The Gaytheist Agenda

A recent report found that gay is the most frequently used term of abuse in UK schools. According to the report 83% of teachers stated they’d heard students using the word against other pupils as a slur.

For the current generation, “gay”, “bitch” and “slag” are the most frequently used terms of abuse, according to a survey by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL).
They are used by children of all ages, from nursery school upwards. But the worst offenders are secondary school pupils, says the teaching union.

The most popular by far is “gay”. Of the teachers interviewed, 83% said they heard it being used regularly and much more than its nearest rivals, bitch (59%) and slag (45%). So how did it achieve this dubious honour?

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“Every generation grows up with a whole lexicon of homosexual insults, in my day it was ‘poofter’ or ‘bender’,” says slang lexicographer Tony Thorne. “They were used much more because they were considered more offensive than ‘gay’, which is more neutral.

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“It’s only in the last four years that I’ve documented it being used so much by young people. It’s what we call a ‘vogue’ word, which is a fashionable word.”

One reason for this increase in use could be because “gay” has partly lost its sexual connotations among young people, he says. While still pejorative, for the majority of youngsters it has replaced words such as “lame”.

“I have interviewed scores of school kids about this and they are always emphatic that it has nothing at all to do with hostility to homosexuals,” says Mr Thorne, compiler of the Dictionary of Contemporary Slang. “It is nearly always used in contexts where sexual orientation and sexuality are completely irrelevant.”

The ATL survey seems to say otherwise, lumping it in with clear insults such as poofter and batty boy. But Katie, a 12-year-old from Colchester, knows it in different context. A bad pair of trainers is much more likely to be called “gay” than a person, she says.

“It’s used as more of a way to tease a friend rather than have a real go at someone. I wouldn’t call someone ‘gay’ because I know that’s sort of bullying them.”

Here is where the problem lies. When a person is using gay as an insult it doesn’t matter whether they’re using it to mean gay or lame. Either way their intent is to characterize gay as bad and the end result is the same; gay is associated with undesirableness. That is why whatever the intent, use of gay as a pejorative must be considered inappropriate.

But while “gay” may have changed for some, it is still being used as a means of bullying, as are many other homophobic insults (see table, above). Last year, the Westminster government announced the first guidelines for schools on how to deal with homophobic bullying.

Gay lobby group Stonewall says 65% of young gay people experience homophobic bullying. And many who aren’t gay also get labelled as such.

“It’s a form of peer group control,” says psychologist Helen Cowie. “Boys have to be masculine and macho and anyone who isn’t must go along with it or face being bullied. It’s a form of bullying that domineering people seek out vulnerable people and school age is a time of emergent sexuality which is itself a vulnerable time.”

Precisely why any anti-gay slurs of all kinds must be strictly disallowed. They are harmful by their very nature and only foster an environment of intolerance.

Fellow psychologist Ian Rivers says the potency of such words is in the fact they “go to the very core of who we are”. Yet sexual orientation is also invisible.

“It’s not about your heritage or your race, it’s not about things which someone can see.” So it can’t even be challenged, he says. “How can children demonstrate that they are heterosexual. There’s no effective recourse and this is what makes it so effective as a bullying tactic.”

Donald Christie, professor in the Department of Childhood and Primary Studies, says “sexual orientation” is a source of potential vulnerability. “If there’s an area of life that children themselves feel insecure about they’re aware of their own vulnerability. The whole point of bullying is about identifying and accentuating weakness in others.”

Such is the insidious nature of calling someone gay. How can they prove otherwise? Even if they publicly engage in behavior with somebody of the same gender people can easily accuse them either of acting to hide the truth or of being bisexual. It’s a no-win situation in a homophobic environment. And whether or not the person is gay, the belief of others that they are opens them up to myriad forms of abuse.

So despite what some may think about their casual tossing about of words, or their “right” to preach their cherry-picked Biblical viewpoints about gay people, it’s important to keep in mind that words do have power. Names can and do impact the lives of others in a very significant way. Please pass it on and help end the cycle of hurt.

