State Education Board Asked to Halt School Board’s Sex Education Push
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX) – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
[Montgomery County] – On June 21, Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX), and Family Leader Network petitioned the Maryland State Board of Education to reverse a June 12 decision by the Montgomery County Board of Education to implement its controversial sex ed curriculum in the countys 8th and 10th grades in the fall of 2007.
Montgomery County has shown incredible arrogance by voting to adopt the revised health education curriculum before the State Board renders a decision on the legality of this very controversial curriculum, according to John Garza, attorney for the groups.
The three citizen grassroots groups filed an appeal with the Maryland State Board of Education and Dr. Nancy Grasmick, state superintendent, on March 7th after the Montgomery County Board of Education adopted a new sex ed curriculum which, according to Garza, is just a repackage of the 2004 curriculum which was thrown out by a Federal Court judge in 2005 when CRC and PFOX brought suit. The Court found that the curriculum violated students First Amendment Rights, including freedom of speech and religion.
The new revised curriculum was piloted among three high schools and three middle schools this spring after the State Board refused the groups request for a stay. The six schools were Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS, Sherwood HS, Watkins Mill HS, Argyle MS, Julius West MS, and Westland MS.
The groups expressed concern about the normalization of anal sex by the curriculum without warning about the increased HIV/AIDS risk of anal sex (even with a condom); the labeling as homophobic for children holding traditional religious or moral beliefs regarding homosexuality; the exclusion of any information regarding ex-gays; the inclusion of transgender as a sexual orientation, even though it is characterized by the American Psychological Association as a mental disorder; the claim that homosexuality is innate, although there is no scientific or medical study that points definitively to its origin. Francis S. Collins, head of the Human Genome Project in Rockville, says sexual orientation is NOT hardwired by DNA.
There is lots of politically correct misinformation in there, says Garza, who claims that Maryland state laws and the Montgomery County Boards own education regulations were also violated.
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Courtesy of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays – Copyright, 2007. All Rights Reserved.