Gay California Teachers.......Classroom....
Document 02.20.1.1# 36 Shadow of things to come in Arkansas??? It's
covered under "tolerance" you know... And "No Child will be Left Behind"...
Char
GAY CALIFORNIA TEACHERS 'COME OUT' IN CLASSROOM
Ellen Sorokin THE WASHINGTON TIMES
A California public school district is allowing homosexual school employees
to "come out" in front of children in school without obtaining parents'
permission.
A unanimous resolution allows teachers at the Hayward Unified School
District to talk openly about homosexuality or to discuss their homosexual
lifestyles with students during class. The district's school board says such
action is required under the California Student Safety and Violence
Prevention Act of 2000.
Teachers also are allowed to include homosexual figures or role models in
class and to read books with homosexual characters such as "Heather Has Two
Mommies." The case in Hayward is part of a growing national trend in how
school districts deal with homosexuality.
Scott Lively, president of the Pro-Family Law Center in Citrus Heights,
Calif., said yesterday that his organization has received calls from
concerned parents in Massachusetts, Vermont, Missouri and other towns in
California during the past several months.
"It's a national campaign that is being pushed by homosexual activists, and
that campaign is to homo-sexualize the public-school environment," Mr.
Lively said. "One of the goals is to create a voting majority within the
high
school students who would be in favor of gay perspectives. These are
activists who got in positions of authority and use it to advance a selfish
social agenda, and, frankly, that's evil."
School district officials said yesterday that the resolution is about
training students and teachers about tolerance and how to provide a safe
learning environment for homosexual students and teachers. It's not about
teaching students about homosexuality, said Kim Hammond, the school
district's chief administrative officer.
"We're not saying, 'Let's teach the students about homosexuality,'" Ms.
Hammond said. "What we're saying is, 'How do we accept individuals who are
different from ourselves?' Our school board is committed to maintaining a
safe learning environment for all of our students."
But critics, including the Pacific Justice Institute, argue that the
resolution overrides parental rights by not requiring the district's schools
or teachers to give notice to parents or allow parents a chance to opt their
children out of the instruction.
"This gives teachers a blank check to flaunt homosexuality to students, and
that is totally crossing the line in public education," said Brad Dacus, the
institute's president. "This is aggressive promoting of changing the
attitudes of children about homosexuality. The goal here is not to promote
school safety. The goal is to promote a social agenda."
The institute sent a letter to Hayward school officials demanding that the
policy be rescinded. "We won't do that because this is the law and we're
complying with it," Ms. Hammond said.
Ralph Stern, an attorney for the school system, said in a letter to the
institute that its reading of the resolution is "incorrect." "It is
incorrect when you state that this resolution authorizes teachers to freely
discuss personal sexual issues," Mr. Stern wrote. "We do agree that this
legislation does not require school districts to adopt a particular
curriculum. Adoption of the resolution does constitute adoption of a
curriculum."
The law states that school districts in California should develop specific
training procedures to protect students and staff from harassment or
violence. The training must focus on strategies for handling harassment,
responding to biased behavior, dealing with name-calling and creating a safe
learning environment.
Hayward schools approved the resolution after hearing testimony from local
homosexual activists that homosexual students face severe isolation and fear
when they come out. According to a 2001 national survey, 83 percent of
homosexual students reported being verbally harassed because of their sexual
orientation, and 21 percent reported being physically assaulted.
The resolution specifically states that each school should develop
"procedures that insure that gay youth and staff can come out without fear
of reprisal or harassment." It also states that "existing curriculum be
reviewed, expanded and improved to ensure teachers can provide positive
images of gay people in the classroom and discuss alternative family
configurations; and infuse relevant homosexual curriculum across
disciplines."
Parents whose children attend Hayward schools said no one should be
subjected to harassment or violence, but they don't want their parental
rights to be taken away in the meantime. "I refuse to allow my
responsibility as a parent to be violated by covertly dismantling parental
authorization required when sensitive family and sex-education issues are
addressed as stated in the education code," said one parent who did not want
to be identified. "District board members have failed to honor parental
discretion and the law." 029.20.1.1 # 36 End...
"We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary
Americans." Comrade Pres W. J. Klinton. USAToday. 11 Mar 93. Pg 2A. "You
know the one thing that's wrong with this country? Everyone gets a chance to
have their fair say." Comrade Pres W. J. Klinton. 28 May 93. The Courtyard.
City Hall, Philadelphia. "I'm not going to have some reporters pawing
through our papers. We are the President." Comrade Hillary Diane Klinton.