T. On the Forum

Another local blogger has some interesting comments about our forum this past Sunday. I have quoted from The Republic of T blog before (motto: "Black. Gay. Father. Vegetarian. Buddhist. Liberal."), as he often has interesting insights into our controversy here over sex education. Here's a little of what he says as far as introduction:

No sooner do we settle our family in Maryland than we find that we have a battle going on in our back yard. Namely, the wingnuts - this time in the form of Parents and Friends of Ex-gays (PFOX) and a related organization called Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum (CRC) are trying to take over the Montgomery County School’s sex-ed curriculum to edit their view in (if they can’t edit gays out). Fortunately, there’s an informed organized opposition to the PFOXers, called Teach the Facts. Yesterday, the hubby attended a community meeting sponsored by Teach the Facts.

[a snippet from the Post article deleted here]

Even though Parker is not school-aged yet, and our second adoption is sometime in the future, our kids will be going to Montgomery County public schools (in fact, the meeting was held at the high school that Parker and sibling will attend), so we’re getting involved early. We decided one of us should attend, and — given his credentials — I figured it was best if the hubby went. Of course, he brought home all the materials, and gave me a full report of the meeting. Teach Your Children Well

OK, so here's a gay couple with a son, moving into our nice liberal Montgomery County, and finding that it is under attack by "wingnuts." Just the kind, I imagine, they had hoped not to have to deal with. The kind that think that families with two daddies are not families.

I thought this was an interesting observation:

From what he said, the turn-out was impressive. What was particularly moving about it was that the audience was predominantly heterosexual — many parents whose kids were probably heterosexual. Parents, Friends & Families of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) was also there in force. It brought home just how much heterosexual support there is for gays in Montgomery County. (Looks like we made the right choice about where to live!)

OK, hey, welcome guys. Don't worry about the wingnuts, we'll deal with them. Pow! Pow! Dance, wingnuts, dance!

For me, this is not a pro-gay or anti-gay issue, it's an education issue. The thing is, America has moved past debating whether it's OK to be gay. Of course there are gay people, what're you gonna do, kick them out? It's normal for some people to be gay, everybody knows that, I find it ridiculous that we even have to have this discussion. (But it would be even more ridiculous if we didn't, and let the ... wingnuts ... have their way.)

T. says:

The basic bones of contention in the curriculum are whether or not it will say that sexual orientation is a choice and can be changed, and what it will say about contraception. The opposition, of course, wants sexual orientation taught as a choice and would prefer that contraception gets little to no mention. The result was a lawsuit that ended with a settlement that would send the Montgomery County Public Schools back to the drawing board on the curriculum, with help from an advisory board that would include two seats for PFOX and CRC.

Basically, the wingnuts are holding the education of all the of all the kids in Montgomery County public schools hostage. Fortunately, an impressive array of forces have aligned against the nutters. Speakers at yesterdays' forum included: a former chair of the MCPS advisory committee on the sex-ed curriculum, an "ex-ex-gay" who talked about the 17 years of his life lost to "reparative therapy," the sex-ed policy manager from Planned Parenthood, the chair of the American Medical Association’s Committee on GLBT issues, Maryland elected officials, and other health ed. experts.

OK, we're getting our point across. Excellent.

This blogger goes on to talk about TeachTheFacts.org, links to our web site, tells people to sign the petitions... great. Thanks for the good word, T.