LGBTQIALPHABETSOUP

Regardless of the direction of travel that many US states have taken on social issues such as abortion, much of which are retrograde .....

School Birds And Bee Talks Are More Complicated These Days

Many, including liberal parents have asked, why are the LGBTQIALPHABETSOUP brigade so determined to have sexuality and gender orientations, discussed in infant and primary schools?

Until the onset of puberty, most children don't have a real fully formed idea of their 'sexual identity', and frankly, from memory don't think about sex or sexuality at all under the ages of 12/13 or later.

We didn't have sex education (Birds and Bee's) talks in schools until over the age of 11 when I was a youth. Now I realise that sadly we live in a far more sexualised society these days, and we expose children to sexual images far more often than is perhaps really healthy, but even so, do 8 year olds really need to decide their sexual orientation at that tender age?

All the evidence is that in the UK, LGBTQIA issues effect only *2 - 3 per cent of the population (and not the 10 - 15 per cent that activists try to claim), so why do they make such a fuss about having it taught in primary schools (ages 8-11)? In 2016, the UK Office for National Statistics estimated that just 2.5% of the UK population aged 16 or above identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or ‘other’ (just under 1.3 million people). The UK Government Equalities Office estimates that there are between 200,000 and 500,000 trans-men and trans-women in the UK, which seems a little high, but even so is a tiny minority.

But in the USA, Nadine Smith, who describes as a queer mother, and who is executive director of the Equality Florida (non-profit). Said that "Every child has a right to speak honestly about their lives, a right to have access to a history that is honest and includes them, and a right to library books that reflect and include who they are."

I ask this because in Florida, legislation that bans the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in primary school classrooms has passed the statehouse and has passed through the state's Republican-controlled legislature. Which frankly seems perfectly reasonable to me in a democracy, and in line with the education I received in the UK at that age, and presumably most adults in the USA and UK over the age of 35 - 40 also received.

However in the 'Woke' culture that has overtaken the West, this is not a democratic, or a protection of young children measure .... No, its a 'Don't Say Gay' law, linked with LGBTQ rights, and homophobia. The BBC, an organisation that is proud that 11 per cent of its workforce identify as LGBT (nearly 4 times the national figure), obviously was totally impartial (not) in its reporting, used the leading 'Don't Say Gay' headline, and linked the story to Homophobia via its related topics links.  

The News Is Gay Views?

However, this is a very slanted headline, because apparently the ban on discussing LGBT topics, will only apply largely to sex education at the primary grade levels, and when "not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students". Nadine Smith commentated that "What we are seeing is the systematic erasure, or elimination of those resources for young people and a gag order imposed on educators." 

I personally would not describe primary school children as 'young people,' a term which suggests to me teenage youths, not 8 - 11 year olds .... they are children.

While Republican Governor DeSantis said that schools should avoid "entirely inappropriate" topics, and instead be teaching science, history, civics and other lessons. Parents must have a seat at the table when it comes to what's going on in their schools." Again, an entirely reasonable remark I would suggest.

It should also be said that some form of State laws that bans or constrains the discussion of LGBT life in classrooms, are in force in up to 20 states in the US. But they vary in content, and something as mild as the banning of the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity at primary school levels of education, in Florida, might be a far more comprehensive ban in other states.

However, the Florida Bill does have a sting in its tail, in that it allows parents the right to directly sue schools districts, and seek damages if they believe an educator has broken the law ... but surely if you don't break the law, then you won't get sued?

Once you start marching to the drum beat of minority interest groups, then this sort of argument will occur, as the majority try via legislation to wrest the world back to behaviours that were, for want of a better term, were just 'normal' a decade or so ago. 

*Office for National Statistics, ‘Sexual identity, UK: 2016’, Statistical bulletin, 4 October 2017