Question of the Day: Should LGBT be taught in K-12?

By A.J. Circhirillo
September 28th, 2011
Section: Opinions

Do you believe that the state should make it mandatory to have LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) taught within the Los Angeles Unified School District? Is this an infringement on the innocence of youngsters, or a giant leap for unbiased education? What do you think?

LGBT history classes will be integrated into the LAUSD curriculum. Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill back in July called the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act, solidifying the requirement. The LAUSD has 60 days to integrate classes and information into their classes. Teachers will also be held accountable for any anti-gay bullying that might go on within their school. Students will be taught prominent individuals throughout history who were queer.

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  • Guest

    it and ok idea if taught in six grade and up.

  • guest

    I think adding it to maybe sex education would be a nice idea.  I wouldn’t start teaching it though till later on in the grade school system.  Find an age where students will comprehend it and teach it not to teach it but to simply inform.  Most violence, hatred, and discrimination comes from people who just don’t understand the differences between each other.  If students were taught about it, I think it would drastically change future opinions.  It shouldn’t be such a taboo thing, it’s an everyday problem.

  • Tony

    Here’s a crazy thought.  Maybe they should just teach the history of our country and the achievements of its citizens without going into their sex lives.  No-that’s way too extreme. Forget  facts and history-the sexual background of the individuals is much more relevant for our children’s education. 

  • Doesnt matter

    I think adding it to the curriculum is one thing, but forcing it to be taught is a different situation. There are many identity groups commonly overlooked in k-12 education, but that’s the way it is. Yes, it should be recognized and respected as history. Yes, it should be added to the curriculum. But as is everything else in k-12 curriculum is set up as guidelines, where little to nothing is mandatory

  • David the small-L libertarian

    No.  It’s another Leftist attempt to force its agenda upon society.  What better way to do it than by the infiltrating impressionable minds of children who have no choice but to be there? And to use my tax dollars in this way against me makes it even more offensive.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=69210088 Nicki Viso

      Oh David…we meet again in the comment section!  Teaching of LGBT history does not condone the LGBT “lifestyle”.  It merely notes that LGBT-identified people have contributed, either positively or negatively (as all groups have done), to our society.

      I don’t think you realize the implication of your last statement – I have no idea how you identify racially, religiously, etc. so I will not assume.  But know that as a member of the LGBT community, I was forced to learn about heterosexuality.  My impressionable mind was infiltrated by the rubbish that heterosexuality is the only option.  And now, my tax dollars go to support that rubbish.  Notice the difference in perspective?  The LGBT exists now and it existed back then.  There is no reason to deny that fact.

      This same argument can be made for the rest of the FAIR Act.  According to another opinion article in the Sundial, the FAIR Act requires “instruction in social sciences to include a study of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans, persons with disabilities, and members of other cultural groups, to the development of California and the United States” (http://sundial.csun.edu/2011/09/fair-education-act-will-make-us-more-american/).  The groups listed above are so frequently left out of the picture when history is taught, or regulated to a week or a month.

      • Stncastaneda

        Lol

      • David the small-L libertarian

        I have the best solution to this whole issue:  Get the government completely out of the education system.  Being a realist, however, I know this isn’t going to happen.

        Okay then, let’s go for it.  Here’s an example of how all future textbooks should be written:

        Thomas Alva Edison was a prolific white heterosexual American inventor most commonly associated with the invention of the light bulb.  As a young deviant telegraph operator, he sent the equivalent of obscene phone calls to young women across the land.  At the age of 24, having a “thing” for young girls, he married 16-year-old Mary Stilwell.  He improved upon the motion picture camera because he had a bit of a kinky side and wanted to film himself and Mary, “doing it” in every corner of the workshop.  Mary was more the submissive type giving in without protest, tolerating Edison’s creative side and giving birth to three children.  Less well known, Edison also had an inexplicable attraction to men in shorts and in 1894 used his Kinetoscope to record the Leonard–Cushing bout.

        • guest

          Now THAT’S funny!!!

      • Old Glory

        “But know that as a member of the LGBT community, I was forced to learn about heterosexuality.”

        So are you saying because you were forced to learn about heterosexuality this is payback?
        I don’t recall in school anyone talking about heterosexuality in class, unless you consider Abraham Lincoln being married with children.