They Think You're Too Stupid to Notice

We usually try to ignore these guys, well, actually, usually we can't even figure out what they're trying to say, but a recent blog post at the Ex-Recall web site makes a statement:

The sophists at the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), a major influencer of the new MCPS sex-ed curriculum and the politics of education in our country, have produced a pamphlet entitled The Language of Gender to discuss the "proper vocabulary list for educators on gender identity". Ex-Recall Blog

They then go into this pamphlet and criticize it. In case anyone has seen this silly blog post, let me point out that the pamphlet they criticize is not part of the MCPS curriculum. So comments like:

Do the citizens of Montgomery County REALLY understand what the MCPS Board of Education and their Sex-ed Committee is trying to do to our children?

are really a kind of irrelevant noise, the old "Hey! Look over there" technique they often employ when they're pretty sure you won't check their sources. Whatever is in this pamphlet, the Board of Education has probably never seen it ... and what in the world is this "Sex-ed Committee?" Is that the citizen's advisory committee that their president is a member of? Mmm, how does that work? How do you say something like that without the word "hypocrite" popping into your head at some point?

Anyway, I want to go back.

Remember how they said that GLSEN was "major influencer of the new MCPS sex-ed curriculum"? Did you buy that? I did at first. I'm gullible, I guess, I trust people when they say something. Do you know how GLSEN influenced the new MCPS sex-ed curriculum?

As far as anybody knows, they didn't influence the curriculum at all. GLSEN had no members on the citizens committee, for instance, no advisory role, no input at all.

The Ex-Recall group is lying to you.

GLSEN is a powerful advocacy group, no doubt. There are chapters all over the country. Their mission:

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) envisions a future in which every child learns to respect and accept all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.

Cool, I'm OK with that, are you?

Q: But did GLSEN have anything to do with the curriculum that is being implemented in Montgomery County?
A: No.

Q: So why is Ex-Recall criticizing their pamphlet?
A: Because they think you're an idiot, and they don't think you'll realize that neither the pamphlet nor the organization have anything to do with the MCPS curriculum.

Look at it this way. Who were some "major influencers of the new MCPS sex-ed curriculum?" Well, how about the Daughters of the American Revolution? They had a member on the committee that proposed these things. True, she wasn't a very effective member, and nobody agreed with her gay-bashing materials, but ... the Daughters of the American Revolution were right there, making policy.

Who else? How about PFOX, the Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays? They were right there, sitting in the committee meetings, presenting their bizarre point of view, trying to get the schools to teach their ... idiosyncratic ... interpretation of the capriciousness of human sexual orientation, which they believe can and should be switched toward whatever direction the community prefers. They weren't just "influencers," they were participants in the curriculum development process. I'll guarantee you they wouldn't have been there if I'd been picking the teams. But they were.

GLSEN wasn't, PFOX was. DAR was. Parents Against Ex-Rated and R-Rated Books and Maryland Coalition Against Pornography were "influencers" of the curriculum.

GLSEN wasn't.

GLSEN didn't have anything to do with this curriculum.

The Ex-Recall group thinks you're too dumb to know that.

The Ex-Recall Group itself, or the Recall Group, we're not sure who's in which one at this point, had more people on the citizens advisory committee that proposed the curriculum than GLSEN did!

They're think you're too stupid to notice.