An article in the NY Times starts out with the great news that Montgomery County in Maryland will start incorporating lessons about homosexuality into its 8th and 10th grade curriculum. Of course, it comes after years of legal challenges, but the program does sound really positive and honest:
The Montgomery County lessons begin by defining terms like “prejudice,” “homosexual” and “transgender,” and warn students not to assume that because they are not yet attracted to the opposite sex, they must be gay. The eighth-grade curriculum tells gay students that “concerns about how family and friends will accept the situation are reasonable, and fears about being teased or even attacked are not unfounded.”
In the 10th grade, the lessons, which presume that sexual identity is innate, again discuss the stresses of coming out, but add, “Many people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender celebrate their self-discovery.”
But then come the bad news. It turns out that these programs are a lot more unpopular than the zealous gay-bashers’ numbers are large. And not just in MD.
According to a 2004 national poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and National Public Radio, roughly three out of four parents say it is appropriate for high schools to teach about homosexuality, but about half say it is appropriate in middle school.
When asked about the issue in greater detail, more than 50 percent of high school and middle school parents supported teaching what homosexuality is about “without discussing whether it is wrong or acceptable.” Only 8 percent of high school parents and 4 percent of middle school parents said schools should teach “that homosexuality is acceptable.” The survey had a margin of error of 6 percentage points.
Okay, so my mouth hung open for a while after that one.
Certainly, I would expect the number to be low. I’m under no delusions that people are not bigoted assholes. But sometimes, even I’m shocked by just how bigoted they turn out to be.
Only 8% of high school parents and 4% of middle school parents think that schools should teach that homosexuality is acceptable? With a margin of error of 6 points? So best case scenario, that would be 14% and 10%. Worst case is 2% and ZERO. Fucking hell.
I wonder how many parents would think that school lessons should imply that being black is acceptable? Or Muslim? Jewish? Female? Most of these populations are larger among the parent demographic than LGBTQ individuals are, but I somehow think that the numbers would skyrocket even if they were removed from the survey pool.
Personally, I support teaching the very basics of sexual orientation in kindergarten– as in, some families have a mommy and a daddy, some have two daddies, some have two mommies, some have just one mommy, some have just one daddy . . . and that all of those families are great and okay.
But hey, I don’t have a child to protect from the horrors of girls kissing girls and boys holding hands. It seems to me that diversity acceptance is conditional. I imagine (read: really, really hope) that if you were to survey these same parents, asking them how many of them think that homosexuality is acceptable, you would walk away with higher numbers. But when you ask if it’s okay for their kids to know that, it’s time for everyone to start hemming and hawing.
I know, sometimes we really should just take the good news that we can get– that 50% of parents do think that it’s okay to teach about homosexuality at all, I suppose, it a step in the right direction. But sometimes the fight for equality is just really, really depressing, when you realize that the bigots get to set the timeline, and your perfectly reasonable demands are going to be seen as radical for many years to come.
{ 9 comments }
Great post. I moved to Montgomery County a few years ago and one of the reasons I chose this area rather than the other DC suburbs was that it seemed to have more progressive politics and a more diverse population (okay, and more interracial couples…after living in the south for 3 years, I was really interested in not being stared at on a daily basis). When I first heard about the idea, I was concerned that the curriculum might be more harmful, but from what I’ve read and learned about the new information it does seem very honest and non-judgmental. Hopefully, it will make a difference for the children growing up LGBT in our community. And if I can indulge in a little unfounded idealism – create a starting point for other school districts.
Only 8% of high school parents and 4% of middle school parents think that schools should teach that homosexuality is acceptable?
This statistic also disturbed me because aren’t there at least a small percentage of LGBT parents? I vaguely recall that somewhere between a quarter and a third of gay and lesbian couples have a child. I don’t know what percentage of the parent population that makes up, but one would assume that at least a few of those percentage points belong to LGBT parents. So its even worse than we thought.
I imagine (read: really, really hope) that if you were to survey these same parents, asking them how many of them think that homosexuality is acceptable, you would walk away with higher numbers.
I’m less optimistic about this one because of the word “acceptable”. I think we’ve progressed as a country to the point where the old guard doesn’t think its acceptable to harm LGBT, but not to the point where being LGBT is acceptable. Please tell me I’m wrong?!
i believe the real fear here is that, in exposing children to even the idea of homosexuality and/or alternative lifestyles, that somehow their kids will ‘catch the gay.’ and unfortunately, as these sad statistics show, many parents believe that keeping their children uninformed will somehow help them. *shakes head*
Yeah, Kristen, I did briefly mention that in the post, and I’ve thought about it more, since. We do have to consider that the LGBTQ population is small, compared with the entire population (most estimates end up around the 10% mark, but I’ve seen widely varying numbers). Then, we have to acknowledge that not all LGBTQ people are in relationships, and who even knows if most are. Then we cut that number down to a third or a quarter. That’s a pretty small slice. We have to cut that down even smaller, since gay parents being open about their sexuality is fairly new, and therefore most couples with children probably have children younger than middle school or high school age. If I had to pull a number out of my ass, I’d have to say that only 1% or less of the respondents were gay themselves. But math has never been my strong area.
More interesting, I think, is the fact that most of these parents have to at least know someone who is gay, and a hell of a lot probably also know someone who is gay and a parent!
just wanted to let you know i’m still reading!
Wellie, I think you hit the nail on the head there.
Oh… you know, just another day in America. Several countries in Europe have passed governmental recognition of gay marriage or partnership benefits and several more are working on it, because (to quote a line from a 2005 BBC article) “most people in Europe think that not recognizing gay relationships with equal rights is an archaic idea”. And here, most parents think its not appropriate to discuss our existence with children at all. Nice.
I’m moving the UK. so tired of this fight. who am I fighting against? the government or the vast majority of people around me?
-b
I’d love to see how the survey was done in this case, because the wording is really weird, as quoted. If someone asked me if Christianity should be taught in school without teaching whether it was “right or wrong” I’d pick that over “Schools should teach that Christianity is acceptable.” Those two options aren’t really asking the same thing, though. I prefer the wording of the first option- the idea being that you teach about X without passing a value judgement on it. You neither endorse or discourage X. Having seen that option, the implication I would take away is that the second option is meant to read “Endorse X as being right, not wrong.”
I don’t know. Maybe I’m being too optimistic?
Definitely an interesting point, Roy. I would certainly find it weird if my teacher said to me “homosexuality is perfectly acceptable!” But there are definitely implicit ways to suggest that without coming right out and saying it, and I personally interpreted it as teaching from a perspective that homosexuality is acceptable. And I would argue that schools teach that heterosexuality is acceptable on a daily basis, and without a doubt teach from a perspective of it being acceptable (which, of course, it is).
Maybe you’re right that it’s a question of how people interpreted the question. But we also have to look at how the numbers would have turned out if the question was “is it okay to teach that heterosexuality is acceptable” in schools. I’m willing to bet an awful lot of money that you wouldn’t see nearly the kind of hesitance and hair-splitting in that situation.
It’s sad that trying to get gay marriage up has resulted in a reactionary backlash with several states passing referenda against it. I hope you are right that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Comments on this entry are closed.