In Schools’ Efforts to End Bullying, Some See Agenda

[iandhr]

Source: NY TIMES

HELENA, Mont. — Alarmed by evidence that gay and lesbian students are common victims of schoolyard bullies, many school districts are bolstering their antiharassment rules with early lessons in tolerance, explaining that some children have “two moms” or will grow up to love members of the same sex.




But such efforts to teach acceptance of homosexuality, which have gained urgency after several well-publicized suicides by gay teenagers, are provoking new culture wars in some communities.

Many educators and rights advocates say that official prohibitions of slurs and taunts are most effective when combined with frank discussions, from kindergarten on, about diverse families and sexuality.

Angry parents and religious critics, while agreeing that schoolyard harassment should be stopped, charge that liberals and gay rights groups are using the antibullying banner to pursue a hidden “homosexual agenda,” implicitly endorsing, for example, same-sex marriage.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/us/07bully.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

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My god. What are we going to do about these bigoted assholes

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Zephie]

7. Hey, be nice to Neanderthals - you're insulting them!

Ozzy Osborne is an awesome guy!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1323455/Weve-suspected-official-Ozzy-Osbourne-IS-Neanderthal.html

[Drale]

2. Why is it that "agendas" on the left are evil and bad

but agendas on the right are gods will and great?

[tabasco]

3. "It's our God-given right to hate on gay and sissy children."

---republicon family value homelanders

[Posteritatis]

12. That argument got used in all seriousness in Canada a few months ago

A school district in BC or Alberta - forget which, but I think it was BC - came under fire by a bunch of asshole "parents" who claimed that banning bullying was violating their freedom of conscience and thus unconstitutional.

[benld74]

4. ANYONE who decies a 'hidden homosexual agenda' have far worse issues of

their own to deal with than sticking their noses into an anti bullying campaign. If their Johnnies and Dorthy's kick the snot outa some kid because they have two moms or two dads, they want that to be OK?

[Pisces]

5. Ignorant fools who believe you can teach someone how to become a homosexual.

They are afraid their children will be converted to homosexuality or worse that the kids grow up to think it is ok with God that you are homosexual. Ignorance is hard to fight especially when
rooted in religion.

[iandhr]

11. re: converted to homosexuality

Harvey Milk said "If students took after there teachers there would be a hell of a lot more nuns running around"

[ribrepin]

19. Good one

[alp227]

6. Stop bullying but not intolerance?

Quoting from the article:

"Angry parents and religious critics, while agreeing that schoolyard harassment should be stopped, charge that liberals and gay rights groups are using the antibullying banner to pursue a hidden “homosexual agenda,” implicitly endorsing, for example, same-sex marriage. "

"Candi Cushman, an educational analyst with Focus on the Family, a Christian group, said that early lessons about sexuality and gay parents reflected a political agenda, including legitimizing same-sex marriage. “We need to protect all children from bullying,” Ms. Cushman said. “But the advocacy groups are promoting homosexual lessons in the name of antibullying.” "

These are pretty much empty words to me and the false equivalence of acceptance and promotion. Honestly, if there were really a scientifically-accepted cure for homosexuality, and if sexual orientation were really a choice, there'd be no national gay rights movement wouldn't there? If parents don't want their children to tolerate homosexuality, the parents should either just make their children STFU about "homosexuality is wrong" or just send the children to a religious school or homeschool them.

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. Focus on the Family want to bully adults instead of children

"We need to protect all children from bullying". Gosh, a statement from a normal human being.

"But ..." Oh. You knew there had to be a 'but' from an asshole 'educational analyst' for Focus on the Family. Any genuine 'educational analyst' would think the end to bullying is an absolute good.

"... the advocacy groups are promoting homosexual lessons in the name of antibullying". How the fuck do you stop bullying of homosexuals without talking about homosexuality?

[Bosso 63]

8. Intolerance can be a good thing sometimes.

These people are idiots, and it pisses me off that they have the audacity to suggest that their view has any goddamn merit. You may think that the world is flat, but that doesn't make it true, it just makes you crazy. For the life of me, I can't see any reason that we should "tolerate" people who want to subject children to their lunacy. The notion that it is more important to protect kids from the
"homosexual agenda" rather than bullying, is an idea that is so fucked up, that I think we should pass a law that requires people who believe this tripe to wear a bell at all times so the public can hear them when they approach. End of rant.

[Odin2005]

9. This is why nothing is fixed, school boards are dominated by RW idiots...

...or by folks that are so scared of them they give in to every demand.

[radhika]

10. I see an agenda in this issue too....

Right Wing, Christian Evangelical and homophobic. Let no group other than their own be respected and entitled to a decent respected life.

[bluestateguy]

13. These parents should be encouraged to take their kids out of the public school system

and homeschool or private school, then they can leave the rest of us alone.

[PBass]

15. Agree - and actually, kick the bullies out of school

or give them long suspensions that will have long-lasting impact, or make it into a police matter - that would also be appropriate IMO.

[David__77]

16. Um... perhaps the "agenda" of universal human rights?

Are "agendas" such a nefarious concept? It's not as if there's anything stealth here - it's very clear.

[Loki]

17. The only hidden agenda is that "Christ"ians want to teach

my children hate. They will have to come through me first.

[Arugula Latte]

18. Sigh. So typical.

Religious idiocy and thuggery runs rampant in this country, and we're all supposed to bow down to it, otherwise we're "intolerant" of "faith."

Absolutely disgusting.

[BillH76]

20. How did bullying get to be a "gay" issue?

Many kids who are bullied are not gay. Some of them are just different from the other kids in some way--they're smaller, or wear glasses, or are members of a despised minority group.

Bullying is wrong no matter who it is aimed at. The US bullies nations and peoples all over the world, including its own citizens. This is wrong, and not because its victims are homosexuals.

[Posteritatis]

21. People managed to reframe it that way the last couple months to dismiss it.

Add to that most of the same people actively like bullying in the first place; add to that the fact that one of the default kinds of bullying revolves around gay slurs even if the target isn't, and you get a perfect recipe to encourage continuing it in general.

[radhika]

22. As a fat kid with thick glasses - I totally got bullied f/t

[BillH76]

23. Anderson Cooper & Ellen Degeneres helped make it a "gay" issue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OScoG4hEbyM

Rachel Maddow Maddow and Barney Frank helped.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaIDNxgIuuA