Posted on 02/23/2006 9:36:12 PM PST by Coleus
BOSTON — Theresa Breguet’s 7-year-old son could be exposed to a radical sex education program if Massachusetts lawmakers enact two bills backed by Planned Parenthood. Under the proposal, 4- to 11-year-olds will be taught the “correct terminology for sexual orientation (such as heterosexual and gay and lesbian) “and be able to “describe different types of families,” according to the Massachusetts Comprehensive Health Curriculum Framework. Students from 14-18 will learn about “possible determinants of sexual orientation” and confidentiality laws concerning “reproductive health problems.”
Potential requirements like those brought hundreds of people to a legislative hearing in the Massachusetts State House Jan. 31. The bills would mandate that local school committees adopt a standardized health curriculum from pre-kindergarten to grade 12 that includes lessons on homosexuality and human reproduction. Although health education is now optional, it would become a requirement for nearly 1 million children. Edward Saunders, executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, said in an interview that the bills would not affect parochial schools.
However, 48% of the state’s population identifies itself as Catholic, according to diocesan statistics, and many Catholic children attend public schools. Saunders and parents, pro-life and pro-family advocates at the legislative hearing did not object to general health education on morally neutral issues like hygiene and nutrition. But they strongly objected that the sexuality component would usurp parental rights. And an “opt-out” provision would be no good if mandated classes were needed to graduate, Saunders said. Breguet and other parents emphasized that if the bills pass, they would reluctantly but seriously consider leaving Massachusetts.
“We strongly believe that sexuality and reproductive teachings are fundamental to morality,” Breguet testified. “And as parents, we believe that only we know our children well enough to make the decision as to when to introduce this sensitive, intimate subject.” The measure “treats pregnancy as a disease,” said Dr. Paul Carpentier of Gardner, Mass. “So pregnancy is likely to be viewed as a failed prevention of a disease and rejected, medicated away or surgically removed, to someone else’s profit.” Carpentier, a father of three, is an authority on natural family planning and a fertility care medical consultant certified by the Pope Paul VI Institute in Omaha, Neb. He said that sex education does not belong in schools, but a “reasonable option” would be to offer voluntary guided lessons for parents themselves to present to their children.
Private School Option
Carpentier’s testimony intrigued one bill’s sponsor, Rep. Alice Wolf, D-Cambridge, but not enough to get her to change her mind. “I think that it’s an interesting approach for a district to consider,” she said after the hearing. But she stressed that that the sexuality section of the measure is “an integral part of the comprehensive health education.” Wolf is a former mayor of Cambridge who advocates legalized abortion and same-sex “marriage.” By contrast, Rep. Elizabeth Poirier, R-North Attleboro, a Catholic, said the measure “treads on parents’ civil liberties,” and could violate a teacher’s religious beliefs if lessons are mandated.
“Parents will take their children out of schools to prevent them from being in the clutches of the liberal elite,” she said. But removing their children from the public schools is an option many just cannot afford, noted Evelyn Reilly, director of public policy for the Massachusetts Family Institute. She pointed out that Planned Parenthood of Massachusetts “is not a disinterested party” and that it has a “huge financial interest” in its goal that all public schools adhere to a standardized sex education curriculum.
Ray Neary, president of ProLife Massachusetts, questioned how some health agencies could ally themselves with Planned Parenthood in backing the bills. Speakers from the American Heart Association, Children’s Hospital Boston and Planned Parenthood testified in support. “The abortion industry has been trying to sanitize its grisly occupation in the public eye for many years,” Neary testified. “[These bills] try to equate a deadly procedure with ‘health.’” Margaret Wooley Busse, a 31-year-old Mormon from Brookline, Mass., agreed that the proposal was deceptive. She and her husband moved east from Utah seven years ago to attend Harvard Business School and are questioning whether to stay.
