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Thread: Teacher Making Kindergartener's Sign Gay Support Form

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    Teacher Making Kindergartener's Sign Gay Support Form




    As the very proud mother to a gay son, and friend to many gay friends, i'm glad the teacher was trying to teach the children empathy and acceptance, But, and this is a very BIG BUT, I don't believe that 5 year old's should be taught about being gay or lesbian or transgendered.

    They shouldn't even know what sex is at that age, let alone trying to make a distinction between gay or straight. They won't be able to understand.

    And not letting the parents know they were going to do something like this? I'd be just as furious as some of those parents are.

    My youngest son is gay, and I wouldn't change him for the world. He is the favorite uncle to my oldest grandson, actually to all of my grandchildren. And when he comes to visit he brings his boyfriend with him. They hug and kiss in front of the kids, (not making out, no one should do that in front of children) but no big deal is made out of it. The kids all call his boyfriend Uncle Jessie. Because that's who he is.

    But they are all too young to have it explained to them. When they start asking, we'll answer in an age appropriate way.

    I am very pro gay rights, marriage and so on, maybe even have some tendencies towards it myself, but for a school to do this with no notice at this age is just wrong......

    So, what's your opinions on this?

    A California school system refuses to say what action, if any, it will take after it received complaints about a kindergarten teacher who encouraged her students to sign "pledge cards" in support of gays.

    During a celebration of National Ally Week, Tara Miller, a teacher at the Faith Ringgold School of Arts and Science in Hayward, Calif., passed out cards produced by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network to her class of kindergartners.

    The cards asked signers to be "an ally" and to pledge to "not use anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) language or slurs; intervene, when I feel I can, in situations where others are using anti-LGBT language or harassing other students and actively support safer schools efforts."

    The school has acknowledged that the exercise was not appropriate for kindergartners.

    Parent Adela Voelker, who declined to be interviewed in depth for this report, said she was furious when she found her child's signature on one of the cards. She said she contacted a non-profit legal defense organization specializing in parents' rights.

    Meanwhile, a school board member, Jeff Cook, says some type of action should be taken.

    "We have a general rule that all instruction should be age appropriate, and this clearly was not," said Cook, who has served on the school board for five years.

    Val Joyner, a school district spokeswoman, told FOXNews.com in an e-mail that when deciding what to teach on this subject matter, educators "gather materials from community agencies and other education groups" and that "the materials have grade level indicators which help determine what is age-appropriate."

    The district said the pledge cards were intended for middle school and high school students.

    Asked last week if the district planned to take action against Miller, Joyner said she would have to look into the incident. On Thursday she told FOXNews.com that she did not have an answer for the question and that she would no longer be doing any media interviews.

    Joyner said in an e-mail that Miller, the teacher, "planned to teach students how to become an ally and conflict-mediation through various activities." She added that the district doesn't advocate for a specific cause and/or lifestyle, and it has "no curriculum for gay, lesbian and transgender lifestyles."

    The district employs a "Professional Learning Specialist: Equity," who is in charge of gathering material and helping teachers decide what should be taught on the subject matter.

    Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, the group representing Voelker, said parents at the Faith Ringgold School weren't notified of what was going to take place in the classroom.

    He said that teaching students as young as pre-school about gay, lesbian and transgender issues is common in California, but that there are "all kinds of material the average parent could find highly objectionable or potentially harmful" to their children.

    When asked if the school district did anything wrong, he said, "possibly," but he declined to go into detail or say whether Voelker would sue the district.

    Dacus would not comment specifically on whether children who signed the pledge could be held responsible if the school determined that they were not honoring it. He said they are minors and there are certain degrees of limited liability, but from a psychological and emotional perspective, it's a whole different ballgame.

    "[There is] tremendous peer pressure put on children to accept a pro-homosexual philosophy and attitude," Dacus said.

    Meanwhile, opponents of gay marriage are up in arms over the incident, which occurred as California voters prepare to vote Tuesday on Proposition 8, which would overturn the state Supreme Court's ruling legalizing gay marriage.

    "How do you teach a 5-year-old to sign a pledge card for lesbian, gay and transgender issues without explaining what transgender and bisexual is?" asked Sonja Eddings Brown, a spokeswoman for Protect Marriage California.
    http://www.FoxNews.com
    Last edited by Peeperann; November 1st, 2008 at 02:00 PM.

