Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyOctober 21st, 2008
It’s true that teachers are trying to indoctrinate children with their own views about same-sex marriage without consulting with parents or even giving them the option to not have their kids subjected to the teacher’s political beliefs.
The Californian reports
A Salinas High School teacher who distributed “Yes on Proposition 8” literature to her students last week has been asked to refrain from doing so by administrators.
School children were being exposed to issues about multiple-partner sex and other sexual practices and arrangements without even a parent being informed of content in the material provided.
The literature that was passed out to students says it is important to protect marriage as an institution between a man and a woman.
The one-page statement also says it is critical to vote yes on Proposition 8, saying its failure would eventually force the state to approve “polygamy, polymory, incest, group and other ‘creative’ arrangements for marriage.”
Oh the tragedy. The shock and horror. I should prepare an advertisement claiming that Yes on 8 is teaching school children about “King and Queen and Queen and Niece“.
Latest Posts
Featured Reports
In this original BTB Investigation, we unveil the tragic story of Kirk Murphy, a four-year-old boy who was treated for “cross-gender disturbance” in 1970 by a young grad student by the name of George Rekers. This story is a stark reminder that there are severe and damaging consequences when therapists try to ensure that boys will be boys.
When we first reported on three American anti-gay activists traveling to Kampala for a three-day conference, we had no idea that it would be the first report of a long string of events leading to a proposal to institute the death penalty for LGBT people. But that is exactly what happened. In this report, we review our collection of more than 500 posts to tell the story of one nation’s embrace of hatred toward gay people. This report will be updated continuously as events continue to unfold. Check here for the latest updates.
In 2005, the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote that “[Paul] Cameron’s ‘science’ echoes Nazi Germany.” What the SPLC didn”t know was Cameron doesn’t just “echo” Nazi Germany. He quoted extensively from one of the Final Solution’s architects. This puts his fascination with quarantines, mandatory tattoos, and extermination being a “plausible idea” in a whole new and deeply disturbing light.
On February 10, I attended an all-day “Love Won Out” ex-gay conference in Phoenix, put on by Focus on the Family and Exodus International. In this series of reports, I talk about what I learned there: the people who go to these conferences, the things that they hear, and what this all means for them, their families and for the rest of us.
Prologue: Why I Went To “Love Won Out”
Part 1: What’s Love Got To Do With It?
Part 2: Parents Struggle With “No Exceptions”
Part 3: A Whole New Dialect
Part 4: It Depends On How The Meaning of the Word "Change" Changes
Part 5: A Candid Explanation For "Change"
At last, the truth can now be told.
Using the same research methods employed by most anti-gay political pressure groups, we examine the statistics and the case studies that dispel many of the myths about heterosexuality. Download your copy today!
And don‘t miss our companion report, How To Write An Anti-Gay Tract In Fifteen Easy Steps.
Anti-gay activists often charge that gay men and women pose a threat to children. In this report, we explore the supposed connection between homosexuality and child sexual abuse, the conclusions reached by the most knowledgeable professionals in the field, and how anti-gay activists continue to ignore their findings. This has tremendous consequences, not just for gay men and women, but more importantly for the safety of all our children.
Anti-gay activists often cite the “Dutch Study” to claim that gay unions last only about 1½ years and that the these men have an average of eight additional partners per year outside of their steady relationship. In this report, we will take you step by step into the study to see whether the claims are true.
Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council submitted an Amicus Brief to the Maryland Court of Appeals as that court prepared to consider the issue of gay marriage. We examine just one small section of that brief to reveal the junk science and fraudulent claims of the Family “Research” Council.
The FBI’s annual Hate Crime Statistics aren’t as complete as they ought to be, and their report for 2004 was no exception. In fact, their most recent report has quite a few glaring holes. Holes big enough for Daniel Fetty to fall through.
“Google” is a trademark of Google Inc.
© Box Turtle Bulletin. All Rights Reserved.
Posts 
Posts via daily email:
Kevin
October 21st, 2008
First cousins are already allowed to wed in California, so the “SSM paving the way for incest marriage” argument is flawed.
http://marriage.about.com/cs/marriagelicenses/a/cousin.htm
Also, I think the Californian means “polyamory”, not “polymory”. Polyamory is also legal, as my co-worker has several guys she keeps stringing along.
Ignorance: thy name is “Christian Right”.
