Local News, Wingnut Press

Thanks Pam, for pointing out something taking place in my back yard that made it into the Agape Press:

Maryland County's Sex-Ed Material Not Yet Out of the Woods

CAUTION...This story contains terms that some may find offensive

By Jim Brown
September 19, 2006

(AgapePress) - A group that sued Maryland's largest school system over its controversial sex-education curriculum is applauding some proposed changes to the new curriculum and raising concerns about others.

Last year a federal judge issued an order blocking implementation of the Montgomery County, Maryland, sex-ed program. Michelle Turner is president of Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, one of the two groups that filed a successful lawsuit alleging the program denigrated conservative religious beliefs about homosexuality and contained misinformation about health risks posed by condom use.

[...]

"We're running into some concerns with the written part of the curriculum," Turner adds. "There still seems to be an interest on the part of the school system to introduce anal and oral sex."

According to Turner, liberal groups are still pushing for condom-based, homosexuality-affirming sex-ed in the classroom. For example, groups like the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and "Teach the Facts" want the county's new sex-education program to include discussion of anal and oral sex, she says. But if the changes advocated by those two groups are adopted, the citizens group leader contends the district may be in violation of the terms of last year's court-ordered settlement.

"It all depends on whether or not they are introducing homosexuality and homosexual acts and the homosexual lifestyle without telling students that it is possible to leave the lifestyle -- and that there are agencies and organizations that can assist with that," she says.

And yes, that big red warning was in the article.

It wasn't to long ago that I was in high school. I went to high school in Pennsylvania. The community was much more conservative than Montgomery County. The high school was literally right next to a cow field. When the wind blew just so, you knew it. And in that idyllic, pastoral version of the American High School, oral sex was something beyond common.

Montgomery County's sex ed program wants to address oral sex? GOOD! Most students (yes, most) are doing it. That's the facts on the ground. Students should know the risks and how to address them. And while I'm guessing anal sex is less pervasive, those who are having it should know what precautions to take.

That means condoms. I have yet to understand why schools shouldn't encourage condom use for students having sex. Do 'Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum' want students to end up pregnant or with STDs?

I would argue that they do. They want young people, especially women, punished for their sins. If that means they end up pregnant or infected, that's God's righteous punishment for sins of the flesh.

Vengeful Christianists aside, since when is oral sex (or anal sex for that matter) a 'homosexual act?' The sex lives of these people must be terrible. I mean, hell, if you want to wait until you're married, that's your business, but really! Not having oral sex because it's 'gay' is ridiculous. Can you say repression?

'Married and Missionary Only' efforts are the main thrust (ha!) of Agape's article, but the most alarming part is this:

"Last year a federal judge issued an order blocking implementation of the Montgomery County, Maryland, sex-ed program. Michelle Turner is president of Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, one of the two groups that filed a successful lawsuit alleging the program denigrated conservative religious beliefs about homosexuality and contained misinformation about health risks posed by condom use." Emphasis mine.

I have no evidence, but I'm guessing Montgomery County didn't write "thinking that sex is bad and that homosexuality is wrong is a foolish opinion held only by mindless twits stuck in the 18th century" into the curriculum. Presenting facts about practices the student population is engaging in IS NOT denigrating conservative religious beliefs.

It's frightening how successful mindless twits stuck in the 18th century have been in having any mention of something they find 'icky' removed from school curriculums.

Are these people afraid that their children will somehow discover that their parents have been keeping them in the dark all their lives? Are these people so afraid of their children thinking for themselves that they don't even want their children exposed to 'ungodly' ideas? If you're any sort of decent parent, your kid can go to school, hear that condoms are incredibly effective at preventing both disease and pregnancy, then come home and you, the parent, can explain to him or her that 'our family's religious beliefs teach us that even if the sex is 'safer' it should still be saved for marriage.'

Just because a kid knows what a condom is doesn't mean that he or she is going to start having sex! Knowing that there are homosexuals in the world doesn't turn a kid into one.

Luckily Montogomery County won't ever accept a 'abstinence only' approach to sex ed. There are lots of places that would. The kids living there are no less deserving of the facts than kids here in the rather progressive suburbs of D.C. Every time a young person who never had access to the information they needed ends up pregnant or with an STD, it's on the heads of people like Michelle Turner, president of Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum.

Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum Sex Education Culture War