Friday February 19, 2010
How to Respond to Teachers Pushing Pro-Gay Curriculum: Family Group Advises Parents
By Patrick B. Craine
February 19, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The B.C.-based pro-family group Parents for Democracy in Education (PDE) have released a set of answers that parents can provide to teachers who ignore their complaints about the spread of homosexualist “propaganda” through the curricula of Canada’s schools.
The new document offers responses to a controversial new sheet that has been distributed to Canadian teachers, entitled “Objections to Anti-Homophobia Curriculum in Schools?” The sheet offers “quick responses” to common objections given by parents who object to the treatment of homosexuality in their child’s school curriculum.
This “quick response” sheet for teachers was published by the Hamilton Mountain News last week after it were leaked to a reporter with the paper by teachers in the Hamilton public school board. The same sheet was also distributed by the British Columbia Teacher’s Federation, which led PDE to issue their response.
The teacher sheet advises teachers to tell parents who complain about pro-gay classes that they “do not condone children being removed from our classes when we teach about Aboriginal People, people of color, people with disabilities or gays and lesbians.”
In response, PDE suggests parents state, in part: “It’s really not relevant what you condone. These are not your children. We are their parents.” “Your teaching should be consistent with and supportive of family principles, not undermining those principles,” they add.
Further, they point out that the teacher should be told: “You’re mixing unlike categories when you compare homosexuals to Aboriginals, people of colour, or disabled people.” “Race is not a behaviour,” they write. “Homosexuality is. Race is not injurious to the person’s own health and well-being; homosexuality is.”
The teachers’ quick response sheet also advises teachers to tell parents: “You can teach your child your own values at home. Public schools teach everyone about respecting diversity and valuing everyone.”
In this case, PDE suggests parents remind teachers that they “cannot and must not use their authority to tell children their parents are wrong.” “That’s an abuse of authority that deserves dismissal,” they continue. “We agree children should be taught to respect diversity and value everyone — but that can surely be achieved without teaching that sexual perversions are meritorious and praiseworthy.”
Another response for teachers reads: “All children, including yours, have a right to an education free from discrimination.” PDE points out that in this response, “we have a logical error caused by propagandistic thinking.” “To learn to discriminate between what is right and what is wrong is an essential part of education,” they write.
Further, to teachers who argue that they have a duty to provide “accurate information,” PDE responds that the schools’ “pro-‘gay’ propaganda is full of mis-information. It does not inform students of the very real and serious physical and mental health risks associated with homosexual behaviour.”
The full document, with end notes and supporting documentation, can be found here.
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Leaked Document: No Opt-Out for Children from Pro-Gay Classes in Ontario Schools
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/feb/10021508.html