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So right now im doing a paper on antigay rhetoric. So i got into schools and the teaching on homosexuality.
I saw quite a few arguments about banning both the mention of homosexuality and the banning of gay teachers from schools(this article was quite old)
So i have a question, Should the teaching of homosexuality as valid alternative sexual lifestyle be parts of schools?

Teaching it? Or teaching about it?

Is hetrosexuality taught in schools? If so yes but if not no.

I mean, Should they say "Its Ok to be Gay, Nothing is wrong with you"

It would be difficult, at this time and juncture to talk about it in an objective fashion. The "born gay" vs. "adopted lifestyle" argument would definitely come into play.

Palindrome wrote:Is hetrosexuality taught in schools? If so yes but if not no.

You could argue it isn't actively taught but at the same time it is passively learned...
Education is one of the key tools for spreading an ideology...

hotsauceman1 wrote:I mean, Should they say "Its Ok to be Gay, Nothing is wrong with you"

This is more or less what's expected of schoolteachers in modern public schools. Teaching about it is a whole 'nother can of worms, though.

An interesting one. Since children are increasingly likely to become aware of homosexuality through news, conversation etc then it perhaps it becomes more prudent for them to understand the concept of a same-sex relationship. As for the sexual intercourse side of things that's probably best left until sex education and learning about practicing safe sex.

Of course. It's already being done up here in Quebec (except its done by invited counselors instead of regular teachers). And it's not so much a course about the homosexual lifestyle, more a small course in sexual politeness. God knows most male kids needs it...

hotsauceman1 wrote:So right now im doing a paper on antigay rhetoric. So i got into schools and the teaching on homosexuality.
I saw quite a few arguments about banning both the mention of homosexuality and the banning of gay teachers from schools(this article was quite old)
So i have a question, Should the teaching of homosexuality as valid alternative sexual lifestyle be parts of schools?

If by teaching about it you mean telling people that there is nothing wrong with it, that it is natural and does not make you any less of a human being than a heterosexual person, then yes.

The arguments about banning mentioning it are absurd. People are gay, not talking about it doesn't make that go away. All that silence achieves is isolating the gay children who need support to get through what can be a very difficult period of their lives.

The arguments about banning gay teachers are even more ridiculous. If a teacher is good at what they do and doesn't pose a risk to the students in their care then why should they not be allowed to teach? I don't think many teachers actively advertise their private lives to their students and as long as said private life does not affect their teaching then there is no legal cause for dismissal.

hotsauceman1 wrote:I mean, Should they say "Its Ok to be Gay, Nothing is wrong with you"

If its brought up, Im with this one. But I know the schools in my area anyways, never taught about either one. The closest we got was sex education, and that was only "This is a penis, this is a vagina, this is how babies are born. Heres some condoms"

I agree with teaching it . It should not be compulsary to learn about it, if your belief system is being comprimised by it, you should not be forced to learn about it. I don't care about homosexual teachers as long as it isn't mentioned too much in the classroom. I think Transexualism and Asexualism should also have a good place in the Classroom. Transexualism, even more. It is evenly more mocked than homsexualism and even some of the LGB community hate the Trans.

As far as teachers go, I don't think it matters if a teacher is homosexual unless it somehow impacts their ability to teach. I can't really even see how that it would even happen unless they were some kind of over the top 'camp gay'. So it's really a non issue.

I don't think sexuality of any kind needs to be discussed prior to a certain age, but when it is discussed neither heterosexuality or homosexuality should be condoned or condemned. Both should be discussed neutrally and it should be made very clear that harassing anyone for their sexual orientation is unacceptable and punishable.

I think it should be taught as long as heterosexuality is being taught. There is nothing wrong with being gay. It's just someones sexual attraction. I don't see why teachers would lose their jobs over being gay. Either the school is very homophobic or the somehow think it is unsafe for the children. But that second accusation wouldn't make sense because if the school fears for it's male students, than it should also fear for it's female students and the heterosexual teachers. I think the whole problem with homosexuals in modern culture is ridiculous.

Great White wrote:I think it should be taught as long as heterosexuality is being taught. There is nothing wrong with being gay. It's just someones sexual attraction. I don't see why teachers would lose their jobs over being gay. Either the school is very homophobic or the somehow think it is unsafe for the children. But that second accusation wouldn't make sense because if the school fears for it's male students, than it should also fear for it's female students and the heterosexual teachers. I think the whole problem with homosexuals in modern culture is ridiculous.

Yes. I agree. Homosexualism is protrayed as being too flamboyant and too out there in comtempary culture. It needs to be changed.

During middle school there is "sex-ed".

It should be brought up as a topic then, but I can't see mentioning it anywhere else in the curriculum.

Well sometimes its true. My cousin Tad is one of those gay men that can be a bit......colorful. And by a bit I mean his gay pours off him like steam But his partner on the other hand, its surprising when you finally meet him, that hes gay.

It doesn't need to be taught in school beyond "Sometimes people are attracted to members of the same sex. This is called homosexuality. As far as we know, it has happened for thousands of years. There are some arguments that it is genetic, and some that it is a learned behaviour. Many societies express prejudice against homosexuals for various reasons."

