MD Citizens Group Irate Over Pilot Sex-Ed Program

by Jim Brown and Jody Brown
February 16, 2005

(AgapePress) - A Maryland school district is under fire for teaching middle-school students that homosexuality and "same-gender sex experimentation" are normal.

The Montgomery County School District is currently overseeing a pilot program in six schools that includes new pro-homosexual sex education curriculum. Once the pilot program ends, the curriculum -- referred to as "Family Life and Human Development Curriculum" -- will be voted on and, if approved, used next Fall in all district schools.

Among other things, says the Maryland-based group "Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum," the material used in the program suggests to adolescents as young as 13 that a sex life is necessary for a good self-image; states that "sex play with friends of the same gender is not uncommon during early adolescence"; and arbitrarily changes the meaning of family to include "two or more people who are joined together by emotional feelings or who are related to one another."

Steve Fisher, a spokesman Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, says the material is appalling.

"They're featuring a very graphic video that's going to be shown to tenth-graders, for example, [showing] a young girl how to put a condom on a cucumber," he explains, adding "there was another consideration where they were going to be looking at a video that talked about flavored condoms." But after the public uproar following the November 2004 decision, "they decided they wouldn't do that," says Fisher.

The group spokesman adds that the district is also encouraging students in their early teens to identify themselves as heterosexual, homosexual, lesbian, or transgender -- independent of their parents, church, minister, or religious beliefs. "These social issues are extremely divisive," says the group's website. "It is not the domain of schools to teach students what sexual values to hold."

Minor Advisor
In September the school board appointed an 11-year-old female student to a citizens advisory committee overseeing the program. Fisher says that move sets a horrible precedent.

"Many of us ... are very much concerned [about] the subject matter ... that [the committee will] have to look at and consider and discuss," he says. "We think this is a little bit young to have an eleven- or even a twelve-year-old involved in making decisions about what kind of condom videos need to be shown to tenth graders."

And because the material must be reviewed and discussed by that committee, Fisher's group says the school board is exposing the seventh-grade committee member to "inappropriate, perhaps even adult-oriented" sexual material.

As of January, the student member still served on the committee as a full voting member.