A few days ago I posted a story from The Daily Mail about Ophelia Kirwan. The story in The Daily Mail claimed that Ophelia’s parents were considering cosmetic surgery for the toddler, who hasDown’s Syndrome, so that she might fit in better with her non-disabled peers. Being a staunch disability-rights advocate I came out very much against that idea.

I have been contacted by Mr. Laurence and Mrs. Chelsea Kirwan and they have stated that the story in the Daily Mail was entirely false and obtained under false pretenses. Here is their e-mail as follows.

I would recommend that you read Chelsea’s and my comments in response to the Mail
Article. Please see Ophelia’s web site Ophelia My Life So Far where the comments are posted. You can also read my interchange with the ‘Mail on Sunday’ writer, Bonnie Estridge prior to publication of the article. As a friend of mine with a Down syndrome child said, ‘the only thing you can believe in the Mail is the date!’ This article by Amanda Cable infers that she had an interview with the Kirwans prior to writing the March 10 piece. Neither I nor Chelsea has ever spoken to Amanda Cable. We never stated or implied the title. Ophelia is reported as living in Knightsbridge
whereas the Mail commissioned her photographs at her home in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA. All of the interviews between Bonnie Estridge of the ‘Mail on Sunday’ and Chelsea were held by transatlantic telephone calls.

We have never recommended or even considered cosmetic surgery for Ophelia. We are far more interested in her health, as well as her physical and mental development. Of course we love Ophelia as she is.

The decision to have surgery on a child with congenital anomalies is a complex one taken between the parents and their surgeon. We should leave that decision to the individual family and their medical advisors to decide on its own merits. Reconstructive surgery for congenital anomalies of all kinds has improved the quality of life of millions of children. As a plastic surgeon I have spent my life correcting congenital deformities in the USA and in Third World countries, as part of charitable missions

Please take the time to read our comments on Ophelia’s web site as well as her diary which documents Ophelia’s progress over the last 2 years and our emotions during that period.

Lastly, Chelsea and I were assured that this was a mother daughter article for Mother’s Day without any mention of me or plastic surgery. If we had known otherwise we would never have been a party to this shameful article which is a disservice to all individuals with disabilities and to the Down syndrome community in particular. We have always championed research into Down syndrome and that is why in the original article of March 2, Bonnie Estridge gives the names of the charities we support. Neither charity has any interest in cosmetic surgery but is primarily concerned with developmental progress and quality of life issues.
Laurence and Chelsea Kirwan

Thank you for your letter, Mr. and Mrs. Kirwan. I’m pleased to discover that you love your daughter just as she is and wish you well in your dealings with The Daily Mail.

It appears the Tangipahoa Parish School Board takes a long time to learn it’s lessons, because the ACLU is in the process of suing them for the seventh time for violating the civil rights of students.

In the 1990s, the ACLU sued the board on behalf of anonymous plaintiffs who were upset over prayer policies in the schools. Parents complained that youngsters were routinely pressured to take part in prayers at football games and other school events. In one case, a football coach instructed the players to bow their heads, touch someone nearby and recite the Lord’s Prayer.

The ACLU won that case. A few years later, the board got the bright idea to paste a disclaimer in its science books, warning the kids about evolution. The board lost that one, too.

Now the board is back in court again. This time, the issue is prayer before board meetings. In August 2007, the board adopted a policy stating that clergy from “religious congregations with an established presence in the local community” will be invited to give invocations prior to school board meetings. The board president gets to decide who makes the cut, essentially giving him veto power over the prayers.

“Yet again the Tangipahoa Parish School Board has indicated that it favors some residents over others, and would rather waste taxpayer money on litigation than follow the law,” Marjorie R. Esman, Executive Director of the ACLU Foundation of Louisiana, said in a press release. “The Constitution does not permit school boards to endorse or promote religion, because the government must remain neutral to religion. The Tangipahoa Parish School Board is well aware of this bedrock legal principle, but chooses to flout the law rather than to obey it.”

This new lawsuit marks the seventh time the ACLU has sued the Tangipahoa board. Many of the lawsuits have been filed on behalf of anonymous plaintiffs. They fear reprisal if their names were made public…

Many of the plaintiffs have remained anonymous fearing reprisal, yet it’s always RW Christians crying “persecution”. This school board has been sued six times previously for illegally imposing Christianity on students, yet it’s always RW Christians crying “persecution”. It’s obvious that RW Christians have no real concept of the word persecution. I also have the sneaking suspicion that the ACLU is not yet done with the Tangipahoa Parish School Board.

