Staver Hails Victory in Case Contesting Pro-Homosexual Sex-Ed Curriculum
by Jim Brown
June 30, 2005
(AgapePress) - The Montgomery County, Maryland, Board of Education has unanimously approved a settlement agreement that requires the school system to develop a new, more balanced sex-education program.
The move comes after a federal judge blocked implementation of the controversial program because of its biased nature. Two groups, Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum and Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX), had filed suit against the district, arguing that the sex-ed curricula it had adopted did not do enough to stress abstinence, and neither did it offer opposing views on homosexuality.
An attorney for the two plaintiffs, Mat Staver with Liberty Counsel, says he is happy with the settlement and the board's approval of it. He says this outcome marks "the first successful lawsuit of its kind in the country to block a homosexual or a sex-education curriculum -- and now it's the first successful court-ordered settlement that the board has now approved. So we're very pleased."
Mat Staver | |
According to the terms of the agreement, Staver notes, teachers with the Montgomery County schools will now only be allowed to discus homosexuality if students ask about it. Also, he adds, the school board will be required to pay nearly $40,000 in attorney fees, and "to increase the number of representatives of people from organizations such as those we represent, PFOX -- the Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays -- and the citizens' group."Those groups' viewpoints will now have greater representation in any curriculum program that the schools might want to implement in the future, Staver says. Meanwhile, he adds, his group is pleased that the "radical, biased, and inaccurate homosexual sex-ed curriculum" was blocked by the federal court. The case sends a message, the attorney contends, that school boards do not have "unfettered discretion to indoctrinate" young people with acceptance of homosexuality.
But Staver points out that Liberty Counsel plans to remain vigilant. "We will continue to monitor this school board in the future," he says, "and if there's any violation regarding any future curriculum, you can bet we'll be back in court."
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