As to gay teachers, what exactly is the issue? Unless you're conflating paedophilia with homosexuality, in which case, argh.

The people who are imposing this ban have no empathy, they are not cool

Da Boss wrote:It doesn't need to be taught in school beyond "Sometimes people are attracted to members of the same sex. This is called homosexuality. As far as we know, it has happened for thousands of years. There are some arguments that it is genetic, and some that it is a learned behaviour. Many societies express prejudice against homosexuals for various reasons."

As to gay teachers, what exactly is the issue? Unless you're conflating paedophilia with homosexuality, in which case, argh.

It's not the OP's view. He's just saying that there are arguments out there where people do not want their child to be taught by a gay teacher. The argument basically says that having a child be taught by a teacher who happens to be gay will turn the child gay, or increase their likelihood of being gay. Absolute rubbish with no scientific evidence but these are often the same people who believe that the Earth is 5,000 years old, so scientific evidence doesn't factor into their world view.

Well, those people can suck it up, quite frankly. I have no sympathy for that point of view whatsoever.

A Town Called Malus wrote:
Absolute rubbish with no scientific evidence but these are often the same people who believe that the Earth is 5,000 years old, so scientific evidence doesn't factor into their world view.

Well that has to do with religion. While I believe it is crazy, Christians view being gay as a sin. Religion has no place in public school. And while it may be a shock to religious groups and Rick Santorum, not everybody believes what you believe in.

The people arguing against homosexual faculty and staff are the same people who argued against female teachers, non Caucasian teachers, non Protestant teachers, and so forth.

Homosexuality (and other sexualities) should certainly be discussed during sexual education. It is a fact of life, and like so many things, understanding can bring a certain level of acceptance. The exposure of people of younger and younger ages certainly brings into question the appropriate age to discuss sexual education; personally I think it should be a factor in the biology (and perhaps RE or whatever equivalent lessons are these days) course from a reasonably early age, phased in as most subjects are (basically not starting out showing sex videos to 10 year olds, but discussing relationships etc, and moving onto the more sticky details as they get older).

Gay teachers is a non-issue, the same as christian teachers, or black teachers, or [insert other group here] teachers. So long as they abide by the teaching rules in whatever country they are in with regards to how they deal with students, other staff, etc, you can do or believe pretty much anything in your free time.

Palindrome wrote:Is hetrosexuality taught in schools?

Yes.

Great White wrote:

A Town Called Malus wrote:
Absolute rubbish with no scientific evidence but these are often the same people who believe that the Earth is 5,000 years old, so scientific evidence doesn't factor into their world view.

Well that has to do with religion. While I believe it is crazy, Christians view being gay as a sin. Religion has no place in public school. And while it may be a shock to religious groups and Rick Santorum, not everybody believes what you believe in.

I wouldn't say that religion has no place in public school. It has no place in the running of a public school but there should be opportunities to learn about different religions such as Christianity, Buddhism, Islam etc. Learning about religions is important, if only to reduce the ignorance of these religions which is perpetuated by the lies often spouted by members of an opposed religion or the actions of extreme elements of a religion which does not necessarily reflect the message of the religion or the views of those who follow the religion as a whole.

A Town Called Malus wrote:The argument basically says that having a child be taught by a teacher who happens to be gay will turn the child gay

Yeah, it's kinda kinda nonsensical like that. In the presence of no push, ideally, a child that is straight will grow up to be straight, a child that is gay will grow up to be gay, a child that is bi will grow up to be bi. The push to make all children straight does nothing but cause emotional pain and suffering (and frequently physical pain and suffering resulting from self-hate or bullying) to those who are not straight, it doesn't actually change them-- which is why you find adult men and women "discovering" they were gay all along ,because... they were! But they were being bullied by society to try to change who they were to fit the societal norms, and, as most everyone wants acceptance by society, they tried to play by society's skewed and thoughtless rules.

Telling children that It's Okay To Be Takei (err, gay) should be just like saying "It's okay to be non-white"; that is to say, whenever you say it, it should make people wonder in the room "wtf is wrong with society that it'd make people think otherwise?"

Amaya wrote:The people arguing against homosexual faculty and staff are the same people who argued against female teachers, non Caucasian teachers, non Protestant teachers, and so forth.

And the world still hasn't exploded so we know those people were full of ship...

Da Boss wrote:Well, those people can suck it up, quite frankly. I have no sympathy for that point of view whatsoever.

Indeed, as I've said before, I'm as gay friendly as you can be without letting someone put their balls in your mouth and humming the national anthem. The backwards bigoted feths in question shouldn't have a say considering most of those people don't send their kids to school anyway, they home school them in a barn, and write their sums on the side of a cow with a piece of charcoal.

I don't think id even care if Lamar from Mannequin was teaching at my kids school, and you don't get more gay than him!

All that matters about a teacher is their ability to teach, not what they like doing in their spare time. If he is a great teacher, and my kid is learning plenty, then "Sir" can snort cocaine off a bent coppers dick in his spare time for all I care.

mattyrm wrote: Indeed, as I've said before, I'm as gay friendly as you can be without letting someone put their balls in your mouth and humming the national anthem.

Bwahahah. We may disagree sometimes Mattyrm, but you are and will likely always remain awesome.