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    Malignant Narcissist brokenandtwisted's Avatar
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    These are the things, in my opinion, that actually support kids having sex at a younger age. Five is way too fucking young to learn about sexualities. Sex education for me started in what, grade seven? That was at age twelve. Seven years after the age these children are learning about sexual identities. And, even then at such an age if a child is saying derogatory and discriminating slurs toward any minority, I would be questioning their parenting/home life. They have to "pick it up" somewhere, no?

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    I don't agree with the teacher's action. Not a necessary subject for that age range.

    However what is worse and more confusing for the kids, will be the uproar.

    If the parents and school admin. had quietly disciplined the teacher, in a day or two the kids wouldn't even remember signing the cards.

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    Jackass prettyuglyish's Avatar
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    Ok, this Prop 8 is a huge deal here in California right now. For the record, I am totally pro-homo and will be voting in favor of gay marriage on Tuesday. I live in a small historical town where the vast majority of the population are conservative Christians. I also have a daughter in Kindergarten.

    I don't think it is age-appropriate, but if this happened in her class, I really wouldn't care. She wouldn't understand it anyway and would probably go in one ear and out the other. However, this story has resulted in a major uproar and the parents' over-reaction is what has created it. It's not grounded in the harm or confusion it caused the kids; it strictly based the parents' perceived threat to their sanctimonious and archaic doctrine.

    It was a bad idea - period - to do this in a Kindergarten class. If only for the fact that the fuggin' Bay Area wackos don't realize that by using poor judgment they just set their cause back another ten paces.
    Last edited by prettyuglyish; November 1st, 2008 at 04:31 PM.
    "If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is ‘God is crying’. And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is ‘Probably because of something you did’." ~ Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey

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    I don't think she needs to be teaching and should be removed. In no way, shape or form shoul kindergarten aged children have been exposed to this. And NEVER ask a child that age to sign something of this sort. That, without the parents expressed written consent, is actually illegal.
    The school would be hearing from my attorney already and the state Board of Education would have already heard from me.
    I've always been an involved parent. You do not take my child to the zoo without my express written permission. ANY teacher knows that action is illegal. It is EQUALLY obvious that this is. You certainly do NOT have my UNDERAGE child sign ANY sort of commitment form.
    And this is also in truly poor taste. No matter what your sexual orientation, my kindergarten age child does NOT need exposed to it. One is not to go into teaching just to push ones own personal agenda. This was WAY over the top.
    But let me make this crystal clear....I'd feel the SAME way if that had been a heterosexual form....
    Last edited by crickett; November 1st, 2008 at 05:00 PM.

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    Buddy the Elf Maggie Mae's Avatar
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    When I was in first grade, my teacher "encouraged" us to sign pledge cards that we would not drink alcohol until we were of legal age. No explanation other than it wasn't something that good kids did. I went home that night wondering why alcohol was such a big deal, and to be honest, the fact that it was so TABOO after signing that card was a definite draw. I was drinking heavily by my early teens.

    I agree with broken that this is the kind of thing that makes children aware of sex (and other things) too soon. I think that having kids do this in middle and high school is one thing, but 5-year-olds? Hell no. I'd be demanding some kind of action from the district.

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    Wow. What was the teacher thinking?

    At the age of 5, she could have gotten away with a lesson on "family" to encourage acceptance in an age appropriate way: Some families have a mommy and a daddy, some families have a mommy and no daddy, and some families have two mommies, etc.

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    I've a 1st grader, and honestly, glbt stuff came up by last year, maybe sooner. Not in those terms, exactly, but more loosely, like some people are born in the bodies of girls or boys and really feel inside like they are the other. And some boys grow up and marry other boys, or have boyfriends, and some girls marry girl, or have girlfriends. Some do a little of both. And some people choose to remain single. Last year in kindergarten, who was going to someday marry who was a big topic for them, and that brings up a fair amount. This year they're all about the girlfriends and boyfriends, so again, it comes up. I haven't had a need to use words like "gay" or "bisexual," though; the words themselves haven't come up the way the romantic or family structure issues have. While a classmate may have 2 moms, identifying them as lesbians, or homosexual just isn't necessary when saying hey, some women marry women is sufficient. The words will fit in easily later I figure as the conversation about the issues continues to evolve.

    But here's the rub - in many instances kids ARE already exposed to these words, but in the context of insults or dirty names. You need to provide a more meaningful definition for these words they hear in that context. So if there was a trend in my kid's kindergarten class of calling things "gay" in that bad way, or similar, I might expect our K teacher to address that for the class at an age appropriate level. So I don't feel the topic is necessarily ridiculous for kindergarten, but I don't think I'd go throwing it in there unless it comes up in the class.

