Catholic Take on Teaching Homosexuality in School

Gay activists understand that to silence Catholic teaching on homosexuality, two things must first happen in society: gay marriage laws must be passed in many states, and teaching homosexuality to young, impressionable school children must begin in earnest.

Same-sex education is a great threat to children, and society, for it seeks specifically to undermine the traditional family that Catholics still defend, which is the foundation for all past, current and future civilizations. Recently in Alameda County, California, a so-called gay curriculum has been proposed.

This is not a place for sexual politics (photo by Ryan Stanton).

Teaching homosexuality in the Alameda schools, for now, is sill on hold because parents have protested.

The stated reason for same sex education in Alameda was to promote “diversity education” and to confront homophobia in schools. The real reason, however, is to undermine parental authority and erode a child’s common sense understanding that marriage is the lifelong union of a man and a woman that brings forth new life through procreation.

A look at some of these same sex education lesson plans is worrying. A few examples:

The lesson plan for first graders is “Who’s in a Family?” The teacher is told to consider:

“If a student responds that one family in the book is made up of a mother, a father and two children and a cat, you may
acknowledge that some families look like this, but also ask students for other examples of what a family can look like.”

We see where this is going. The book they are referring to is “Who’s in a Family?” by Robert Skutch and Laura Nienhaus. According to Publishers Weekly, “this slight book catalogues multicultural contemporary family units, including those with single parents, lesbian and gay parents.”

And while no Catholic would object to a book that discusses mixed-race marriages, for example, teaching children that two homosexual men and a child or two lesbian women and a child is a family is simply untrue. When that which is false, is taught to children as truth, we are in trouble.

In Grade 4, the teacher will introduce the words  “Gay, Lesbian, LGBT” as class vocabulary…Let’s be clear: these are political words, and nothing more. How about teaching fourth graders important words like Constitution, Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King?

While the Catholic Church understands that people do suffer with same sex attraction, the choice to self-identify as LGBT, gay or lesbian is a conscious decision to take on a socio-political identity that affirms a homosexual lifestyle.

Why would we allow the public school system to teach a fourth grader about a specific sexual lifestyle?

By the fifth grade in Alameda, teaching homosexuality in schools is more direct. The lesson’s “intention is to  increase their awareness of all stereotypes, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.”  The lesson plan finally instructs the teacher to incorporate a “Time to Reflect” which leads to a teaching moment:

“We all may have different beliefs and a wide range of experiences and opinions regarding LGBT people, but we are now better informed as to how important it is to provide for the safety and well being of each and every person in our lives.”

There it is, the “safety issue.” While there are instances where violent, deluded people attack homosexuals, the real intention of this curriculum is to silence Christian revelation that homosexual acts are immoral.

And while this statement acknowledges that there are many “different beliefs” about homosexuality, I’m skeptical that the creators of this curriculum would welcome the views of a Christian, Jewish or Muslim child who wanted to discuss Biblical passages concerning homosexuality.

Both gay activists and Catholics understand that the answer to the question What is a family? depends on the definition of marriage. The Catholic marriage definition was articulated quite well by Pope Leo XIII in 1880, and it is still applicable today:

“That marriage, from its institution, should exist between two only, that is, between one man and one woman; that of two they are made, so to say, one flesh; and that the marriage bond is by the will of God so closely and strongly made fast that no man may dissolve it or render it asunder.”

If Bible Christians and Catholics can’t convince their fellow Americans that marriage is a specific, eternal covenant that is part of the natural law, then more states will certainly pass gay marriage laws,  and the public schools wil surely be inundated with same sex education lessons.