Virginia School Board Member Exceeds Authority, Orders "Ex-Gay" Instruction
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Virginia is for bigots:
A "balanced representation of homosexuality"? Each "It's okay to be gay" speaker or lesson should be offset by a "gays go to hell" speaker or lesson? We need to quash gay tolerance because anti-gay students might be afraid?
And you thought the Intelligent Design debate was driven by fools.
The Fairfax school board swiftly and officially reprimanded Hunt, and they are to be commended for that.
The real question, however, is just how many school board members across the country are just as bigoted, but less foolish, than Hunt was. What kind of informal, unwritten pressure are school board members exerting outside of their board meetings all the time? What kind of off-the-cuff (and off-the-record) "suggestions" are they making over lunch or the back nine to administrators, principals and teachers (and other politicians)?
To whatever extent the "gays don't have kids" meme-stereotype is true, it will certainly be reflected in the composition of America's school boards: If you don't have kids, then how likely are you to run for the school board? If you don't have kids and are gay, then how likely are you to be elected?
The result is that gay kids, who rarely have it easy in school to begin with, have little or no representation in the local school bureaucracy, while mean-spirited bigots propose requiring that they be subjected to the Twenty-First Century equivalent of electroshock therapy.
For some kids, the best part about high school is that it eventually ends. Shame on any bureaucrat who would make those years even more unbearable.
And, as always, don't try to tell it's not about naked bigotry.
More thoughts at Beaverhausen.
POST SCRIPT: If anyone has a link to the actual letter, please post in the comments. Thanks.
UPDATE: The remaining members of the Fairfax school board voted unanimously to formally censure Hunt for his misconduct. Bravo. In Virginia Veritas...
Related Posts:
Gay Student Outed and Expelled for G-Rated Website
Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and Don't Use Quotation Marks
Virginia Proposal Would Offer Anti-Gay License Plates
"We Hate You, But In A Nice Way..."
Naked Bigotry Update: Tacky Texas Textbook Tactics
Principals in all of Fairfax county's high schools have received a letter telling them to host speakers [with an] "ex-gay perspective."
The letter was written by Stephen M. Hunt, a School Board member. Copies were sent to all 24 high schools in the suburban Washington district. The letter calls homosexuality a "very destructive lifestyle" and said students need to offered a choice.
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"Children are being taught that homosexuality is normal and natural. It is neither," Hunt wrote. "To state that it is normal or natural is to promote the myth that accompanies the homosexual activist rhetoric."
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Other board members were not consulted before Hunt sent the letter, and many did not know about it until contacted by some principals. The letter was written on Hunt's own stationary but he signed it as a member of the school board.
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Schools Superintendent Jack D. Dale has written the principals to let them know Hunt's view is not sanctioned by the board or administration. "I very much regret that our principals received this letter, which is not representative of the School Board's views," Dale said in a prepared statement. "We want our schools to be seen as welcoming places for all individuals."
But, Hunt is unapologetic saying he wants to see a "balanced" representation of homosexuality presented to students and is concerned that students who do not support homosexuality may be afraid to speak up in school or labeled as intolerant.
A "balanced representation of homosexuality"? Each "It's okay to be gay" speaker or lesson should be offset by a "gays go to hell" speaker or lesson? We need to quash gay tolerance because anti-gay students might be afraid?
And you thought the Intelligent Design debate was driven by fools.
The Fairfax school board swiftly and officially reprimanded Hunt, and they are to be commended for that.
The real question, however, is just how many school board members across the country are just as bigoted, but less foolish, than Hunt was. What kind of informal, unwritten pressure are school board members exerting outside of their board meetings all the time? What kind of off-the-cuff (and off-the-record) "suggestions" are they making over lunch or the back nine to administrators, principals and teachers (and other politicians)?
To whatever extent the "gays don't have kids" meme-stereotype is true, it will certainly be reflected in the composition of America's school boards: If you don't have kids, then how likely are you to run for the school board? If you don't have kids and are gay, then how likely are you to be elected?
The result is that gay kids, who rarely have it easy in school to begin with, have little or no representation in the local school bureaucracy, while mean-spirited bigots propose requiring that they be subjected to the Twenty-First Century equivalent of electroshock therapy.
For some kids, the best part about high school is that it eventually ends. Shame on any bureaucrat who would make those years even more unbearable.
And, as always, don't try to tell it's not about naked bigotry.
More thoughts at Beaverhausen.
POST SCRIPT: If anyone has a link to the actual letter, please post in the comments. Thanks.
UPDATE: The remaining members of the Fairfax school board voted unanimously to formally censure Hunt for his misconduct. Bravo. In Virginia Veritas...
Related Posts:
Gay Student Outed and Expelled for G-Rated Website
Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and Don't Use Quotation Marks
Virginia Proposal Would Offer Anti-Gay License Plates
"We Hate You, But In A Nice Way..."
Naked Bigotry Update: Tacky Texas Textbook Tactics
Posted by KipEsquire on
4 February 2005
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