Who is Bullying Whom?

My twelve year old daughter brought home a permission slip for a Health Education Class that was being taught at her school. As a rule, my husband and I claim the right to teach our own kids about their body, sexuality, and health. So my daughter was the only one who did not attend. At the end of the day I inquired about what her friends said. She indicated to me that Health Education was about “Bullying.” I did not have to wonder for too long what bullying had to do with health education. This morning when I opened my email I found an article announcing the new Assistant Deputy Secretary in the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, Kevin Jennings, a leading advocate for homosexuality, bisexuality, and transexuality in schools. Jennings is founder and former Executive Director of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). "This man's work and his agenda are exactly why we've seen the radical pro-homosexuality curriculum pushed across California. He is now more strongly positioned to implement his agenda nationwide," said Karen England, Executive Director of Capitol Resource Institute. California schools are becoming “Safe Schools” where homosexuality is promoted through instruction implemented under the guise of bullying, harassment, and name calling…often there is no distinguishing between “mistreatment” of a person and “disagreement.” The article quotes a local advocate of multi-sexual instruction, Ron Moody, Alameda Board of Education Vice President who voiced his intention at a Board Meeting saying that, "You can have the wrong beliefs, but that's something that should be taught at home," he said. During the same meeting, Mooney and other Board Members successfully opposed an opt-out provision.

There should be two red flags in this statement, one; that anything except multi-sexual lifestyle are “wrong beliefs” and two; that the Board went on to oppose an “opt out provision” which would steal the right of the parent to opt out of a specific program, like I did with my own child. I believe they call that bullying. Are we ready to be labeled as “wrong” and to have our children told that their parents are teaching them wrong principles? Do we know what is being taught to our children while they are in school? Do we exercise the right to opt our kids out of programs that indoctrinate them and do we consider that some education should not be left to public education while we embrace the joy of teaching our children about these things in our homes. As parents we need to do the following:

1. Be informed about what is being taught to our children in school. Ask our children, ask the teachers and ask the staff at the school. Dig deeper, speak with the teacher that is teaching the class. Last year in response to my inquiry on Health Education, I received a skeleton of an outline that gave no indication of what was going to be in the class. I exercised my right to “opt-out.”
2. Teach our own children about sexuality and health. Make it a part of our every day conversation even a t the dinner table. Answer our child’s question when asked, that is when the child needs the answer. Do not shame children for asking questions, a person’s sexuality should be honored not shamed.
3. Be aware that kids talk on the playground, and that many times children as young as six and seven are already having conversations that include sexuality content. Children with older siblings learn sooner and then love to share at school.
4. Be “the authority”, or the one who will get the answers for our own children, if it is not us as parents…it will be someone else of which we have no control.
5. Do you believe that you have the “wrong beliefs”? If not then, exercise your right to speak up even in public …Remember, it is easy to promote a lie if no one speaks up against it. Many times people will speak up in the safety of home but will remain silent in public. We cannot continue to remain silent any more than we can accept the label of having the “wrong beliefs.”

Schools are not the enemy; rather they too are a pawn in a larger game. Many times teachers must teach things that they too disagree with. Gays are not the enemy. The real issue here the growing trend in America to villanize and thereby control others that hold a different view point. Ironically, the issue boils down to bullying others to force them to hold a particular view. I respect the individual right of people to choose a lifestyle. I do not want a multi-sexual lifestyle force-fed to my children in public school. I do not want my child labeled as a bigot or a bully for disagreeing with a lifestyle. Disagreement is not mistreatment. We can disagree and still respect individual choice. If we are content to move into a society where we cannot express disagreement, we are content to be bullied and to loose our identity, our voice, and our very rights as Americans.

Copyright 2009








California School District to Teach Elementary Kids about Homosexuality Compulsory LGBT curriculum pushes 'political agenda' on schoolkids, California parents charge