Schools, Homosexuality, and Parental Rights
Tag(s): Convention on the Rights of the Child • CRC • education • international law • law • parental rights • treaties • UN
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Lithuanian parliament is similar to an amendment that was passed by the United Kingdom in 1988, but was subsequently repealed in 2003 after the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child opined that the rule was contrary to the best interests of British children.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.
In 2005, Massachusetts father David Parker was shocked when his five-year-old son brought a controversial children’s book home from school which depicted two households led by homosexual couples. Parker went to the school to speak with school officials, but was arrested and jailed overnight for criminal trespassing. In early 2007, a federal district court judge dismissed Parker’s case, concluding that Christians who attend public schools must be taught about homosexuality in order to be “engaged and productive citizens.”
The issue of homosexuality in schools resurfaced earlier this month, when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California signed into law S.B. 777, which bans California public school textbooks and activities that would exhibit any bias against homosexuality, bisexuality, transsexuality, and cross-dressing. Teachers and texts are even prohibited from using traditional words like “mom” and “dad,” and must substitute them for neutral words like “caretaker.” The proposal has parents across California up in arms, resulting in a state-wide referendum against the law.
A BATTLE WORTH FIGHTING
The stories of David Parker and S.B. 777 illustrate the dire threat that state power can pose to the right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children. Without a constitutional amendment to protect parental rights, nothing prevents the government from deciding (as the federal judge in Parker’s case did) that the rights of religious freedom and parental control over the upbringing of children “undermine teaching and learning.” Yet these are precisely the decisions that are made when the central decision-making power over the child is transferred from parents to the state.
The voice of the parent who loves and cares for their child should matter in the child’s upbringing and education.
If you are already a petition signer, please consider joining ParentalRights.org and helping us spread the word.
SOURCES
Brave New Schools: Case of dad handcuffed and jailed for objecting moves to appeals court
This is an outrage. Fremont County DHS stole our 3 children and awarded custody to my lesbian mother & her ‘partner’! I grew up in that kind of environment & have severe depression and anxiety as a result. I was physically & psychologically abused by my mother’s many ‘partners’. i was NEVER put first as a child. No wonder my oldest is begging to come back HOME & my 5 yr old son IS encouraged to dress up like a girl. PLEASE HELP!
Feb 25 at 3:37 am