“We’re very nervous about what it’s going to be like to raise our children here,” she said. “People are saying this is not a family-friendly state. I truly cannot understand why anyone would want to teach a 4 year-old sexual terminology unless they were pushing a very clear agenda.” That agenda became apparent last year to biology teacher Linda Thayer. She examined the proposal in light of her 34 years’ experience in Boston public high schools and 24 years as a volunteer speaker on faith-based sexuality talks for the Archdiocese of Boston. The resulting analysis, “What Parents Should Know about the Massachusetts Health Frameworks,” was publicized by Massachusetts Citizens for Life and alerted many. Massachusetts Gov. W. Mitt Romney has said he opposes the bills, which have a mid-March committee reporting deadline. “This proposal will only be defeated if the public outrage continues,” Poirier said. “If there is a lot of pressure, legislators won’t override the governor’s veto, but people have got to make their voices heard.”
ping
There is NO WAY I would let a child of mine step foot in a PUBLIC SCHOOL with this type of crap going on! NO WAY!
Meet Rep. Alice Wolf (on the right)
http://alicewolf.org/images/gallery/MHSA_Award.jpg
http://alicewolf.org/images/gallery/Longfellow%20school%20talk.jpg
February 06, 2006
Rep. Alice Wolf: Arrogance of Power
Rep. Alice Wolf, chief sponsor of H1641 -- the bill that would mandate sex/homosex ed -- has told the majority of Massachusetts citizens that they need to agree with her, or they have no business living in Massachusetts! If you don't think the state should have the final say on the moral education of your children in matters of sexuality, just leave the state!
http://tinyurl.com/kmgpd
"That's the way life is," said Wolf, who is also a member of the Legislature's Joint Education Committee. "If people don't want to accept that, I don't know where they can live."
We've been losing this battle since 1985 when we fought the local school board over the same type of curriculum....resulting in yanking our kids out of the crappy and humanistic system and doing our own home schooling...with fine results, I might add!
Do not hesitate to home educate.
"It Takes Two" Gay & Lesbian Planning Guide Supplement
When it comes to supporting the rights of the GLBT community, state Rep. Alice Wolf has always walked the talk.
http://tinyurl.com/zcr9u
July 8, 2005
Among Rep. Wolf’s priorities vetoed by the Governor were funding increases for two programs operated by the Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth. The Safe Schools Program not only lost their funding, but also the language mandating that the Department of Education implement the program. Romney also reduced funding for the Commission’s anti-suicide and anti-violence program administered by the Department of Public Health.
Mass. is actually doing a pretty good job of making NYS look better and better all the time. I hope they're not too surprised when people start taking them up on the offer to leave the state and they start losing their tax base.
The Massachusetts Gay & Lesbian Political Caucus - 1973
MGLPC is the most experienced and respected lobbying operation on Beacon Hill working for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equal rights. For 30 years MGLPC has represented your many interests with full-time, professional lobbyists.
http://www.mglpc.org/index.php
We've beaten back anti-gay civil rights and adoption measures, and the ‘02 anti-gay marriage ballot initiative. And in ‘03, we sponsored the state's first civil marriage bill.
Together, we’ve made history with one of the nation's first Gay Civil Rights laws. One of the nation's first Hate Crimes laws. And the nation's toughest HIV confidentiality laws. We've beaten back anti-gay civil rights measures, anti-gay adoption measures, and pre-Goodridge anti-gay marriage ballot initiatives. In 2003, in conjunction with GLAD’s Goodridge case which sought the right to marry from the court, MGLPC filed the state’s first civil marriage bill in the legislature: H.3677, sponsored by Rep. Byron Rushing.
We’re fighting the likes of Focus on the Family and their local affiliate the Massachusetts Family Institute, Family Research Council, Traditional Values Coalition, and Concerned Women for America. In prior Constitutional Conventions, Rev. Lou Sheldon, Tony Perkins, Genvieve Wood, Sandy Rios and other national, professional, well-funded anti-gay leaders personally came to Massachusetts to take away gay marriage.
