On its blog, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has an item about a California class which teaches children about gender diversity:
The blog post then shows a video of the lesson and ends with:
Now let's be clear here. We all know why NOM chose to push this item. The organization is implying that marriage equality will confuse children, i.e. making them think that "gender doesn't matter."
It's yet another way the organization is seeking to scare people into voting against marriage equality.
And like all of its other tactics, this one by NOM is blatantly dishonest.
While seeking to attack people's visual senses by showing the video, NOM omits (maybe intentionally, maybe not intentionally) two pertinent facts which destroys the organization's horror story:
1. The children who took part in this lesson were not required to. According to the article, all parents were informed of the lesson plan beforehand and were able to opt their children out of it if they chose to do so. So this was case of parents still having control over what is being taught to their children.
2. These lessons had nothing to do with marriage equality but the issues of gender identity and bullying. Whether the religious right wants to adhere to the fact or not, the issues of gender identity are becoming more widely known and some parents are finding that they have to deal with this issue.
Both of these facts are relatively easy to find because they are contained in the Fox News story which NOM referred to but chose not link to.
And as I asked before, what's so wrong with talking about this issue to children in a reasonable manner? Children aren't porcelain or glass. And they won't remain children forever. Teaching a child respect and understanding at an early age is hardly a bad idea.
But the fact of the matter here is not what the lessons teach. It's the fact that in spite of all of its talk about having an intelligent conversation on the pros (and mostly cons) of marriage equality, NOM has no problem calling on the gay boogeyman lie yet again.
Video: Coming to a Public School Near YOU?
Fox News covered a class full of kindergartners in California being taught that you can feel like a girl, feel like a boy, feel like both, or feel like neither.
Watch it and tell us what you think:
The blog post then shows a video of the lesson and ends with:
The group brought in to teach children these lessons (allegedly to prevent bullying) is called Gender Spectrum.
"People can be girls, feel like girls, they can feel like boys, they can feel like both, and they can even feel, like I said, kinda like neither."
Now let's be clear here. We all know why NOM chose to push this item. The organization is implying that marriage equality will confuse children, i.e. making them think that "gender doesn't matter."
It's yet another way the organization is seeking to scare people into voting against marriage equality.
And like all of its other tactics, this one by NOM is blatantly dishonest.
While seeking to attack people's visual senses by showing the video, NOM omits (maybe intentionally, maybe not intentionally) two pertinent facts which destroys the organization's horror story:
1. The children who took part in this lesson were not required to. According to the article, all parents were informed of the lesson plan beforehand and were able to opt their children out of it if they chose to do so. So this was case of parents still having control over what is being taught to their children.
2. These lessons had nothing to do with marriage equality but the issues of gender identity and bullying. Whether the religious right wants to adhere to the fact or not, the issues of gender identity are becoming more widely known and some parents are finding that they have to deal with this issue.
Both of these facts are relatively easy to find because they are contained in the Fox News story which NOM referred to but chose not link to.
And as I asked before, what's so wrong with talking about this issue to children in a reasonable manner? Children aren't porcelain or glass. And they won't remain children forever. Teaching a child respect and understanding at an early age is hardly a bad idea.
But the fact of the matter here is not what the lessons teach. It's the fact that in spite of all of its talk about having an intelligent conversation on the pros (and mostly cons) of marriage equality, NOM has no problem calling on the gay boogeyman lie yet again.
