From the terrific Toles at Wapo. (click image for larger)
An excellent overview of school cases regarding LGBT rights in public schools at ENews Lake Forest:
In a case out of Massachusetts, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit by parents who wanted school officials to notify them whenever same-sex families were mentioned in their children’s elementary classrooms.
According to the court, exposure to gay marriage (e.g., reading to second graders a story about two princes who fall in love) does not constitute “indoctrination” or a discussion of human sexuality as the parents claimed, but rather an age-appropriate acknowledgement of the existence of same-sex families in a state where gay marriage is legal.
On the same day, a lower court in Maryland rejected a challenge by conservative groups to a new sex-education curriculum in Montgomery County that includes lessons teaching “respect for differences in human sexuality.”
Meanwhile in the Florida Panhandle, the culture-war shoe is on the other foot: The ACLU filed suit — again on Jan. 31 — against a high school that allegedly bans all student expression of support for gay rights, extending even to such things as rainbow stickers.
But what if your five-year-old loves rainbow stickers? The article argues that the real goal for educators is schools that are both safe and free:
“A safe school is free of bullying and harassment…And a free school is safe for student speech even about issues that divide us.”
On topic, too bad John McCain doesn’t know what “LGBT” means.
No Trackbacks To “Progress in Helping Schools Cope with anti-LGBT Bigotry“
This is a vital issue. The last thing the world needs is more rainbows.
I’d like my LGBT on rye, please.
Seriously, just another example of the divide in this country.
Heh, I remember back in 2000 watching McCain respond to a question about his feelings about gay people. Not the entire LGBT acronym, just about “gay” people. His face turned red. He became flushed and nervous, began to laugh, and had difficulty muttering something about the right to have your own lifestyle or something.
You’ve got to be very careful what you say about Gay’s, apparently they cause earthquakes :)
Israeli MP blames quakes on gays
Forget Mr. 29%, it’s Mr. 19% now!
http://americanresearchgroup.com/economy/
Ruthless People @ 5:
….keep suckling Bush’s nipple McCain, please!!
Gekke @ 4:
Yep. Yet another example of faith leading to perfectly sound beliefs about the world.
Karen @ 3:
Fred Thompson on the campaign trail last fall: “And by the way, gays give me the willies.”
(Yeah, Fred, we know. So does electric light, the telephone.)
Ruthless People @ 5:
I guess the cost of moonshine is going up. The right wingnuts are feelin’ the pinch.
I live in Florida (Ex New Yorker - moved here because the cost of living in NY got way to expensive), and I want to personally apologize for the Sunshine State. In FLorida, if we could find a way of running our cars on ignorance well, we wouldn’t need the Saudis
I hate anybody who isn’t exactly like me. Heck, I hate you for not being me; don’t come crying to me about how it’s only possible for one me and one you. Not my problem; just yours. I only care about me. Screw you; get out of my way. The only way I will tolerate you is if you do something for me or have something for me. Me, me, me!
Wow…so that’s what it’s like to be a modern republican…strangely enough, it isn’t liberating in the slightest.
LGBT…
Pronounced as “el-gee-bee-tee” or “legibit” when spoken?
If I had a child in school I would be worried about someone bringing their daddy’s gun to school. I don’t recall any kid getting injured learning tolerance and respect in school.
The HS kid has a really nice pair of cojones on him.
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gene214 @ 10:
I’m down here with you gene and I couldn’t agree more. Do you live up in the panhandle? I hear that is the worst. Fortunately, I’m down on the Treasure coast, so it isn’t as bad down here.
I love lettuce, guacamole, bacon and tomato sandwiches!
peaceful easy feeling @ 12:
I actually kinda like GBLT, so we can pronounce it giblet.
When did schools start putting doors on Boy’s Room toilet stalls?
