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Board of Education Approves New Sex-Ed Curriculum |
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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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