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Teaching Children about Homosexuality is in their “Best Interests”?

According to a press release by Amnesty International, the Lithuanian parliament is currently considering legislation that would ban the “propagation of homosexuality” to children in schools.

According to the authors of the amendment, “the propagation of a non-traditional sexual orientation and exposure to information containing positive coverage of homosexual relations may therefore cause negative consequences for the physical, mental and, first and foremost, moral development of minors.” Amnesty International, however, fears that the legislation infringes the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression.

BRITAIN, LITHUANIA, AND THE “BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILD”

The statute before the Lithuanian parliament is similar to an amendment that was passed by the United Kingdom in 1988, but was subsequently repealed in 2003 after the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child opined that the rule was contrary to the best interests of British children.

According to Amnesty International, Lithuania has a legal obligation to act “in the best interests of the child,” which includes “respecting the child’s right to be free from discrimination, including that based on sexual orientation or gender identity.”

SCHOOLS, HOMOSEXUALITY, AND PARENTAL RIGHTS

Unfortunately, the issue of teaching homosexuality in schools is not confined to outside the borders of the United States.

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In 1995, President Clinton signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), an international treaty which requires that all decisions regarding children - whether made by the government, the community, or the parents - should be decided based on the “best interests of the child.” According to Geraldine van Bueren, a principal drafter of the CRC, “best interests provides decision and policy makers with the authority to substitute their own decisions for either the child’s or the parents.”

Under the CRC, parental involvement essentially assumes secondary importance because the CRC places the primary responsibility on the state to ensure and protect the rights of children. Parents lose their ability to make decisions for their children, and surrender that authority to the government. Read the rest of this entry »