Darkside Rainbow

That’s right, today’s post deserves a cat-macro-ish title.

Del posted a link in a comment to yesterday’s post that was OT for the post, but perfect for a new post today. While I already discussed my take on it in the comments, I’d like to bring it up here for general discussion to get everyone else’s views on it as well as elaborate further myself now that I’ve had time to reread the article and think more on it. Here’s an excerpt:

Principal bans parents from pro-’gay’ seminar - WorldNetDaily
Public district students offered guidance on being homosexual

Administrators at North Newton High School in Newton, Mass., have held a seminar for students that explained how to know they are homosexual, but banned parents from attending.

“It’s absolutely insane,” parent Brian Camenker, who also is chief of the Mass Resistance organization, said. “I met with the principal. She told me no parents are allowed. She said only by invitation. I asked, ‘Can I be invited.’ She said, ‘No.’”

The event, called “ToBeGlad Day,” was the school’s “Transgender Bisexual Gay Lesbian Awareness Day,” and students were given a pamphlet that explains what it means to be “gay,” tells students how they are supposed to know if they are “gay,” and responds to the question, “Will I ever have sex?”

News of the event comes just a day after WND reported on a case at Deerfield High School in Deerfield, Ill., where school officials ordered their 14-year-old freshman class into a “gay” indoctrination seminar, after having them sign a confidentiality agreement promising not to tell their parents.

“This is very, very scary stuff,” Camenker said. “The pamphlet also lists places kids can go to meet homosexuals. How would something like this affect a kid who might be going through a confused and vulnerable time in his life? Well … the school isn’t interested in what YOU think.”

The Newton principal, Jennifer Price, didn’t return a message WND left seeking a comment on the event.

Now, WND has a reputation for right-wing sensationalism and craziness on the levels of Fred Phelps, right down to the same wild speculation and biased accusations.

That said…there’s something wrong when I actually understand a little of where they’re coming from - even if I doubt the accuracy of their reported facts.

I don’t have any children of my own, but I’ve been in the role of the parent. I have a half-brother eighteen years my junior, from my father’s second marriage; I stayed with my father for a short while after university while I found a job so I could move out on my own, and during that time guess who took on the full-time role of parent while my father was at work and my stepmother was being useless parked in front of the Home Shopping Network? That’s right, me. Hell, to this day I’m the only one who can get the kid to clean his room, even if I have to do it long-distance.

If my little brother came home and told me that the school had him attend a mandatory seminar on homosexuality without my prior knowledge or told me they were holding a seminar but I wasn’t allowed to attend unless invited (I’m not going to get into the whole “deliberately hiding it from the parents” thing, as I doubt the accuracy of that), I’d be righteously pissed - and I’m gay.

It’s not the subject matter. It’s that the school would be choosing to educate a child that I helped raised on their view of sexuality without my prior notice, and without me knowing what’s being taught. It’s almost impossible to teach anything regarding human sexuality without bias in today’s political and social climate. Even worse, anything involving “no parents allowed” is going to make me nervous, because…well, what are they trying to hide? I don’t know if the children are being told that homosexuality is wrong, that it’s right, or that it’s a figment of their imaginations. Parents are very protective of their children, and are going to get their hackles in a bunch if you start taking control out of their hands that way. Showing an educational video in class is one thing; this is something wholly different.

I prefer to treat situations like this the way sex ed was treated in my high school. Parents were notified about the sex ed portion of the school year ahead of time, given pamphlets explaining the material that would be covered, and given permission slips granting their child permission to take the class. Most parents sign the permission slip and say “Go on, son, go learn about safe sex and STDs and the reproductive cycle. If you have any questions later, ask me, we’ll sort it out.” Some people don’t agree with what’s taught, or would rather teach their children themselves. They don’t sign the permission slip, and the kids sit out in study hall. The choice is there, giving parents control over how their children are raised.

It’s a noble idea to try to indoctrinate children into understanding and accepting homosexuality in themselves and in others. But if even a fraction of that article is true, then the schools mentioned went about it in entirely the wrong way. It’s basically taking advantage of a captive audience to push your agenda, and how the hell does that set a good example? This is the wrong political climate for that. Give us a decade or more of progress and tolerance and such educational assemblies might even become a mandatory standard, something I’d actually like to see. But right now? It doesn’t take a genius to see that taking that route is just asking for trouble and adding to the negative publicity we already get. How much common sense does it take to understand the concepts of tact, consideration, subtlety, and the old “slow and steady” adage?

Ur doin it rong.

And thanks for the link, Del.

sex education, homosexuality, education on homosexuality, newton north high school, newton massachussets