Follow my logic here...
The goal of a society is to exist as harmoniously as possible. Therefore, trying to integrate as many groups of people into the community would most likely have positive effects.
The United States of America was founded on the principles of guaranteeing each individual the rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" (Declaration of Independence).
The homosexual population of human beings is small, but still a significant number.
Homosexuality is NOT a choice (American Psychological Association). The only differences between the "accepted" and "unacceptable" sexual orientations is the percentage of people favoring each lifestyle and the placement of certain body parts during sexual intercourse.
Is Sexual Orientation a Choice?
No, human beings can not choose to be either gay or straight. Sexual orientation emerges for most people in early adolescence without any prior sexual experience. Although we can choose whether to act on our feelings, psychologists do not consider sexual orientation to be a conscious choice that can be voluntarily changed.
In order to educate and raise informed, independent, and tolerant citizens, schools and parents should preach a doctrine of acceptance.
So why? First, Maryland governor Robert Ehrlich vetoed a bill that would allow same-sex couples hospital visitation rights and other legal protection. Now, the New York Times reports that students, gay OR straight, aren't allowed to discuss sexual orientation.
Gay Rights Battlefields Spread to Public Schools
Emboldened by the political right's growing influence on public policy, opponents of school activities aimed at educating students about homosexuality or promoting acceptance of gay people are mounting challenges to such programs, at individual schools, at statehouses and in Congress.
Chief among the targets are sex education programs that include discussions of homosexuality, and after-school clubs that bring gay and straight students together, two initiatives that gained assent in numerous schools over the last decade.
Nothing major. A school with a Gay-Straight Alliance group.
Mathew D. Staver, president and general counsel of another conservative group,
Liberty Counsel, said: "We're concerned about the effort to capture youth through indoctrination into the homosexual lifestyle. Students are a captive audience, and they are being targeted by groups with that as an agenda."
Indoctrinated? By what? Tolerance? Acceptance? A sense of justice? Equality? Oh, what travesty! How DARE schools attempt to instill these evil values in the future generations? How COULD they TRY to provide the opportunity to create awareness of a social problem, and by doing so, educating the students to be more informed and better citizens?
Again, I'm quoting the frickin American Psychological Association. NOT ACLU or any "liberal" source:
Even though most homosexuals live successful, happy lives, some homosexual or
bisexual people may seek to change their sexual orientation through therapy, sometimes pressured by the influence of family members or religious groups to try and do so. The reality is that homosexuality is not an illness. [Homosexuality] does not require treatment and is not changeable.
It's biological. Way back when... interracial marriages were illegal. I have something for blue-eyed, blonde, tall Caucasian boys. I happen to be a full-blooded Korean, so I have the dark hair and the small eyes. All physical/biological traits. I can dye my hair any color I want (and I have done so before), but they will all grow out. Even Andrew's brownish hair will turn black if the boy stays out of the pool long enough. It's the same case here. If they won't take the political risk of doing the right thing, why not at least keep the definition of "tolerance" so that it includes (as it should) people of any sexual orientation? Claiming some sort of indoctrination of the malleable youth is equivalent to segregating schools because a darker skin tone made somebody immoral and exposure to it brainwashed kids.
Mr. Jennings and other gay rights leaders say the growing opposition to their efforts is in keeping with a predictable trend set off by disputes over issues like same-sex marriage that are playing out on the national stage.
"These are a bunch of people who very much want to remove from public discourse any mention of homosexuality," said James Esseks, litigation director of the Lesbian and Gay Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. "They don't want any mention of the fact that gay people exist."
Sounds like a GAG ORDER.
Two members of the Southern Baptist Convention have prepared a "resolution on homosexuality in public schools," to be introduced at the denomination's annual gathering this month. The resolution implores Baptist churches to determine whether schools in their area have "homosexual clubs or curricula or programs" and, if so, to encourage parents to remove their children from the schools.
"Churches and parents need to be aware of what's going on," said Bruce N. Shortt, a Houston lawyer who is a co-author of the resolution.
After-school clubs known as Gay-Straight Alliances, which draw together students to share common experiences and concerns, have become a particular source of conflict. The issue has roiled a number of communities, including Ashland, Ky.; Klein, Tex.; Hanford, Calif.; and Cleveland, Ga., where a small group of gay and lesbian students were denied permission this year to form an alliance at White County High School.
As a Catholic... one thing I really disagree with the Vatican is their unwillingness to face reality. Contraceptives may or may not be "right," but frankly, they're a whole lot better than AIDS/HIVS. Ignoring a matter completely will not make the problem go away.
Schools can stop talking about homosexuality (and with Bush's sex-education proposal, sex in general). Churches can teach the kids that gay people go to hell. Parents can forbid their children from having friends with different sexual lifestyles. But the fact is... Homosexuality won't go away. If they TRULY care about their kids, they would allow them to be knowledgeable in the area. So that if anything, they can help a friend cope with the difficult social process to adapting to his/her sexuality. So that their children, students, and neighbors can grow up to be open-minded citizens. So that if by chance of nature, their child is not straight, he or she will be more prepared to deal with it. This "problem" isn't going away. Some of these "grown-ups" need to get their heads out of their asses and look at the real world. If not for their own sake but for their posterity.