Just wait until the state puts these same sex ed requirements on private schools and home schools...100% state control of what can and can't be taught in private schools and home schools is coming...mark my words.
I was fighting these creeps in the early 80's - had a statewide organization in Maine - umbrellared with other groups across the county..was guest host on talk TV show in Boston where I debated the lesbian group that wrote the book "Our Bodies Ourselves" which is used by Planned Parenthood for sex ed - was a quest ("all expenses paid" to conference in Washington by Phyllis Schlaely's "Eagle Forum" - Reagan was president and spoke at our banquet and we had a private tour of the white house.
I had a bill in the state legislature - etc etc. We fought them pretty much to a standstill here in Maine at the time - the problem is that they operate with largely our tax dollars - and they can keep on year after year...they don't have to find time or money around jobs.
Believe me when I tell you that the things named in the article are very mild compared to what is in the material they use. You would be sick. (They advocate abortion, "Society does not recognize the rightness of abortion" they name objects young girls can use to masterbate, they counsel that you can't know if the gay/lesbian practice is good for you unless you try it - etc etc - and the cartoons border on the pornographic - )
Doctors have testified to the damage too early sex ed - even the right kind - does to minds too young for it. But these gay/lesbian groups know that the younger they can reach kids, the easier to recruit by subliminal education and experience
We will not be able to keep this out of the public schools unless we get school vouchers and they start having to complete for student dollars.
Believe me, I could not afford to put my daughter in private school - but I did. She is now in her 30's and a proud stay-at-home mom of 3 daughters.
We need not only to fight these people but to offer a better alternative.
Parents need the right to give the schools a legal, written notice that they will teak care of their child's sex education and at the same time, demand to see the curriculum - however, these books that are used by Planned Parenthood are "given" to the schools - so are not technically part of the curriculum - ergo, you wont be shown that material.
Make an innocent trip to your local planned parenthood office and take material, leaflets, booklets - Don't let them know you are 'the enemy' but either way, they operate largely on tax dollars - you have a right to have them...go to your local library (I can all but guarantee they are in your school library also) and read the books by the group that wrote "Our Bodies, Ourselves." This is the damaging stuff that is taught in "sex ed"
More power to you. I think home schooling is a great thing.
That said, I'll go against the grain here and say that regardless of the path we want our kids to follow...they will get the "facts" one way or another...regardless of what we want those facts to be. That is simple reality.
The only way to raise morally strong children is to have a strong home. I, for one, refuse to cave in to fear of information. That information should start at home. Sure, they'll get some at school. But, if I fear that my kids will succumb to everything that my kids could possibly hear outside the home.. I'd never let them leave the house.
You have to trust in yourself to raise children to follow the path you're laid out for your family. If you don't...well...you're f*&k'd...cause they will do what they're gonna do regardless of what you want. And most likely in spite of it. It's all about being proactive & trusting yourself and your children.
That's my 2 cents anyway. This is freerepublic, fell free to disagree. ;-)
I wonder how that works.
I agree
I, for one, refuse to cave in to fear of information
I disagree. Children are not mini-adults, able to sort out information from indoctrination. They are also hugely influenced by peer pressure and authority issues. If it was simply "information" they were receiving, that would be one thing, but that information has been assembled and presented in such a way as to persuade and influence them that there's nothing wrong with (fill in the blank), it's just another "lifestyle choice."
Its not fear of information that forces me to keep my kids out of public schools. Its a strong dislike for unionized teachers, who can't pass the tests they hand out, indoctrinating my children. The real issue should be why public schools focus on teaching kids how to have gay sex and how to get pregnant when they aren't teaching the basics very well.
If you have asked to be added to this list, and haven’t been receiving the pings, please let me know. I’ve had a problem with my file synchronization between my home and work computer, and apparently have lost some names on the list. I think I have the problem fixed, and will gladly re-add your name.
To create an ignorant, dysfunctional lumpen-proletariat to help vote the Left into power. (That was an easy question.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
