A Stitch in Haste

Chronic "I'm not a bigot!" bigot Jeff Jacoby, whom I've lampooned before, might want to consider becoming a libertarian, because "it's all about the children" --

On April 20, in a story headlined "Parents rip school over gay storybook," the Globe reported on the latest controversy in Lexington, where school officials committed to normalizing same-sex marriage have clashed with residents who don’t want homosexual themes introduced in class without advance parental notice.
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But homosexuality and gay marriage are not like arithmetic or geography; they cannot be separated from questions of morality, justice, and decency. No matter how a school chooses to deal with sexual issues, it promotes certain values — values that some parents will fervently welcome and that others will just as fervently reject. And what is true of human sexuality is true of other issues that touch on deeply felt religious, political, or ideological values.

When it comes to the education of children, there is always an agenda — and those who don’t share that agenda may find themselves belittled, marginalized, or ignored.

Put aside the sheer absurdity of the claim that homosexuality "cannot be separated from questions of morality, justice and decency." (Such a view is the very definition of the bigotry that Jacoby insists that he does not possess.) Put aside the downright obnoxious lament that it is "traditional" folk like Jacoby — and not gays — who "find themselves belittled, marginalized, or ignored" (can he be serious?). Finally, put aside the fact that books like Heather Has Two Mommies and King & King tend to have positive rather than normative themes and goals (i.e., "This is how the world is..." rather than "This is how the world should be...")

Let's just take Jacoby and people like him as a given: as taxpayers with children — and with rights — who want to see their kids educated in a certain way, chock full of questions (and the "correct" answers) about "morality, justice, and decency." How best to accommodate him?

By scrapping public schools entirely (i.e, eliminating the public provision of education) and replacing it with a system of public financing of education through vouchers.

In a private, competitive education market, if people like Jacoby are truly the majority of parents (i.e., customers), then the majority of schools would certainly cater to them. If gay or gay-friendly families are truly a sizeable minority of parents (i.e., customers), then there would be at least some schools that would cater to them. Demand creates its own supply, and everyone is happy.

But of course this is not at all what Jacoby and people like him want. They have no real desire for choice or even for an a la carte "opt out" system in which they can cherry-pick which elements of the curriculum their students will be taught. They love the notion of a command-and-control public school system as much as any liberal; they just want to be the commanders and controllers themselves.

If you're truly "just" an opponent to a gay-friendly curriculum for your kids -- and only for your kids -- then congratulations, you might be a libertarian.

But if in reality you're opposed not only to gay-friendly education but also to gay rights and gay marriage (and gays generally), then you're probably better off in the conservative camp with Jacoby and the rest of the "I'm not a bigot!" bigots.

Unlike public education, the choice is yours.