Very Important for all the parents

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Mar 22, 2006
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#1
We don't need homosexuality taught in school
Written by Laura Riddle / For the Tracy Press
Tuesday, 17 June 2008


A Tracy teacher seeks support in voting down a change to the state education code.


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Recently, the state of California has changed the wording in an area of our education code that needs to be brought to light.

Senate Bill 777, which was passed by the state Legislature and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2007, purposely adds new mandates for school instruction and activities focusing on homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality in public schools.

It reads, “No teacher shall give instruction, nor shall a school district sponsor any activity, that promotes a discriminatory bias against homosexuality, bisexuality or transsexuality.”


This wording was changed to force teachers to discuss homosexual practices in their classrooms as early as kindergarten.

What “promotes a discriminatory bias,” you may ask? Maybe it’s reading a story about a mother and a father to a classroom, as it teaches traditional families, or maybe having a homecoming king and queen is discriminatory, because it promotes a heterosexual relationship. It could even be discriminatory having gender-specific bathrooms, because it promotes the idea that all children are the gender they were born with, not what they identify with.

Before SB 777, Assembly Bill 537, called The Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000, protected students from discrimination based solely on perceived or actual sexual orientation. SB 777 states, “Nothing in AB 537 requires the inclusion of curriculum, textbook, presentation or other material in any program or activity.”

What does this mean for our schools in Tracy and all over California? It means new kindergarten-through-12th-grade curriculum will include these topics to “teach” students at an early age what the state thinks about homosexuality, transsexuality and bisexuality. SB 777 takes away local and parental control on how these issues are to be discussed with their children.

I am a teacher and a parent in Tracy Unified School District. Why does SB 777 bother me? Personally, I don’t feel comfortable explaining to my class of 20 6-year-olds why, in the story we are reading, the child has two mommies or two daddies. I don’t feel comfortable answering questions or telling someone else’s child about homosexuality, and I don’t want my children’s teachers to discuss it with my children.

Whether I’m religious or not, it is just not my place as a teacher to discuss these things with someone else’s child. I have never discussed any kind of sexual practices in my classroom, and I feel very uncomfortable feeling forced to answer questions about stories and subjects that might come up in curriculum that includes such topics.


It is my belief that such issues should be addressed in the home and that they should stay there. I write now to inform the public that petitions are going around to allow this initiative to go to voters on the November ballot.


If I am way off base and the voters want their children to be taught this in the public school system, then they will vote to keep the wording “promotes a discriminatory bias” in SB 777. If citizens feel that this topic should not be discussed within a classroom setting, then they will vote it down. I do believe that we, as citizens, have the right to vote on something of this magnitude.


Certain schools districts, such as those in Alameda and Los Angeles counties, have already begun training and implementation of such changes. If you are interested in more information or collecting signatures to allow this to go onto the November ballot, please visit www.saveourkids.org. Petitions can be downloaded from the site and must be mailed by July 31.


I have never written my opinions to a newspaper before. I write today because I just don’t feel it is my place to teach this, and I don’t want parents upset at me or other teachers because of it. I have loved my students and their families, and I am grateful for the wonderful relationships I have had with them. Teaching is hard enough without this.


Whatever your beliefs are, I hope you agree with me.
 
Apr 25, 2002
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#8
but it's not like they're really "teaching homosexuality" like the writer of the article says. it's just acknowledging to the kids that there is such a thing as people being gay. they gonna figure it out anyway
 
Dec 4, 2006
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#19
this is the type of shit that pisses me of..

these fucking homos want our kids to learn what they've become...

fuck all that, we was having this discussion with my sister the other day...

we both don't agree with it and are quite pissed off about it..

Shea, you are lucky to have your kid in a private school. If this law does pass, that's exactly where my daughter and my niece are going next year, to a private school.