MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Maryland, May 6, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Maryland judge issued a temporary restraining order Thursday, preventing teachers from presenting a curriculum to children intended to desensitize them to homosexual lifestyles.
Citizens for Responsible Curriculum (CRC) in collaboration with Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) challenged the decision to implement the district’s health education curriculum in court – Liberty Counsel filed the suit Tuesday. United States District Court Judge Alexander Williams, Jr., sided with CRC and PFOX, charging, “The Revised Curriculum presents only one view on the subject – that homosexuality is a natural and morally correct lifestyle – to the exclusion of other perspectives.”
Judge Williams ruled the one-sided curriculum was a violation of First Amendment free speech rights. “The Court is deeply concerned that the Revised Curriculum violates Plaintiffs’ free speech rights under the First Amendment, and believes that Plaintiffs’ free speech allegations merit future and further investigation,” he wrote in his decision.
“Parents are having their views heard at last,” said Warren Throckmorton, PhD, lead author of a paper, Health Education as Social Advocacy, a 51 page critique of the Montgomery County health education curriculum. “We documented the one-sided nature of this curriculum months ago and informed the school of these findings. Furthermore, the curriculum in some cases presents information that is potentially harmful to the very students it purports to help. We are hopeful now that the Montgomery County Public Schools will now re-examine the curriculum and make necessary changes to make it educationally sound.”
Read Dr. Throckmorton’s critique (pdf).
tv