'Don't Say Gay' Bill May Ban Tennessee Teachers From Discussing?Homosexuality

[The Pecman]

[from Time magazine]

Because if you don't talk about something, it doesn't exist, right?

A committee in the Tennessee State Senate has green-lighted a bill that, if passed, would ban elementary and middle teachers from discussing homosexuality at school. The legislation, dubbed the 'don't say gay' bill, would mandate that before ninth grade, teachers not "provide any instruction or material that discusses sexual orientation other than heterosexuality."

The bill supporters, including sponsor Sen. Stacey Campfield, a Republican from Knoxville who unsuccessfully pushed the same bill in the House for six years before being elected to the Senate, say the bill is "neutral" and simply leaves it up to families to decide when it is an appropriate time to talk to their kids about sexuality.

But in only restricting speech about homosexuality, not heterosexuality, the measure seems to have a more one-sided agenda than the sponsor purports. That point has led gay-rights activists to call the bill a form of discrimination, especially as it bars teachers from talking about gay issues or sexuality even with students who identify as gay or have gay parents.

The bill will next be put up for a vote before the state's full Republican-controlled Senate.

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/04/25/dont-s.../#ixzz1KgVuhbd8

[The Pecman]

Will somebody please drop a thermonuclear device on these people's heads?

[Cole Parker]

Hey, I think this is great! I have to assume, of course, that if if the word 'gay' is banned from school campuses, that means the kids can't use it, either.

So no more, "That's so gay!" No more, "You're gay," or, "you're a fag."

I think on a whole, this might be good. I doubt the teachers in TN had anything good to say when they did discuss homosexuality.

C

[The Pecman]

Naaaa, there's good people in Tennessee, especially teachers. It's the bastard arch-conservative religious right-wing morons in the state senate who are the assholes.

[Cole Parker]

I always did have trouble spelling 'facetious'. Maybe being it, too.

C

[Merkin]

Tennessee, always in the forefront for hopeless causes. Recall the "Monkey Trial" over evolution in 1925. That one gave a lot of lawyers, judges, pundits, writers, moviemakers, and actors a lot of work. Maybe this will, too.

[DKStories]

Elections have consequences, and this is only one small consequence of the last election. We'll be paying the consequences for a long, long time.