Board of Education Approves New Sex-Ed Curriculum

Board of Education Approves New Sex-Ed Curriculum

The Montgomery County Board of Education yesterday unanimously approved a new sex education curriculum that for the first time addresses sexual orientation and homosexuality. The eighth- and 10th-grade lessons explore the range of sexual orientations and gender identities and teach tolerance regardless of sexual orientation. The materials, including a condom demonstration video for 10th graders, will be field-tested in some middle and high schools this spring.

Some board members said they anticipate a lawsuit from the same community groups that successfully sued the county over objections to a previous curriculum. "I believe we will be sued. That's okay. .Bring it on," said Sharon Cox (At-Large).

The community groups say they have the same problems with the new curriculum as with the old one: It offers a single viewpoint favorable toward homosexuality, premarital sex, and anal sex. "Absolutely nothing is allowed to be said that is negative about homosexuality," said Ruth Jacobs, an infectious-disease specialist and member of Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, one of two groups that sued to block the lessons in their first incarnation.

The groups say that if lessons on sexual orientation are taught at all, they should include perspectives that homosexuals can change, that transgenderism is a mental disorder, and that anal sex is dangerous.

Board of Education President Nancy Navarro said she thinks the 8-0 vote "sends a message that we stand firm on the balanced approach that we have taken with these revisions."

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