‘Progress in helping schools cope with LGBT bigotry’…. Boys and girls, this is just some sadass shit now.. It’s freakin 2008 already! The 21st fucking century and we’re still dealin with this kind of horseshit in this nation and the world… Jesus H., just seems to me, that in no way should this even be an issue to sweat the load over now…. but it is…. To all my LGBT friends I say I am fucking sorry we still live in a neanderthal age… I wish your lives and loves were not so difficult in this world… I don’t think God in whatever form God takes hates you or your preferences in love and relationships… I think ‘God’ has more pressing shit to worry about than that.. Progress!!??? As a species? Apparently we’re barely out of the fucking trees…..What a crock of shit! JD
I don’t think enough attention is being paid to the reason that millions of Americans give as to why they are against gay marriage. That reason is they fear GOD will punish the United States. If you just say it out loud “GOD will punish the US if we have gay marriage” it sounds kinda crazy YES? It is the same with many issues, the fear that if they vote for someone who is for abortion, gay rights, social programs, God will distroy the United States.
pissed off patricia @ 15:
Central Florida for me, PO Patricia. Fewer wingnuts, perhaps, but definitely hardcore. I saw a guy who had a handwritten sign in the window of his car that said “A vote for Democrats is a vote for abortion”. That gives ya an idea of what we’re up against, down here.
RayC @ 20:
I am sorry I shouldn’t have said for abortion, no one is for abortion. For the right to choose.
How about discovering that you’re gay in 8th grade and having the counselor try to convince you to continue flirting with girls for your own safety? Why because you’re a little white dude going to a 50% black school and and 25% rural school (a quote as best remembered) “the black community isn’t very open and all those farmers kids like to beat people up…”
Well, that was the year 1984 in Wichita Kansas. So, what’d I do? I gave myself a mohawk and started expressing my differences.
…a high school that allegedly bans all student expression of support for gay rights, extending even to such things as rainbow stickers….
For crying out loud! What’s next, banning children going out after a rain in case they SEE a rainbow? Banning spectral charts in science class? (Ok, so spectra does not support intelligent design..)
peaceful easy feeling @ 12:
Delicious on toast . . .
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gene214 @ 21:
Egads! They are moving south.
I may not be politically correct here, but the idea of the education system is to give little Johnny the necessary skills required to grow up to be a good little workforce employee, contributing to corporate profits, and the nation’s tax system. Teaching him anything else is kinda pointless.
ConcernedCanuck @ 27:
The problem is - the current US education system - NCLB - only funnles them into the cannon fodder sector.
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RayC @ 20:
I know some repukes THINK they are GOD, but holy shit. You may be onto something here….
bigbrother2084 @ 23:
In the 8th grade you could have used a little understanding, huh? How are you these many years later? Doing good, I hope.
Is it too late to give Florida back to Spain?
Barney Google @ 31:
What? and have it subject to the Spanish Inquisition?
[shot fired. footfalls. door opening]
NNNOOOOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!!!!…..
Barney Google @ 31:
I thought it was given to Cuban exiles and Canadian snowbirds?
Did anyone else notice that the first post after the John McCain article talked about Jane Fonda strutting around and little “Yankee” brats? What year does this poster think it is?
Congrats to that high school kid for his tough questioning of McCain!
http://i3.photobucket.com/albu...../OJSUS.jpg
that lgbt link is crashing Safari for me?!!!!
anybody else? hmmmmmm.
Gay marriage is such a hot button issue because, if gays want to be in a commitment it blows away the idea that we’re all sex driven sodomites determined to have sex with as many people (children? animals?) as possible. Granted, some of us may be but if you’re in a committed “gay” relationship, that’s an even bigger boogie monster than prolific random or anonymous acts of homosexuality, except for Larry Craig of course. I like the kid’s comment, dead on I’d say! Fuck you McCain, your opinions and mores are antiques and you don’t even know it!
What you (most of you?) call teaching tolerance, others see as teaching acceptance of sin. That’s why this is not an issue about persuading the other side to see our point of view. Instead, this is simply and brutally about a struggle for power - a struggle for one set of cultural values (LGBT) to supercede another (LGB as sin). Almost anything is fair play here, as far as I am concerned.
Start with lawsuits against every organization that fails to teach LGB positive messages. Change local laws to prohibit teaching ID, sexual preference intolerance, etc. …
Thank you for the link! How did I miss this excellent blog? I’ll stop by more often.
The site you’re linking to is eNews Park Forest, not eNews Lake Forest. FYI. We’re the “Forest” quite south of the Chicago Loop! :)
peaceful easy feeling @ 12:
2 legibit… 2 legibit 2 quibbit!