Schools debate when to expose students to existence of gays

[davidinalameda]

http://washingtonblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=6707

The appropriate age at which children should learn about homosexuality is taking center stage in battles being waged throughout the country. But the arguments are as varied as the families involved.

Two straight couples in Massachusetts have filed a federal lawsuit claiming school officials in the suburban Boston school district of Lexington violated their civil rights by trying to teach their children about homosexuality.


In Dothan, Ala., a lesbian parent also is upset about how her daughter's school district approaches the subject, but not because the lesson condones gay relationships — just the opposite. The lesson teaches that homosexuality is "contrary to the laws of nature."


The Massachusetts couples say they objected when a teacher read to their son's class without notifying them a story about two princes who fall in love. One of the plaintiffs, David Parker, was jailed last year when he refused to leave school grounds after educators wouldn't exclude his 6-year-old son from discussions of gay parents.

[RagingInMiami]

1. I learned about gays from a very early age

Because my mother and grandmother had gay friends. I was just told that they were men that "love each other" like mommy and daddy do. The sexual aspect never came into my mind. Nor did it cause me to grow up gay.

[MuseRider]

2. But you are

warped, admit it!

My boys had a gay uncle and frankly it never came up. They never asked nor cared who he was with. Since I have a lot of gay friends they have known about gay people forever and as young adults they are as non judgmental as you would ever hope for someone to be. This is silly. When do we tell the children? Hows about after we explain why our government is killing children in another country.

:hi: Just kidding you

[Mind_your_head]

3. I don't think it's the school's job to teach/talk about the issue.....

Children should learn about it (or not learn about it) from their parents at an appropriate 'age'/fashion. Because, each family situation is different (as a previous poster pointed out, if the family has gay friends or family, it's gonna 'come up' at an earlier age than if a family doesn't know any gay friends/family).

Additionally, children mature mentally at different ages (even kids in the same household)...that's why kids first learn about sex at differing ages - some are more ready to hear about it than others.

I think the schools should stop trying to take over the parents responsiblities....talking about the GLTB really isn't the schools job/place. Schools should teach reading, writing, arithmetic, art, music, etc....heck, the poor teachers barely have enough time to focus on this stuff now.

[BR_Parkway]

4. I have a hard time thinking that these rabid parents who are fighting

this aren't preaching to their kids every night (and twice on Sunday's) about the "evils" of being gay.

[Mind_your_head]

5. We always hear about the 'extremes'.....but there are a bunch

of people out here that REALLY feel that a person' sexual orientation is "no one's business" (except that individuals).

This is basically what I've taught my kids about gays:

- gays are 'regular' people
- they didn't 'choose' to be gay, nor did someone/something (event) 'make' them gay, they just 'are' - accept it
- gays 'love' their SO's (if they have one), just like heterosexual's love their SO's (if they have one). Some people (gays and heterosexuals) are better at it, more magnamous (or not) than others....it has to do with the PERSON, not the sexual orientation.

And the NUMBER ONE THING I TAUGHT MY CHILDREN ABOUT GAYS is:

It's none of your business. Treat everyone respectfully as people, and everyone will get along just fine.

[davidinalameda]

7. that sounds like you've done a nice job with your kids

but as long as I can get fired in some states for being gay and can only get married legally in one state, then fighting discrimination against gays should be everyone's business

[Mind_your_head]

8. Thanks for the compliment re: the kids

Yeah, that's really stupid that one could be fired for being gay. That goes back to the 'it's no ones business' and I don't get it why/how people think 'gayness' would effect job performance (or WHATEVER).

As far as the getting married part, (correct me if I'm wrong here) I understand that the biggest issue/reason for gays to get married is the legal aspects (i.e., being able to get onto a 'spouses' medical plan, legal rights to homestead exemptions, rights to property upon the death of a 'spouse', and those sorts of 'legal things'.)

I have thought about this issue, b/c a relative of a close friend was a gay man with a long-term SO (they were together 20+ years). He had a successful business and owned a beautiful home with many nice things. He passed away suddenly and unexpectedly (heart-attack) without leaving a will. By stirpies (sp?) everything went to his sister, not the SO. HOWEVER, the sister, who was not greedy and has a 'great head and heart', gave everything to the SO because she knew that that was 'the right thing to do' and that's what her brother would've wanted.

I can see where many ppl wouldn't be so fortunate to have this outcome and it can create some very real issues. I guess THIS particular issue, property/personal possession rights, can be managed with a will, but some of the other legal rights just aren't 'do-able' without a 'marriage'.

If I'm understanding this issue somewhat properly, I don't believe that it's being communicated very well to the general public...the legal rights/access issue.

Just my 2 cents.

M_Y_H

[dsc]

10. that was very good of her to do

but it should be noted that the so had to pay mongo taxes a spouse would not have.

[pnwmom]

12. Maybe not, unless the estate was unusually high.

If a child inherited the stuff (then handed it over), unless it was over a million (or whatever), it probably wasn't subject to tax.

On edit:

Sorry, I just realized the situation involved a sister. There might be a state tax then, but it all depends on the state.

[TechBear_Seattle]

6. When should they be "exposed" to black people? Jews? The disabled?

I mean, come on!

[homaffectional]

9. Interesting. I would say...

that instead of filing lawsuits, the two straight couples and lesbians should just exchange living spaces... the lesbian can hook the 'phobes up in Alabama and the straight couples can hook up the lesbian in the Bay State. Both seem like they would be happier in the other's location.

[realisticphish]

11. What the fuck

they're treating it like "The Talk"

"Now son, when two daddies love each other VERY much..." :eyes:

[NMMNG]

13. "Exposed to the existence"?

:wtf: They act like gays are kept in some secluded colony and kids are never going to run into one or hear about them until somebody tells them about them in school. These deluded individuals need to wake up and realize that gay people exist everywhere. They are in the schools kids go to, the churches kids worship in, the malls kids shop in, the parks they play in, etc. Kids are exposed to their existence all their lives, whether they realize it directly or not. If they have a television, radio, books, magazines and other media they are going to see/hear about gays. Unless they are raised in a bubble they are going to find out about gays before any formal education is offered to them.

I learned about gays and nobody "exposed me to their existence".

[bliss_eternal]

14. Exactly--

The "exposed to the existence" stuff bothers me, too. As if being gay is somehow akin to being an alien, having five heads or something else abnormal and foreign.

Last I checked gays are still human beings--like other human beings. Why should someone's sexuality make any difference at all?

[MountainLaurel]

15. Why does this headline remind me

Of "exposing" your child to chicken pox?

lol