Vile 'don't say gay' bill has high-profile sponsors
Barb ShellyI do not know Missouri Rep. Steve Cookson, from southeast Missouri, but he has been a teacher, principal and also the superintendent of the Naylor School District in Ripley County from 2001 to 2010.
The Naylor School District has 414 students, and 163 of them attend the high school, which includes grades 7 through 12. And, although Cookson has been departed for two years, it’s a pretty good bet that the school doesn’t have a flourishing gay-straight alliance group.
Cookson wants to make that the case in all of Missouri’s public schools. He’s the lead sponsor of House Bill 2051, which directs that “no instruction, material, or extracurricular activity sponsored by a public school that discusses sexual orientation other than in scientific instruction concerning human reproduction shall be provided in any public school.”
This piece of work has aptly been dubbed the “don’t say gay” bill. It is vile legislation, intended to deny gay and lesbian students an opportunity to find a supportive haven at school. If there can be no discussion of sexual orientation, there can be no discussion of tolerance toward those whose sexual orientation is different from one’s own. If there can be no acknowledgement of sexual differences, there can be no ban against bullying based on those differences.
It’s bad enough that a retired educator has sponsored this abomination of a bill. But the list of co-sponsors is truly disheartening. There are 19 besides Cookson, all Republicans, and prominent on the list is House Speaker Steve Tilley. Tim Jones, the House Majority Leader, has also signed on.
The only legislator from the Kansas City area to co-sponsor the bill is Jeff Grisamore of Lee’s Summit. On his official state bio, Grisamore volunteers that he is “a humanitarian leader that (sic) engages in care for orphans, widows and the poor.” As long as they’re not gay, I guess. Humanitarianism has its limits.
The Missouri House has taken up a lot of ridiculous legislation this session. It has passed bills making gun owners a protected class, outlawed the use of Islamic law in the state, and guaranteeing the freedom of Missourians to participate in rodeos. But House Bill 2051 crosses the line from stupid to reprehensible. Now you have the leaders of the Missouri House of Representatives actively promoting a measure intended to discriminate against a group of kids. Truly shameful.
Update: Rep. Jay Swearingen, a Democrat from Kansas City, North, is reporting on his Facebook page that the chair of the House Education Committee is promising to bury the ‘don’t say gay’ bill. Great news, if true. But the participation of the two top House leaders is still a problem.
George Hunsucker
Northland
1 year agowish as you might ms. shelly, but there is no way being gay is going to be viewed as normal. Your lust at having it so viewed is against the wishes of a vast majority of Americans IMO…
gays can have their civil unions and I don’t care. Just don’t cram your lib views down out childrens’ throats….
Phil Cardarella
1 year agoFascinating, ain’t it?
I went ot a Catholic school where abstinence was the only thing that approached sex ed.— the “touch it and you’ll burn in Hell” type. And, yet, some folks managed to get pregnant!
Considering ignorance of basic biology — and of contraception — as a virtue is merely child abuse by irresponsible parents. The fact that they hide such irresponsible behavior behind religion is no different than letting their kids handle snakes at church.
N ONE ever got pregnant or caught a disease because the knew too much, folks.
Colleen LaFavor Olinger
1 year agoThe vast majority of Americans? Please look around you and pay attention to what is going on in this country, because there is an appropriate response of tolerance, respect, and admiration for those who aren’t afraid to say who they really are. Because obviously it’s not a choice-who would choose to make their life extremely harder by choosing to be gay?
And that’s why there are gay/straight alliances in schools. It’s a group where people can come together and support one another, since the LGBTQ community is still, sadly, highly discriminated against. It has nothing to do with sex ed, or influencing others with their orientation. There are straight people who join these groups because they want to support their gay friends and classmates, and show others that they support them and will not tolerate discrimination. To deny a school the right to support these students is to make these students hide, and face emotional & physical threats. Which is why the bill will be buried, where it belongs.
Raymond James
1 year agoIf a school cannot talk about Gays and if not teach acceptance at least tolerance of gays than how are they preparing students for work or college?
Take your anti gay atitude to todays military and find yourself on the street with a dishonarble discharge for failure to adopt. Go to any public university and they will expell you. It is ok not to like people but you still have to be polite and work with them. If you do not learn this at home where are you going to learn it?
Gays are just about everywhere and have always been there. You do not have to like them but in todays society you do have to be polite, respectful and tolerant.
Brandt Hardin
1 year agoMissouri legislators are putting there nose where it doesn’t belong just like our Governor Bill Haslam here in TN has pushed his agenda of discrimination throughout his brief tenure in office from shooting down Nashville’s anti-discrimination laws to creating the bill banning the use of the word “gay” in public schools. He’s railroading civil liberties to the extent of making it illegal to upload a “potentially offensive image” to the internet this year. I addressed our Governor’s antics with a visual commentary of him and his wife on my artist’s blog at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/07/potentially-offensive-portrait-governor.html Drop by and let me know how you feel about our rights being infringed upon.
