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Gay-Friendly Curriculum to go Ahead in Maryland Schools

By Hilary White

ROCKVILLE, Maryland, July 9, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Maryland State Board of Education will not interfere with a local school board's efforts to insert curriculum material legitimizing homosexuality.  The board agreed that while parents may have some say in what is taught to their children, that "right is not absolute. It must bend to the State's duty to educate its citizens."

Parents in Montgomery County have been battling the school board on the insertion of homosexual material in schools for two and a half years. In November 2004 the parents won a delay in the courts after the Montgomery Board announced it had approved a curriculum that included teaching 8th graders about homosexuality and how to use condoms.

Now the State Board has ruled that it will do nothing to stop Montgomery County Public Schools teaching the "gay inclusive" curriculum.

The ruling acknowledged that "there may be disparate points of view" on including "homosexuality or transgender issues" in the curriculum, but the Board would not interfere in the local board's decision "unless, of course, that decision is illegal."
 
The curriculum lessons for the eighth grade are titled, "Respect for Differences in Human Sexuality," and adopt and promote the homosexual movement's language and interpretation on "sexual identity" and "orientation." They exclude discussion of the moral licitness of deviant sex acts under the rubric of "non-judgementalism".

In the tenth grade students will be taught about "coming out" as a homosexual and will be given lessons in using condoms.

Patricia B. O'Neill, a spokesman for the Montgomery Board issued a statement saying, "Unfortunately, this shrill minority has attempted to derail the curriculum and create discord across the community through misinformation via direct mail and telemarketing and through legal challenges."

Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, Parents & Friends of Gays & Ex-Gays, and Family Leader Network had petitioned state officials to stop the Montgomery Board, arguing that curriculum's insistence on "non-judgemental" language violated the rights of religious parents and others who believe homosexual behaviour is morally wrong.

The group's representative John Garza, told media that the next step would be discussed at their next meeting. Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum announced they will be filing suit in federal court.

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Montgomery County Parents Ready to Take on Homosexual Middle School Curriculum Again
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jan/07010506.html

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