propaganda are definitely scrambling their brains.

[SunSeeker]

9. I feel bad for kids, particularly LGBTQ kids, with those kind of parents.

Imagine your parents and community saying who you are is "not appropriate."

[LiberatedUSA]

10. They seem to be under the belief...

...that if a child is too young to understand what their parts are for, and do not know about or seen the other parts, then they should not be making the decision that they were born in the wrong body. They seem to feel if one is not able to legally sign a document, they should not be allowed to make personal life altering decisions.

They won’t listen to reason. It is frustrating.

[SunSeeker]

11. Nobody is teaching kids to make "life altering decisions."

Nor are 4 year olds told what "parts are for." These courses would not have done any of that.

Teaching kids that there's a spectrum of sexual identity (in age appropriate language) does not change anyone's gender identity or sexual preference, it just allows them to feel OK about themselves, that they are normal, no matter their gender identities or what sex they're attracted to. It's an attempt to stem the suicide pandemic among LGBTQ kids/teens.

It's so weird how these right wingers think learning that gay or transgender people exist will make their straight kid gay. That's not how sexuality works. If you're not attracted to a particular sex, no amount of talking will make you attracted (or unattracted). That is why "conversion therapy" never works. You are what you are.

[LiberatedUSA]

12. That to.

But it is more than that. They don’t understand how a child, who has never seen the other private part or know about it, could possibly know that is the part they want for their body instead of the one they have which they know little about as well.

Education is needed. A lot of education.

[SunSeeker]

13. Kids don't need to know every body part to feel their body does not match their gender identity.

The point is to let kids know that it is OK to feel like a boy when you've got a girl body, and vice versa. That is a pretty simple concept that even little kids can understand without going into gynecological details. The goal is to prevent kids from committing suicide because their family and friends think they are sick. It's to let them know that no matter how bad they may feel right now, things will get better, particularly as they become an adult and can choose their own path. Nobody is telling kids to have sex change operations or make "irreversible changes" or "life altering decisions." Actually, it's just the opposite. The goal is to keep them alive until they are adults and can decide for themselves what they want to do with their body and their life. Because suicide is the most life altering decision of all.

[sanatanadharma]

2. I don't understand; don't we begin teaching "gender" from the first name

To be born is be assigned a gender in the world as it is.
The body is given by nature.
The conscious being doesn't always get his/er first karmic choice and one may find the later-self searching for ways to get things right.

Teaching gender is what parents, family, friends, neighbors, society and culture do from the very first doo-doo.

Our children and their parents, family, friends, neighbors, society and culture would all benefit if we began teaching our kids that they are not confined, bound, limited, restricted by any identity labels (gender, IQ, beauty, brilliance).
(I, she-he-it-they) we are the limitless-conscious-beingness that knows the comfortable and the disconcerting.

The mysteries of the karmic tapestry are more and less than appear.
A vast spectacular scroll, woven from the colored results of our and others' actions; warp and woof are the given and the chosen realities of our lives. This scroll of the entirety of the countless stories of life's actors, from stage to stage in an endless show, can never be seen by one within the scene.

[Withywindle]

7. Beautifully said!

I wish could rec this comment. Thank you!

[Hugh_Lebowski]

4. I learned the concept of 'transgender' people when I watched the 50's horror movie 'Homicidal'

on Creature Features with my stepmom, in the mid-70's, when I was like 9.

I knew of 'drag queens' by that time (I did grow up in the Bay Area after all), but did not know of the whole shebang, if you will.

I bring this up cause in my early days, to the extent it was ever mentioned, it was presented as something very strange/freakish, and 'these people' were probably dangerous.

That is NOT what kids should learn.

[Initech]

6. The first time I learned of the existence of drag queens was seeing Rupaul on Jay Leno.

And I was maybe 13 at the time. I didn't even know transgender was a thing until I was taking a psych class when I was 21. And before that I only maybe was aware of the concept because of off color jokes on sitcoms like Home Improvement and the Simpsons and of course, Ace Ventura.

That's definitely not how people should learn about it, either. And probably why there's so much hate on this issue. Fuck these assholes.