Rick Adams
1 year agoKay,
We could use that logic about teaching children about Africa or fractions or World War II. Schools have a duty and need to teach about what is current and maybe in your house gays are not found but they sure are everywhere else.
Please keep your discrimination to your self.
George Hunsucker
Northland
1 year agoGood to see all the libs “coming out”….
Michael Middleton
1 year agoWell, Barb, while you’re worried about schools providing a “haven” for gay students, schools in other countries are worried about how to teach math, science, and reading. They actually want their kids to be successful in life and become competent adults. While bureaucrats are worrying about how to discuss sexual orientation, schools in other countries are teaching kids how to become engineers and scientists far more effectively than ours. While I don’t really care one way or another what a school system in BFE is doing about homosexuality, the fact that the Missouri legislature is wasting time and energy on this issue is an insult to the taxpayers of Missouri.
Jason Forson
1 year agoActually George, we’ve documented homosexual pair bonding relationships in over 400 animal species and counting while we’ve only viewed homophobia in 1. Ours.
So if you want to argue which is ‘normal’ I think your position is a bit less solid then you think it is.
Sarah Small
1 year agoA school district outside of Minneapolis had a similiar policy in place. They also had 9 teen suicides in under 2 years, at least half of them directly linked to bullying about their actual or percieved sexuality. I think that it has been pretty much shown that this type of policy not only doesn’t help, it hurts.
Mark Robertson
1 year agoBarb, Just what do you want taught about “sexual orientation?” This is the problem with government schools. Who decides right and wrong? Teaching that a “gay” and “lesbian” lifestyle is normal is a religion itself. The Catholic Church and many Protestant denominations teach that homosexual activity is wrong and sinful. Are these churches not being discriminated against by the normalizing of a homosexual lifestyle in government schools?
And just what is a gay or lesbian high school student? Are they sexually active? If they are, would that be wrong in your world Barb? And Barb, what about something called bisexuality, should government schools teach that it is normal? And what about sex change operations, should high schools students be allowed to have one, and should that be taught as something that is normal? And what about something called same sex marriage, should that be taught as normal, and if so, why couldn’t it also be taught as normal that 2 men and 3 women could marry each other? Where do you draw the line Barb? And what would be your basis for even having a line. What do you base right and wrong on? Please don’t tell us that it would be a general consensus. That could be about anything. The problem with many libs is that they know so much, but they don’t have ability or desire to take things to a logical conclusion. I’ve got a radical idea, how about students concentrate on math, English, including grammar, true history, science, and maybe even some music education. Thank you. Mark Robertson Independence
Mark Kover
1 year agoI am a Missouri Licensed Professional Counselor and School Counselor. If this bill were to pass, what should I do when students want to discuss issues of sexuality with me? Oh, by the way, what do I do when kids are bullying other kids due to issues of sexual orientation - after all, Bullying is a big issue and has MO. Law dictating what to do about it. Should I place a gag over my mouth and the mouths of these kids? Ohh, there is a day that stands for that “The day of silence.”
Mark Kover
1 year agoBy the way, Kay Humans are animals. They supposedly are more evolved - it is still legal in Missouri to discuss evolution isn’t it?
George, I am glad to see the Klan is coming out.
Mark, you at least offer some intelligent points for discussion and debate.
Kathryn Nichols
1 year agoO.K. folks, let’s back off from the personal attacks in both directions. My guess is we may have some interested students watching these posts, both gay and straight, and I’d like to see those of us who are adults set a better example.
I understand that many parents believe morality should be taught at home. I agree, and I applaud every parent who takes the time to do so. What do we do with the children of parents who don’t fulfill that obligation? Somebody has to teach them.
We also have LAWS in this country, and rights guaranteed by our Constitution, amendments to it, and case law interpreting it. Those laws extend protection to a wide range of individuals and they, in effect, say that while you don’t have to be a part of any particular group, or to share the ideals or values of that group, you still have to treat that group fairly and decently.
Finally, we have a whole lot of kids in our classrooms who profess to believe and feel a lot of different things. We also have children in our schools who live by a survival of the fittest morality who delight in making life a living hell for anyone who appears different or weak. Some kids are terrified to attend school simply because they can’t afford to comply with their peer’s dress code. The barbarity with which some dominant groups in our schools punish difference is crushing and life changing.
Now, if you don’t want teachers and school administrations in our schools to protect the kids who have identified themselves as LGBT, what do you want us to do when a group starts to isolate, alienate and punish a child because they profess a strong belief in Christianity? Do you want us to protect your child when they are bullied for being fat, or eccentric, or highly intelligent, or just plain different than the masses? Probably not.
If you want your child protected, then surely you must understand that schools must protect all children. It’s really pretty simple.