Montgomery County Public Schools officials unanimously approved a controversial new gay-inclusive sex education curriculum this week, but omitted five positive messages about homosexuality, including a note that gays can live happy lives.
I'm glad the "inclusive" curriculum passed and I understand the politics behind the omission. Bu it still makes me sad. Here's two of the five items students won't be allowed to hear:
All mainstream medical and mental health professionals have concluded that homosexuality is not a disease or a mental illness.
Homosexuals can live happy, successful lives; they can be successful parents.
If only some adult had told me that when I was a teenager, it could have saved me years of misery praying to an unfeeling god to make "those feelings" go away, it could have saved me depression, countless hours in therapy, etc. Contrast those two statements with the ONE statement I did hear as a teen from my dad: "Those people should be shot," he said, commenting on a news report of the 1979 gay march on Washington when I was a freshman in high school.
He and I have come a long way, but it was a rocky road...and others faced a rockier road as it is well known gay teens are at a greater risk for suicidal tendencies than other kids.
So, good job Montgomery County. Too bad you didn't go far enough.
2 comments:
Extremely sad but, unfortunately, not at all surprising.
Your comment about your own experience during your teenage years struck a chord with me because it's something that many of us have had to encounter. As I've come to learn and accept, it's an extremely commonplace occurrence, and one that unnecessarily affects so many lives. Just imagine how different things might be, and how many innocent people — men, women, gay, straight, whatever — might be spared a lifetime of pain if only the education system (arguably one of society's most influential agents of socialization) could get things right from the get-go and instill a sense of reality (via truth and facts) in the very children its supposed to be educating.
I guess it's up to people like us to pick up the slack by letting our voices be heard.
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