The Gaytheist Agenda

As you may have read here previously, Representative Stacey Campfield (R) proposed a bill whereby elementary and middle schools in TN would be banned from teaching or discussing any form of sexuality other than heterosexuality. I’m pleased to report that his attempt failed miserably.

“I’m trying to find out where this bill came from or is it part of your re-election legislation,” an annoyed Rep. Ulysses Jones asked sponsor Rep. Stacey Campfield, a Knoxville Republican.
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The lawmakers argued and were gaveled into silence at times when they raised their voices, and in the end, the House panel sent the bill to the State Board of Education, effectively killing the proposal.

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Lilith Jackson, 9, her hair highlighted in bright pink, sat on the front row at the meeting with her two moms, Audra Kelly and Ardyce Mercier.

They think teachers at her school, the Brown Academy public magnet school in Chattanooga, should be able to talk about families with two mommies or two daddies as being healthy family structures.

“They should be teaching about other kinds of relationships and families,” Kelly said. She agreed that teachers should not being talking about sexuality in terms of “who is sleeping with whom.”

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Groups ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to the Tennessee Education Association said no Tennessee schools are promoting gay rights.

“There is not a problem here,” said Hedy Weinberg of the ACLU of Tennessee. “It is a clear attack on one community.”

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Campfield said he had heard complaints from two school districts but had not verified them. He went on to say that the Education Department could opt to include the topic as part of school curriculum.

“It is possible,” said Bruce Opie of the Department of Education. “But it’s highly unlikely and highly improbable.”

Campfield noted a 2006 resolution by the National Education Association saying that activities and programs must increase “acceptance” of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people.

Tennessee Education Association lobbyist Jerry Winters insisted that TEA does not advocate for gays in schools.

Campfield lost one other battle: He asked for a roll call vote on any motion. Chairman Rep. Joe Towns denied the request. It appeared the subcommittee voted along party lines, with Democrats choosing to send the bill to the Board of Education.

My take? Campfield pulled the two “complaints” out of his backside as part of his anti-gay agenda. Kudos to Rep. Jones for his refusal to tolerate Campfield’s blatantly bigoted proposal. It’s high time such hateful legislation be recognized for what it is.

Florida is not known for its gay-friendly atmosphere. Mayor Jim Naugle of Ft. Lauderdale alone is well known for his blatantly homophobic opinions and propositions. So it’s no surprise it’s in the news again for oppressing the rights of LGBT individuals.

A Florida high school has been trampling the First Amendment rights of students who support equal rights for gay people, according to a federal lawsuit filed today by the American Civil Liberties Union. In its lawsuit, the ACLU described an atmosphere of fear and censorship at Ponce de Leon High School, where the school board’s attorney says even expressions like a rainbow sticker may mean students are members of an “illegal organization.”

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The ACLU sent a letter in November to the school board’s attorney on behalf of Gillman, asking for clarification as to whether a variety of symbols and slogans, such as the rainbow flag or “I support my gay friends,” would be allowed at the school. The school district replied that it would not allow any expressions of support for gay rights at all because such speech would “likely be disruptive.” The district then went even further, claiming that such symbols and slogans were signs that students were part of a “secret/illegal organization.”

The letter was sent after Gillman and other students approached the ACLU about an atmosphere in which students say they were routinely intimidated by school officials for things like writing “gay pride” on their arms and notebooks or wearing rainbow-themed clothing. According to students, problems began in September when a lesbian student tried to report to school officials that she was being harassed by other students because she is a lesbian. Instead of addressing the harassment, students say the school responded with intimidation and censorship.

“Because the Supreme Court has held that students have a right to free speech at school unless that speech disrupts the educational process, many administrators think they can just slap the label ‘disruptive’ on anything they don’t like and get away with stomping on students’ First Amendment rights. The law doesn’t work that way,” said Benjamin James Stevenson, a staff attorney for the ACLU of Florida. “School should be a marketplace of ideas, where students share new ideas and learn about themselves and others. Just talking about gay rights or any other topic outside of class isn’t inherently disruptive.”