Why, you might ask? Because they believe it will help her “fit in better” with others if she looks more like her non-disabled peers.

Ophelia Kirwan is a beguiling toddler with wide eyes and a mop of blonde hair. At the age of two, she’s too young to know that she has Down’s syndrome, or to understand why this makes her different from other little girls.

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At the weekend, her parents - a world-renowned plastic surgeon and his surgically-enhanced wife - admitted they are considering altering their daughter’s appearance with surgery in the future to help her become more ‘accepted’ by society.

Laurence Kirwan insisted that he would make that decision if Ophelia - who is two this month - reached the age of 18 and was being unfairly judged on how she looked.

The procedure, he explained in the blunt words of a surgeon, would correct “eyes slightly wide apart, flat nasal bridge, thin lips, tongue that sticks out, thick neck”.

But would the decision to erase these tell-tale features of Down’s syndrome be made with their daughter’s happiness in mind? Or would it simply be an attempt to mould a child into a society which cares more about looks than vulnerable children?

Her mother Chelsea said: “It just isn’t right that Ophelia and others like her should be judged on how they look - particularly if they are turned down for a good job that they could handle.

“It’s a matter of self-esteem: if you’re not happy with yourself then why shouldn’t you fix something? All I want is for Ophelia to be happy.”

I get the impression from her words and from the picture that accompanies the story that Mom is much more hung up on appearance than many people are, and Ophelia will ever be. The fact that she herself has gone under the knife for vanity only reinforces my suspicions.

At least one other couple have already gone ahead with radical and painful cosmetic surgery to alter their daughter’s Down’s syndrome “appearance” to help her “fit in” with her peers.

By the time Georgia Bussey was five, her parents Kim and David, from Pimlico, South-West London, had put her through the ordeal of surgery three times.

In the first procedure at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, her tongue was reduced to stop it protruding. Then, folds of skin were removed from the inner corners of her eyes to take away the “slantiness” characteristic of Down’s syndrome. Finally, she had surgery to stop her ears sticking out.

The couple - who deliberated for a year before arranging for their daughter’s face to be surgically altered - claimed, like the Kirwans, that they were simply motivated by love for their child.

I don’t call subjecting a child to multiple painful and potentially deadly surgeries to take away the appearance of a disability “love”. The disability itself is still there, and erasing merely the outward features of it does nothing but feed into the notion that surface perfection is of utmost importance.

Kim insisted: “We live in a society that judges people by the way they look. Society is not going to change overnight - so Georgia has to fit into society, rather than society fitting into the way she is.

“The people who criticise us are usually people who don’t have Down’s children of their own. They don’t see the teasing that goes on and the problems Down’s children have. I just want to give Georgia a helping hand - an “edge” to get on in life.”

I worked with people who have developmental disabilities, including Down’s Syndrome, for over 20 years. We never did anything to try to hide or change their appearances, nor did we attempt to hide them away from the world. Instead we worked to change societies misperceptions and increase acceptance.

Moreover, there are many parents with Down’s children who are horrified at the idea of somehow airbrushing their children’s appearance, as though having the condition is something to be ashamed of.

Some claim that the procedures - on a child who could scarcely comprehend the pain they were suffering - were tantamount to child abuse.

Rosa Monckton, the wife of former newspaper editor Dominic Lawson and mother of 12-year-old Domenica, who has Down’s syndrome, agrees.

“What these children bring to our lives is something so deep and extraordinary, it is humanity stripped to the bone,” she says.

“It is not about how they look, but who they are. First and foremost, they are our children, children to be loved and cherished - not tampered with and altered because they look slightly different.

“It’s a sad indictment of what our must-have society has become - the expectation is for something perfect. Anything which isn’t aesthetically perfect - be it breasts, bodies or the faces of children just out of babyhood - must be fixed until it is. These are grotesquely skewed values.

