News
2007-06-15
"Ex-gays"
critical of Maryland sex ed curriculum
In response to a
Montgomery County, Md., school board's approval of a new
sex education curriculum for public schools that advocate
In response to a
Montgomery County, Md., school board's approval of a new
sex education curriculum for public schools that advocates a
biological basis for sexual orientation, "reparative
therapy" group Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays issued a
statement criticizing the decision.
“According
to the American Psychiatric Association, there are no
replicated scientific studies supporting any specific
biological cause for homosexuality," PFOX declared on
its Web site. "But now the Montgomery County Board of
Education has done what science and medicine could not
do by declaring in its newly approved curriculum that
homosexuality is 'innate' or inborn."
PFOX argues that
the school board has promoted intolerance of
"ex-gays," citing various incidents where the schools'
gay-straight alliances were allowed to place trash cans on
campus for people to throw away PFOX fliers.
The organization
also complained that a gay teacher at Wootten High
School compared the group to the Ku Klux Klan.
PFOX argues that
the school board violated an order issued by Maryland
state school superintendent Nancy Grasmick stating that all
such curricula must be approved by the board of
education before implementation.
"The local
board’s action in adopting a final curriculum without
waiting for the state board’s decision as to the
legality of that curriculum tramples on the rights of
parents and violates the intent of the
superintendent’s order," PFOX stated.
In 1973 the
American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from
its list of psychiatric disorders.
More recent
statements, including a report issued in 2000, criticize
groups like PFOX for advocating reparative therapy. The APA
states that the process lacks a basis in scientific
research and may harm rather than help the patient.
(The Advocate)
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