In the complaint filed today, the ACLU asked the court for an injunction to stop Ponce de Leon High School officials from suppressing students’ First Amendment rights in the future.

“Writing something like ‘I support gay rights’ on your notebook doesn’t mean you’re part of some secret conspiracy or shadowy organization,” said Christine Sun, a staff attorney with the ACLU’s national Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project. “Schools shouldn’t be in the business of trying to frighten students into silence.”

It’s sad that it is so far gone that the ACLU must intervene on behalf of the students. Human rights are suppressed to the point that saying something like I’m not ashamed to be gay is considered disruptive and a sign that the student is part of an “illegal organization”. Have we returned to the McCarthy era? Is Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell now the official policy for high school students? When will the purges begin?

Excuse me, I realize am going a bit overboard. I’ve just read the second story in a row about these gag policies for students and I’m utterly frustrated. It seems that overall we are regressing rather than advancing with regard to rights for LGBTs in every way, shape and form across the nation and I don’t know where it will end.

The NEA (National Education Association) issued a resolution in 1994 indicating their support for equal treatment of LGBT students in school settings. To that end they recommend accurate information on the diversity of sexual orientations and gender identities as well as anti-bullying measures.

But Representative Stacey Campfield of Knoxville won’t hear of it. He filed a bill last week that would prevent elementary and middle schools in TN discussing any sexual orientation other than heterosexuality. Not only would heterosexual students not be told of the existence of LGBT students, but LGBT students (or students with LGBT family members) could not discuss matters of importance to them. Effectively LGBT people would not exist to elementary and middle school students.

“This is the kind of bill that you would have seen introduced back in the 1990s as a reaction to SpongeBob SquarePants or Heather Has Two Mommies,” says Tommie Simmons with the Shelby County Committee of the Tennessee Equality Project. The group advocates equal rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people.

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“I think the schools should stick to the basics: reading, writing, and arithmetic. And maybe some civics,” says Campfield. “But teaching transgenderism to middle school students … I don’t think that’s the road we should go down. I think that’s what parents should be doing.”

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“Why does [Campfield] feel the need to take control of what’s taught in a school system away from local boards of education and away from local communities?” asks Earl Wiman, president of the Tennessee Education Association. Campfield’s bill allows discussion of heterosexuality because he wants students to learn biology and the science of reproduction.

“If I were to say ‘Jack and Jill went up the hill’ or ‘George Washington and Martha Washington were husband and wife,’ there are groups out there that would say we were pushing a heterosexual agenda. To keep those lawsuits from coming, I thought we should still be able to talk about that side of it,” Campfield says.

Over the years, Campfield has proposed other controversial legislation, such as replacing the state’s food tax with a tax on pornography and requiring the state to issue death certificates for aborted fetuses. In 2005, Campfield compared the state’s Black Caucus to the Ku Klux Klan when they refused to let him join because he is white.

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Wiman worries the bill could lead to further alienation of gay students or students of gay parents.

“We have such a high adolescent suicide rate, and a large number of those killing themselves are struggling with sexual orientation,” Wiman says. “It’s a real concern for us that we be able to help boys and girls without some kind of arbitrary restrictions.”

This sounds like another deluded RW attempt to thwart the so-called “Homosexual Agenda” by preventing any mention of the existence of LGBT people to young children. It seems to be analogous to their “abstinence only” sex-education policy whereby they believe that if you merely tell teens don’t do it, then say nothing of birth control or anything else they’ll never consider having sex. The truth is that LGBT people are born every day, and ignoring their existence will not erase them from reality. Nor will it stop them from being L, G, B or T.

I hope that TN does the right thing and tosses this piece of proposed legislation in the wastebasket where it belongs. The teachers and students deserve better.