Kevin
October 21st, 2008
First cousins are already allowed to wed in California, so the “SSM paving the way for incest marriage” argument is flawed.
marriage.about.com/cs/marriagelicenses/a/cousin.htm
Also, I think the Californian means “polyamory”, not “polymory”. Polyamory is also legal, as my co-worker has several guys she keeps stringing along.
Ignorance: thy name is “Christian Right”.
Willie Hewes
October 22nd, 2008
Polymory? What’s one o’ them?
Also, if you’re talking about marriage rights, there really is no difference between polygamy and polyamoury, but that aside.
I would be such an angry parent if that was my kid…
Duncan
October 22nd, 2008
I have said this before but I feel I should repeat it, even if it is preaching to the choir: the issue of what children hear at school should be about breadth of different opinions, not what any one group of adults think is correct. And children are entirely capable of thinking critically.
Kevin
October 22nd, 2008
Duncan,
Respectfully, I must disagree. Children are biologically programmed to not think critically and to believe what they’re told. Critical thinking skills don’t develope until later in life (and some people apparently don’t develope them at all!)
If adults are telling children that gays are sick and wrong, as most of us were told, then children will act on that until they get to the age to think for themselves – and if they’re indoctrinated into a foul sect of religious intolerance they will never believe otherwise. That’s why we have all of these sad, self-repressed gay people running around saying they’re “ex-gays”…because they (with good reason) find it difficult to go against what was drilled into their heads by gay-haters.
How many gay men and lesbians are in psycho-therapy because of the culture of homophobia they were raised in and live in? This all has its roots in childhood development.
As a side note to others:
Teaching children tolerance isn’t “indoctrination”, like our persecutors claim. That’s a false equivalancy. Teaching children that there are white people, black people, people who eat meat, people who don’t, people who are Jewish, people who are Muslim isn’t indoctrination in cultural diversity. It is teaching children about reality. Teaching children that gays are sick and wrong is indoctrination because it clearly isn’t reality-based, it’s prejudiced, and it is based on fear, politics, and irrational behavior.
The right-wing, conservative Christians want to hi-jack the public schools to preach their brand of religion and that is clearly a breach of Church and State. They have nothing but disdain for the ideals of the Founding Fathers who, like Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, are rolling in their graves seeing how the “priestcraft” and their psychotic, delusional followers have seized the public realm.
Duncan
October 22nd, 2008
I remember disagreeing with my teachers well before I was ten years old. If you didn’t, maybe yours were too timid to express an opinion?
AC
October 24th, 2008
One of the things I love about this site is its objectivity and unwillingness to participate in the underhanded tactics used by the other side.
That being said, teachers pushing their anti-gay views on students is definitely a concern that needs to be addressed. However, in this case, I’m not sure if it’s that clear. If you look at the link in the article, two posters with children in that class have said that the teacher didn’t bring up the issue or hand out prop 8 pamphlets in class, but was a private conversation between the teacher and two students who wanted to discuss the issue. While I disagree with the teacher’s beliefs, I would say that’s a far cry from indoctrinating students about gay marriage.
I don’t know if those posters are telling the truth or not, but if they are, then this needs to be corrected.
Timothy Kincaid
October 24th, 2008
AC,
The post is written with intentional (and obvious) hyperbole.
The point is not that this teacher did some horrible thing, but rather to point out the hypocrisy of those who are so fearful that little Johnny may find out that gay people exist.
AC
October 26th, 2008
Ah, sorry about the misunderstanding. Rereading it now, it makes much more sense. Still, after reading articles like this all the time (only written with full sincerity) from the other side, it can be hard to tell when a piece is satire or not. Thanks for the clarification!
Anita Wagner
October 28th, 2008
Kevin, you said … “Polyamory is also legal, as my co-worker has several guys she keeps stringing along.”
That’s not really how polyamory works. There are people who mess it up certainly, but polyamory as it’s normally practiced isn’t about stringing anyone along. It’s about conducting more than one committed romantic relationship at a time with the full knowledge and consent of all involved.
Unless there is more to the story than you are saying or are aware of, it’s doing your co-worker and her partners an injustice to assume that she’s stringing anyone along. Likely her partners are there because they want to be, and likely she’s plenty committed to making it work – she wouldn’t have them around for long if she weren’t because polyamory doesn’t work without adequate commitment and relationship skills.
Just FYI.
Leave A Comment