Religion shames education and leaves us with NARTH crackpots

I don’t see the world in black & white, ‘with us or against us,’ ‘which side are you on?’ terms. There are few absolutes in life and most everything is better classified through a spectrum. But some issues have been forced and now stand before the public demanding to a decision and it’s time we made up our minds. Lets look at how we talk about homosexuality in schools. Along that issue's spectrum are the parents who think kids ought not be exposed to sexuality at such ‘young ages.’ You’d be surprised what people tell me is too young. I’ve been told 10 and 11-year-olds are babies, too immature, who will be scarred for life if they hear any whisper of how human sexuality functions and the diversity of sexualities. How sad that some parents consider kids who’re right on the brink of sexual development to be so fragile. The fact is kids are a lot smarter than you think and they talk to each other, gasp, freely. This generation, more than any other ever, are surrounded, inescapably, by outside media influences from every angle. But, you know, there’s a lot of misinformation out there, some of it deliberate. It’d be nice if parents would get on board with teaching their children early on with a trustworthy voice of authority about these issues rather than delude themselves into thinking they’re successfully shielding their children from talk of sexuality. If you think your kids aren’t mature enough to learn about sexual issues because you’ve never heard them bring it up, consider that they may feel the same way about you.

What’s appalling is that even at the high school level there continue to be debates about what is acceptable to teach and make no mistake, it’s as much about what is acceptable to the culture of the community as it is about the benefit of the actual students. While some would say it’s OK to teach children the simple message of tolerance there remains those who hold stubborn that homosexuals ought to be shunned, shamed and closeted.

Remember 6 years ago when “Doctor” James Dobson of Focus on the Family accused Spongebob Squarepants of being gay, of teaching children to be gay and of supporting homosexuality? Well that scene’s playing itself out again in Michigan:

Howell High School teacher Jay McDowell on
Thursday during a peaceful "Diversity Teach-In:
Addressing Bullying In Our Schools and Community"
symposium recognized Howell Public Schools is
taking steps to combat bullying of all types.

He said the district this week brought in Dr. Marcia
McEvoy, a licensed psychologist who specializes in
violence prevention, to work with Howell High
students. McEvoy, McDowell said, will work with
teachers to promote anti-bullying, as well.

"Since the incident, students have placed silhouettes
outside the high school discussing what groups
like Muslims, gays and the obese go through in an
effort to put forth the anti-bullying message,"
McDowell told the crowd at the symposium, which
took place at The Opera House in downtown Howell.

"The district is doing everything it can to become a
model district," he added. "But we've got to do
more."

The event comes in the aftermath of an Oct. 20
incident that resulted in McDowell getting
suspended one day without pay after an argument
with a student that involved a discussion about
homosexuality. That incident has garnered
international attention and has started dialogue on
ways to prevent bullying and homophobia.

A grievance hearing on McDowell's discipline,
which he has said was unwarranted, took place Dec. 21. A decision is expected sometime this month.

I bet you can guess the culprit here. According to one man, who wrote in to the local paper:

The real story is how [a] 16-year-old Howell High School junior...stood up to McDowell and told him that he didn't support the gay lifestyle because of his Catholic beliefs, which prompted McDowell to remove [the student] and another student from the class.

Religion, eh? No kidding.

Besides the obvious evidence that religion teaches that bigotry is not only sanctioned, but encouraged, by the all-knowing creator of all existence, there's another negative outcome of keeping your kids out of this discussion.

The idea that homosexuality or anything in the LGBTQIT range is the result of a psychological disorder has been around for a long time, but

Since the 1970s, the consensus of the behavioral and social sciences and the health and mental health professions have moved to the belief that homosexuality is a normal variation of human sexual orientation, while there remain those who maintain that it is a disorder.[2] In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder. The American Psychological Association Council of Representatives followed in 1975.[3] Consequently, while some still believe homosexuality is a mental disorder, the current research and clinical literature now only demonstrate that same-sex sexual and romantic attractions, feelings, and behaviors are normal and positive variations of human sexuality, reflecting the official positions of the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association.

However, since the subject of homosexuality remains, even to this day, a classroom taboo people have come up with bad information and bad information begets bad actions and hence we have organizations like NARTH.

The National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) is an organization filled with fringe psychologists with little support who seek to keep alive old stereotypes about homosexuals and 'repair' gay and transgendered people. Some of their ideas include 'homosexuality is a psychological disorder,' 'gay men are gay because they had a bad relationship with their father' or 'the color of childhood toys can influence gender identity later in life.'

Hey, guess who worked as a 'scientific advisor' for NARTH before he got caught purchasing sexual favors from young men? Focus on the Family's own George Rekers. And if that's not enough to explain just who these people are, check out this short video:



The point is as long as we allow religion to silence people like Jay McDowell who try to teach acceptance and tolerance, we allow the blossoming of this sort of stubborn refusal to acknowledge diversity even in the face of demonstrated, peer reviewed and established science fact. This isn't about science, as much as these NARTH charlatans want to convince us that they're professionals. What's important to them is their mission to force their worldview. They're like terrorists. I'm sure at some point in their life they were shown that the world isn't theirs to understand and dictate easily digested social norms to, but instead of just living the best they can, they guard their illusions through these misadventures. Trying to teach people the proper way to live. I mean, maybe that's just my armchair psychology, but what they do seems so pointlessly defensive. Like anti-gay politicians or preachers just before admitting that they themselves are gay.

And those who say, the schools should just lay off the topic altogether, you're creating the atmosphere in which hate groups like Focus on the Family and NARTH can thrive. You're nurturing ignorance when you should be encouraging education. We are, after all, talking about schools. But I can see why the religious are afraid to allow public schools to address their kids on topics of homosexuality. If their background is in the church or religious education what they're used to is being told what to think and not, as is done in public school, shown how to think.