“Our natural instinct as parents is to cherish and love our children. Not to gaze at the faces of toddlers and wonder what we might change surgically later on.

“The thought of allowing your own child’s face to be cut open in an attempt to make them more ‘acceptable’ to society is appalling. Perhaps these parents are struggling to come to terms with the shock - and it is a shock - of finding out that your child won’t be exactly as you expected.”

I couldn’t agree more. To complain that society expects perfection while you feed into that by cutting up your child is obscene. If it allowed the child function better–helped them walk or grasp objects better–it would be a different story. I can even understand correcting significant deformities, but normal features of Down’s Syndrome do not fall into that category.

Children and adults with disabilities have long fought perceptions that they’re imperfect and demands that they change to please others. The inability of some parents to accept their children’s disability has led to abuse and even murder. Will parents who can’t even tolerate their child’s appearance of disability be able to tolerate the other manifestations of the child’s disability?

I truly feel for Ophelia, should she be forced to endure this nonsense, and for the others like her.

It is another victory for Separation of Church and State, though I’m sure the RRRW will be wringing their hands over it. All of the details are available in this press release:

Texas School Board Agrees to Stop Teaching Unconstitutional Bible Class in Public Schools

 

Agreement With Ector County School Board Will Prevent Unconstitutional Curriculum From Being Taught

 

ODESSA, TEXAS - March 5 - The Ector County School Board agreed today to stop teaching a course in its public schools that unconstitutionally promotes a particular interpretation of the Bible that is not shared by Jews, Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and most Protestants.

The agreement settles a federal lawsuit filed in May 2007 that was brought by eight Odessa parents and taxpayers who argued that the course, created by a religious organization, violated their constitutional right to religious liberty by promoting specific religious doctrines to children in their community. The parents were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas, People For the American Way Foundation and the law firm of Jenner and Block LLP.

“This agreement is a victory for those who wish religious education to be in the hands of parents and not public school officials,” said Dr. T. Jeremy Gunn, Director of the ACLU’s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. “It is unacceptable for government officials to decide which religious beliefs are true and which are not and then use the public school system as a means of proselytizing children.”

The lawsuit challenged the school board’s decision last year to teach a controversial Bible course created by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools (NCBCPS), a private group that promotes its own particular interpretation of the Bible. The NCBCPS has been criticized by recognized biblical scholars for its religious bias and unsound scholarship.

Under the agreement, Ector County schools may not teach the current course after this school year. If the board decides to offer a different Bible course in the future, the course must follow strict legal standards for objectivity and may not be based on the NCBCPS curriculum.

“Public schools may offer courses about the Bible if they do so in an objective and balanced way,” said Judith E. Schaeffer, Legal Director of People For the American Way Foundation. “But the evidence is overwhelming that these constitutional principles have been ignored in Ector County schools. Students have been taught one religious interpretation of the Bible. That’s not only violating the Constitution, it’s also giving students a bad education.”

The elective course was being taught in two high schools in Odessa, Texas — Permian High School and Odessa High School.

Among other things, the Bible course required students to give “true” or “false” answers to questions that should be a matter of religious faith. Public school teachers sought to promote religious life lessons by having students memorize biblical passages and then discuss how the passages affected their lives, the groups filing the lawsuit said. The course also presented an unbalanced view of American history that promoted specific religious beliefs that is in conflict with objective scholarly standards.

Douglas C. Hildebrand, an ordained elder and deacon at a local Presbyterian Church and one of the longtime Odessa residents who was a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said it is inappropriate for one set of religious beliefs to be promoted over others.

“Religion is an essential component of my life and the life of my family, but this course did nothing more than advocate certain religious views that are not shared by everyone,” Hildebrand said. “It seems as though a church had invaded the public school system - and it wasn’t my church.”

Lisa Graybill, Legal Director for the ACLU of Texas, said sound scholarship was never the primary objective of the course.

“This class was never about educating students, but rather the promotion of one particular set of religious beliefs to the exclusion of all others,” Graybill said. “There are a number of ways in which religion’s role in society, history and literature can be constitutionally taught to students, but that was clearly not the objective of this particular course.”

