When sending the kids off to public schools in Montgomery County, Md. from now on, parents can rest assured that along with reading, writing, math, history and science they will be learning all about the essentials of … homosexuality.
The school system north of Washington, D.C. on May 12 became the first in the U.S. to approve a special LGBTQ history course for students below college age.
Documents reveal that the goal of the special, half-credit course is to “increase the awareness of students to the history, culture, and challenges of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ+) community in America.”
The description plays up the essential perception of homosexual victimhood, stating: “LGBTQ+ community faces enduring discrimination that has resulted in the rise of hate crimes against them, higher rates of depression, suicide, and addictive drug use … The course aims to bring acceptance, support, and a stronger sense of shared community among our students of all sexual and gender identities.”
The school system claims the course “will empower” LGBTQ students while helping others “increase understanding and acceptance” of their LGBTQ peers.
At least for now, the course is categorized as an elective social studies class geared to students in grades 11 and 12. The county plans to introduce it in spring 2021 in two county high schools and introduce it in eight other high schools in the 2021-2022 school year. According to Fox 5 News, ten high schools requested the course.
Subjects include the oddly vague “factors that shape identity, with a focus on intersectionality,” “resistance and resilience of the LGBTQ+ community in the U.S.,” “cultural contributions of LGBTQ+ individuals and their representation in media,” and the “contemporary challenges faced by LGBTQ+ individuals locally, nationally, and globally.”
One of the parents who is writing the course curriculum is Mark Eckstein, who is gay and is the LGBTQ committee chair on the Montgomery County Council of PTAs. He told Fox 5 News that he was stunned to find out how little LGBTQ history was being taught in county schools. Eckstein said that the course is an elective, which “counters a lot of the potential pushback.”
