School Board's Pro-Homosexual Appointments Have Maryland Citizen Activists Concerned
by Jim Brown
December 19, 2005
(AgapePress) - - A Maryland school board is under fire for placing members of three pro-homosexual groups on its new Citizens Advisory Committee on Family Life and Human Development (CAC). Among the groups represented on the committee are the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), and Teach the Facts, a homosexual advocacy group whose founder has close ties to the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).
Members of a conservative parents group called Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum (CRC) are criticizing the Montgomery County Public Schools ((MCPS) for the pro-homosexual appointments to its advisory committee. Also, CRC says a settlement agreement they reached with the school board guarantees them a chair on the committee, yet the board is not allowing the group to designate its own representative.
Michelle Turner, a spokesperson for CRC, says the Montgomery County Board of Education has apparently not learned its lesson from a recent lawsuit that led to the demise of its biased sex-ed curriculum. "We don't quite understand why the school system is going back to having these representatives on this advisory committee, which is supposed to be representative of the community," she notes.
Last May, a federal judge blocked implementation of a sex-ed curriculum approved by MCPS for 8th-grade students -- a program intended for use in discussing homosexuality, transgenderism, and bisexuality. The temporary restraining order issued by the judge was the culmination of a lawsuit filed in federal court by CRC along with the Virginia-based Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX), a group that offers support for people struggling with unwanted homosexuality. In their lawsuit, CRC and PFOX charged that Montgomery County's sex-ed curriculum presented a one-sided view of homosexuality and that the program showed favoritism towards certain religious groups' views of homosexuals.
After the federal judge issued the order blocking the curriculum, MCPS school officials suspended the pilot sex-ed program, and the parties on both sides of the case agreed to work together to try to settle the matter out of court. According to an MCPS press release, the Montgomery County Board of Education approved a settlement on June 27 in which the school system agreed to a number of changes in the controversial sex-ed curriculum.
Among the various amendments the settlement stipulated was one stating that references to specific religious denominations with regard to sexual orientation cannot be noted in the revised curriculum. Also, the agreement provided for both a CRC and a PFOX representative on the newly established Citizens Advisory Council.
The CAC is scheduled to have its first meeting today. Turner says Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum plans to continue monitoring the situation to ensure that the terms of the settlement agreement are met. In particular, she notes, "We want to make sure that the Board of Education develops a parent permission form that is easy to read by any parent who is receiving one from their student, that specifically spells out exactly what their child will be exposed to in the classroom."
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
