CRC's Lying Letter

[Note: due to a Blogger crash, this post was unavailble for a while]

People, this is unbelievable. We got a copy of the letter that Ex-Recall is sending to families at the schools that are pilot-testing the sex-ed curriculum.

I'm sorry, but I don't have words for how reprehensible this letter is. I will include it in its entirety, and then comment afterwards.

Dear Tilden Middle School Parent:

Your child will be taught sexual variations (homosexuality, transgenderism, bi-sexuality) as part of the new Montgomery county sex education curriculum being piloted in your school this spring for 8th graders. Unfortunately, though the board of education (BOE) was tasked with introducing material to help teachers define homosexuality in response to children's questions, the new pilot curriculum does not define sexual variations -- it defends and advocates sexual variations.

Here are some specific examples of areas that are especially disturbing:

• Health professionals believe that transgenderism is a gender identity disorder. However the new curriculum does not state this. The curriculum instead teaches children that their gender identity is not based on their anatomy. The new 8th grade curriculum defines "Gender Identity: a person's internal sense of knowing whether he or she is male or female."
  
• While encouraging children to determine their sexual identity -- heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual -- all material from the CDC (Center for Disease Control) that discusses the health risks of homosexual behaviors was excluded. That is irresponsible.
  
• The new curriculum includes resources about sexual variations that: (1.)encourages confused and impressionable youth to self-identify as homosexual, (2.)recommends that schools establish unisex bathrooms to transgender students [transgenderism is a recognized gender identity disorder], (3.) urges teachers to refer students to non-mainstream religions that do not view homosexuality as a sin, (4.) defines 'heterosexism' as "promoting heterosexuality as superior".
  
• the 10th grade condom video narrator states "Remember to us a condom for oral, anal, and vaginal sex." The condom manufacturers state on the package that condoms are not recommended for anal sex and the Surgeon General has stated "Anal sex is simply too dangerous to practice", however, these facts were not included. Clips from the video may be viewed on our web site. An infectious disease doctor was appalled at the video. Her article to the Gazette on this video is also listed on our web site.

CRC is an organization of parents and citizens very disturbed by the lack of balance in the new curriculum, and we have organized to take action. Please visit our web site www.mcpscurriculum.com so we can track the percentage of students opting out.

Best Regards,

The Parents and Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum (CRC)

OK. Catch your breath, take a bath, have a drink, whatever you have to do.

Explain this to me: "Your child will be taught sexual variations." Yes, it's a sex ed course, they'll be learning about sex. Not everybody is the same. They'll be taught about sexual variations. About.

The idea that the curriculum "defends and advocates sexual variations" is, I suppose, a matter of perspective. The curriculum does not say that all homosexuals will roast in hell, and that may be taken as advocacy. The curriculum simply teaches that sexual variation exists.

This statement: Health professionals believe that transgenderism is a gender identity disorder -- is simply incorrect. There are many causes of transgenderism, including chromosome abnormalities, unusual patterns of hormone activity, etc. These are physiological, and are not a form of personality disorder. Now, there is a DSM disgnosis of "gender identity disorder," where a person believes themselves to be the "wrong sex," and where that belief causes them "clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning." The DSM-IV says, The diagnosis is not made if the individual has a concurrent physical intersex condition (e.g., androgen insensitivity syndrome or congenital adrenal hyperplasia).... The diagnosis is also not made in cases where the person is not under stress because of the belief -- a guy who thinks he's really a woman, and who feels fine about that, is not suffering from "gender identity disorder." Why would CRC want you to believe that transgendered persons, including those with congenital physiological conditions, are "suffering" from a disorder?

The second point is silly. There is a section of the health curriculum on sexually transmitted diseases. It isn't in the sex-ed section because it's already covered. They're assuming you won't know that.

Items listed under the third bullet seem to be simply made up. Pure fiction. The curriculum does not encourage children to determine whether they're gay or straight -- that is a total fabrication, and the writers of this letter must know that. And there's nothing in the curriculum about unisex bathrooms, of all things! No students are referred to any religion, no matter what the feeling about homosexuality, and finally the word "heterosexism" doesn't appear in the curriculum at all -- anywhere!

One doctor may have been appalled. Others weren't. This is not much of a criticism of an entire curriculum.

These people -- notice they are careful never to describe themselves as "parents", always "parents and citizens" -- say they want balance. Teachthefacts.org does not agree that objectivity needs to be balanced with bigotry, or that facts need to be balanced with lies.

[Edited for accuracy 4:19 PM]