The NCBCPS course has been seriously criticized by Bible scholars for its lack of accuracy, ignorance of scholarly research, and biased promotion of a particular religious interpretation of the Bible. Although the NCBCPS defends its curriculum as being constitutional, its own website at one time revealed a different agenda, urging people to contact NCBCPS as a “first step to get God back in your public school” – a designation that was removed after the lawsuit was filed.

According to Daniel Mach, the Director of Litigation of the ACLU’s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, Ector County school officials now have a much clearer understanding of what the Constitution does and does not allow.

“The agreement gives the school board a clear roadmap if it decides to adopt a new course,” Mach said. “We trust that any future curriculum will be appropriate for students of all faiths – including nonbelievers – and that it will respect the religious liberty of all Odessans.”

A copy of the original complaint is available online

Additional information about the case and the issue of teaching about religion in public schools can be found online Bible in Public Schools or Religious Freedom.

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.

Ava Lowry is the driven teen behind Peace Takes Courage and Ava’s Army. She has also created an amazing series of videos that have drawn both ardent fans and, sadly, vicious opponents.

Ava’s latest video presents some of the hate-mail she has received from RWers over time. Viewers are warned that there is hate-speech, excessively foul language and other content unfit for children and those with delicate constitutions.

The Moral Values Party indeed. Those who threaten or wish harm upon others over a difference of opinion are truly depraved. But I expect nothing more from the party that resorts to bullying at every turn.

I commend Ava for continuing her quest to advance the cause of peace, encourage the youth of America to believe in themselves, and make the world safe for progressive causes. Ava is a true asset to America and the world.

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.

PEKIN, Ill. - A woman accused of killing her autistic daughter testified Friday that she attempted to suffocate the 3-year-old with a pillow three days before she succeeded with a plastic garbage bag.

Karen McCarron said she couldn’t go through with it using the pillow. When prosecutor Kevin Johnson asked her how long she held the bag over the toddler’s head soon after, she replied about two minutes — until little Katie stopped struggling.

In a videotaped confession played in court Thursday, McCarron said she began having thoughts of hurting her daughter a year before the May 2006 slaying but put them out of her mind. On the day of the killing, though, the thoughts were stronger than ever.

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McCarron, a former pathologist, testified she felt responsible for Katie’s autism because she allowed the child to get vaccinated. Some people believe autism is caused by a mercury-containing preservative once used in childhood vaccines.

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Karen McCarron said she killed her child hoping to “fix her” and give her peace in heaven.

“Maybe I could fix her this way, and in heaven she would be complete,” she said on the tape.

Karen McCarron said on the videotape that she took her daughter’s body back to her own house and put her in bed. She then went to the store, bought ice cream and returned to her mother’s home to get the garbage bag because, “if things get bad, their house would be searched.”

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McCarron told police she felt like a failure because of the child’s autism and was sad and hurt because the child couldn’t interact with her very well.

“I loved Katie very much, but I hated the autism so, so much,” McCarron said. “I hated what it was doing to her. … I just wanted autism out of my life.”

As if that’s not enough:

Karen McCarron wished her autistic daughter was dead, said she’d rather have a child with cancer and even refused to call the girl by name before killing her, McCarron’s mother in-law testified Wednesday.

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Witnesses have said she constantly criticized her daughter’s progress and the team of family members, therapists, teachers and care providers hired to help her.

They said the topic of every conversation with her revolved around curing Katie’s autism. Negativity and hatefulness were ceaseless when she discussed the child, who they say she never hugged, kissed or praised after she was diagnosed with autism.

“She looked at Katie as a problem, and she got rid of her problem,” Jennifer McCarron testified. “There’s nothing more to it than that.”

This is disturbing to me on so many levels.

Antivaccine nuttery helped lead a mother to feel guilt for her child’s autism. Religion helped pepetuate the nonsense that Katie would be “perfected” and “better off” in heaven.

Nonetheless Karen McCarron acted on her own. Whether she had/has a mental illness she cruelly murdered her three-year-old daughter with premeditation and took pains to both move the body and hide the evidence. Whatever societal influences and health conditions played a role, she must face the penalties for her actions. Katie already has paid the ultimate price.