    The pledge cards, however, are crazy and inflammatory. Little kids are going to go signing whatever their friends are signing, which will be whatever their teacher thinks is a good idea. And while it would all be over their heads (the primary reason this is stupid,) it would also anger their parents. The cards show poor judgment - the sort of judgment I'd like you to have before you go addressing sensitive issues with younger kids.

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    Ticy-TacSpitterout Person MadmamainNC's Avatar
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    I totally agree with you on this Peeper. I am all for tolerance (and I don't even like to use that word..let me change that) acceptance of other people and who they are, who they love etc. But, I am 150% against indoctrination of our youth. That's exactly what this is. It's up to the parent's to educate their children no matter what it's about i.e. religion, sexuality, politics etc. Some parents may not do a good job but that's not up for us to say. A 5 year old is too young to comprehend anything of that magnitude. All they care about is playing on swings, coloring, fighting over toys and watching cartoons.

    My ex was an extreme homophobic racist and would make embarrassing comments in public and at home. My kids were raised this way but Mamma taught them acceptance and compassion for others. They never bought into anything his bigoted, racist mouth said.
    As my kids were exposed to the hate words of the world or other descriptions of people, and asked me what they meant, I educated them. I wanted to make sure that they grew up with open minds and a clear understanding that while all people have different colors, choices and beliefs, we are all still the same. I also made sure as they got older that at least one of their parents wouldn't disown them for choices that they made in their life as to who they were or who they wanted to be with.

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    I just wanted to thank everyone who have giving their opinions so far on this issue.

    My oldest daughter said as long as she would have known the content and had been notified, she would not have had a problem with it. (Joey is five and in Kindergarten).

    I explained to her that is because i've taught all my children love and acceptance from the day they were born. And that you don't judge someone on the color of their skin, their religion or their sexuality.

    Also, she loves having a gay brother!

    But she did admit that not knowing what was happening would have upset her.

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    While I agree with it it (also have a lesbian daughter), I would have raised hell about having my 5-yr-old signing anything like that in school.
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    It's pretty simple, 5 Y/O years old is way to young to be involved in issues like this no matter what the parents stance is.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dakota_Valkyrie View Post
    While I agree with it it (also have a lesbian daughter), I would have raised hell about having my 5-yr-old signing anything like that in school.
    Bingo Dakota! I wouldn't change my son for anything, he wouldn't be who he is. But 5 year olds? They're just too young to understand.

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    I have a 5 year old. We have talked, at home, about sexuality, how some boys like boys, some girls like girls, some boys like girls, some girls like boys, that it is never wrong to love someone. He goes to a catholic school, so they are most definitely not going to be teaching him about gay families, but we used their family set to open the door to talking about different family makeups. To be honest, I would welcome the school stepping in and teaching him acceptance of different families. I would NOT welcome the school teaching him anything like that without my permission and explicit understanding of what they are teaching (especially his current school- he doesn't need to be taught that it's a sin or any of that crap-- husband is atheist, doesn't believe in the sin stuff, I don't believe in organized religion, so we don't need that kind of crap shoved at the boys). I like the idea of the cards... if the teacher had sent those home with the students, along with some guidelines on how to talk about it, so that the parents and student could discuss the issue together and THEN sign the card at home, that would work for me. It's a good opening, I think.

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    Ream Me Up, Scotty swivel's Avatar
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    I usually just ask the 5-year-olds to never discuss homosexuality with their parents.

    I'll be damned if I'm leaving a paper trail...

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    Quote Originally Posted by malq View Post
    It's pretty simple, 5 Y/O years old is way to young to be involved in issues like this no matter what the parents stance is.
    The teacher used bad judgement. (VERY BAD)
    The same org that created the pledge cards has a "No Name Calling Week" curriculum plan and handouts.
    No Name Calling Week
    That is far more appropriate for a 5 year old or any child in school.
    It would also cover a larger spectrum of students who are picked on harrassed.
    Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world

    William Butler Yeats

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  33. #17
    Great Marshal Shroomer's Avatar
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    I find this shocking! I cant believe that a teacher had the balls to do it. My daughter is in the 6th grade, she has had sexual education and from what she told me about I dont think they went into detail about sexual orientation. I do agree with some of the other posts that this should of been brought up privately with the teacher, some (very ignorant) parents have probably critized their kids on how they did a bad thing. My daughter has learned on her own about gays and lesibans and has asked me the questions she wants to know, I dont think she has any idea about transgenders. I have no personal opinion on how other people live their lives, its none of my business, to each is own. I just hope the kids aren't effected in a negative way.

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