Teaching homosexuality in schools? How exacty is it done and what are the limits?

Question

I am 36 years old YES I learned about human reproduction in public school. Before I was in high school I knew what the male and female reproduction system was and I knew what happened biologically when the male and female reproduction got together. I understood the whole process of how a baby was conceived around age 13. They say many schools are teaching homosexuality in schools. Are they just teaching that some people are different and not everybody has a boy/girl relationship and leaving it at that? Are they getting into the physical acts that take place between two males or two females? I am not talking about kissing, hugging or holding hands. Anytime I write the words describing homosexual acts I get reported for abuse and recieve a violation. I am trying to understand what exactly these schools want our kids to know. Do we want our kids to know what kind of physical activities homosexuals engage in? If you say no would you not be educating them properly?

Answer 1

homosexuality SHOULDN'T be taught in schools. It's a personal matter, and if mentioned a lot of children will become confused about their sexuality. This wil lead to people thinking they're gay when they really aren't.

people should discover their sexuality in their own personal life, through experience. There should be no pressures in school to find out whether you are gay or not. I wasn't pressured in school to pick a sex and neither should anyone.

Answer 2

The only circumstances in school where details of sexual activity should be discussed is sex ed, where the purpose is to provide young adults with the basic information they need to avoid STD's or unwanted pregnancy (both now and as information they will need for the rest of their lives).

When I was in high school I was part of a peer educator program, that taught sex ed in schools. The only effective way to teach sex ed, is to be very blunt and matter of fact about it. Exchange of body fluids carries risk of disease or (in some cases) pregnancy, and different types of sex require different precautions.

Failure to provide this information means that they then graduate and go out into the world as sexually active adults who do not know how to protect themselves. Refusal to provide this information is failing to adequately educate students. And heterosexuals aren't the only people the schools are responsible for educating.

That said, sex ed is a tiny aspect of education. To "teach about homosexuality in school" is a hell of a lot more. This isn't just a method of having sex, it's an aspect of human society. Long, long before anyone is talking condoms, children should be learning about different types of families, just because that's part of basic social education.

And while we're at it, the Stonewall Rebellion and rise of the gay rights movement should be part of basic modern history education, and when students read Oscar Wilde they should know the circumstances of his relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas (which puts a whole different spin on "The Picture of Dorian Gray"), and the "indecency" trials which destroyed him. Literature and non-fiction that deal with queer themes shouldn't be excluded from either school libraries or curriculums.

When learning ancient history, the glorification of sexual love between soldiers in ancient Sparta (and the impact this had on their warfare) shouldn't be whitewashed over, and Alexander the Great shouldn't be quietly assumed to have been heterosexual. Neither should Foucault, for that matter. I've been shocked by the number of college students who knew him vaguely but didn't know he was gay. And it's not like that was an inconsequential part of his life, either.

That's all "learning about homosexuality" too. It means an educational system that doesn't start with the assumption that everyone is straight.

Answer 3

I am an education major and am in a Human Sexuality class. We have discussed in depth the sexual acts between two males and two females however teaching a child the reproductive systems wouldn't include teaching a child about homosexual sex. reproduction takes place between a male and a female. So if what you are asking is about reproduction then I don't think that it is important to educate children about homosexuality. However it is important to let the Children know that each person is different and that it's ok to be who he/she is and to accept the child for who they are becomming.

Answer 4

They should just go on naturally and teach about the important basic things such as anatomy, the reproductive system and it's functions. Not the human relationship/orientations. Since homosexuality and heterosexuality is so known and a part of different people, they don't need to touch on the behaviour part.

Answer 5

The way we learned about it, it was purely scientific. Sex ed was part of health courses, and although the Skirt Clan (what we called the Apostolic girls who always wore skirts, calling them a "clan" is a Cherokee thing not meant to show disapproval) would opt out, we all pretty much stayed in. I grew up in a conservative area, but nobody really had any issue with teaching about homosexuality. The attitude at my school was "This isn't church, if you want that go down the street." They were VERY good about keeping religion and school separate without hampering the rights of those who were devout.


My personal opinion---School is to teach students about life. Homosexuality is part of life. If people don't like that, I guess they don't like to learn about life in general. There's more to it than the so-called "simpler things."

Answer 6

The conservative right will tell you that if you teach about homosexuality... then you're "promoting it"... like if you provide condoms in school bathrooms you're "condoning illicit sex" ... The majority of right wingers unfortunately still think that if "str8" kids learn about it... then they'll "experiment" and "convert" to being gay... which we all know is ridiculous... I think that it would be a very valuable part of a young teens education so that it takes the "mystery" out of the whole thing... and helps them to learn about safety and that great sex can be enjoyed by any two people who love each other and want to be in a committed emotional and physical relationship...

Answer 7

I don't think homosexuality is something you can 'teach'. You can tell kids what it is.. But why should you teach the 'acts' that we would engage in if we were having sex? You wouldn't teach kids the sexual acts a straight couple would engage in.. so why a gay couple?

You really can't get far at all with touchy subjects in public schools. They sugar coat everything far too much, in order to not 'offend' anyone.

Personally I think most sex ed classes are pointless. Unless you count people shoving abstinence down our throats in the 6th grade, I never got any sex ed, let alone any education about homosexuality. I learned all of what I know by my own will, by myself. Most kids will know all that they 'teach' by the time they attempt to teach it.

I wonder, is it normal for me to have no recieved sex ed at all..? I graduated a year ago. hm.

Answer 8

Huh. We didn't learn about homosexuality in middle school or high school. I think that most school are to scared to talk about because of what the parents might think and what not. But yeah, I doubt they would talk about what went on between to girls or guys. But I don't have kids yet or anything, I just got out of high school, but I would want my kids to at least know some things, but not when they are like 12. Besides, most kids know EVERYTHING by the time they're in middle school. I did.

Answer 9

You could teach homosexual literature something similar to "Wuthering Heights." You don't have to focus on the sex part. I was frustrated all my life because it was forbidden love. I never heard about any literature that was gay positive. My perceptions of homosexuals were very negative. That lead to emotional issues which I am still dealing with. The gay kids need to hear these stories and not hate themselves for being the way they are. We do not need to condone or condemn the behavior in our schools. Just present it in a neutral manner that is healthy for every one.

As far as the sex part goes, I never learned any sex positions in my health class. All I learned was about reproduction and that was in biology. We did learn about safe sex practices but those apply to every one, gay and straight.

Answer 10

The schools that I went to/go to know in the Virginia Beach, VA area never EVER taught about homosexuality in the sex ed program.

I wish they did, then maybe I wouldn't have been so confused for a while. I think it's important for people to understand those feelings.

EVERY sex ed class is optional though. Parents can always sign a waiver form to excuse their child from it, but the majority, sometimes everyone, in my class took it. So, the schools aren't shoving anything down kids throats.

Answer 11

In our school system, they do not talk about homosexuality. In fact, a parent has to give permission for them to talk to the student about sex other than what would be in the biology class. I like it this way. If the community wants to offer classes specifically for those that want that information outside of school, that's fine. I don't think it should be taught in school.