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Sexual Diversity and Public Schools in Canada and the United States
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49
amended an earlier statute on AIDS instruction by prohibiting school districts from including in any course of study instruction which promoted a homosexual lifestyle; portrayed homosexuality as a positive alternative lifestyle; or suggests that some methods of sex are safe methods of homosexual sexual practice. In 1997, when a student protection bill was being debated in the California legislature, supporters were regularly boxed into denying that it would lead to curricular change.
In 1999 [or 2001], the Utah’s state legislators, obviously seething over court losses in cases involving the creation of Gay-Straight Alliances, approved a bill outlawing positive or neutral discussion of homosexuality in the state’s schools. At decade’s end, eight states in total required or recommended that schools teach that homosexuality is not an acceptable lifestyle (beyond the above mentioned, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia). “No Promo Homo” campaigns were launched in other states, sometimes with chilling effect. In 2002, Maryland’s Board of Education was considering the inclusion of references to sexual diversity in curricular reforms, but put it off in the face of ferocious opposition from religious conservatives.
At the local level, school boards ready to take on harassment or discrimination issues were usually cautious about the development and display of gay/lesbian related resources or the inclusion of sexual diversity issues in the classroom.. The Des Moines story spoke eloquently of the fears.
A Gay-Positive Curriculum in Des Moines, Iowa, 1994-95
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In 1991, the Des Moines School Board approved policies barring discrimination based on sexual
orientation and encouraging curricular reform that fostered respect for diversity. Three years later, the draft of an inclusive curriculum was ready, and in December 1994 was working its way through the school district approval process. But a draft of the proposal had been given to the Midwest director of an anti-gay religious right group, who then alerted a right wing talk show host -- who then railed against the curriculum daily. A protest against the proposal attracted 3000, and an eight-hour public meeting saw supporters of the curriculum jeered, heckled, and screamed at. After several more weeks of whipped up opposition, the board decided to effectively kill the curricular proposal, and dissolve the Advisory Committee created for sexual diversity issues. Opponents then seized the initiative by lobbying state legislators to prohibit the transmission of positive messages about homosexuality in Iowa schools. Concerned Parents of Des Moines also campaigned to roll the clock back by removing sexual orientation from the Board’s anti-discrimination policy. They failed in both, but in the board elections held in September of 1995, a candidate backed by Concerned Parents won a board seat by defeating Jonathon Wilson, who had come out as gay in the heat of the curricular controversy.
No Promo Homo policies proliferated at the local level, like this one in New Hampshire:
The Merrimack School District shall neither implement nor carry out any program or activity that has either the purpose or effect of encouraging or supporting homosexuality as a positive lifestyle alternative. A program or activity, for purposes of this item, includes the distribution of instructional materials, instruction, counseling, or other services on school grounds, or referral of a pupil to an organization that affirms a homosexual lifestyle.
In the late 1990s, controversy over gay-positive resources erupted in one of the most politically
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49
amended an earlier statute on AIDS instruction by prohibiting school districts from including in
any course of study instruction which promoted a homosexual lifestyle; portrayed homosexuality
as a positive alternative lifestyle; or suggests that some methods of sex are safe methods of
homosexual sexual practice. In 1997, when a student protection bill was being debated in the
California legislature, supporters were regularly boxed into denying that it would lead to
curricular change.
In 1999 [or 2001], the Utah’s state legislators, obviously seething over court losses in cases
involving the creation of Gay-Straight Alliances, approved a bill outlawing positive or neutral
discussion of homosexuality in the state’s schools. At decade’s end, eight states in total required
or recommended that schools teach that homosexuality is not an acceptable lifestyle (beyond the
above mentioned, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and
Virginia). “No Promo Homo” campaigns were launched in other states, sometimes with chilling
effect. In 2002, Maryland’s Board of Education was considering the inclusion of references to
sexual diversity in curricular reforms, but put it off in the face of ferocious opposition from
religious conservatives.
At the local level, school boards ready to take on harassment or discrimination issues were
usually cautious about the development and display of gay/lesbian related resources or the
inclusion of sexual diversity issues in the classroom.. The Des Moines story spoke eloquently of
the fears.
A Gay-Positive Curriculum in Des Moines, Iowa, 1994-95
56
In 1991, the Des Moines School Board approved policies barring discrimination based on sexual
orientation and encouraging curricular reform that fostered respect for diversity. Three years later, the draft
of an inclusive curriculum was ready, and in December 1994 was working its way through the school
district approval process. But a draft of the proposal had been given to the Midwest director of an anti-gay
religious right group, who then alerted a right wing talk show host -- who then railed against the curriculum
daily. A protest against the proposal attracted 3000, and an eight-hour public meeting saw supporters of the
curriculum jeered, heckled, and screamed at. After several more weeks of whipped up opposition, the
board decided to effectively kill the curricular proposal, and dissolve the Advisory Committee created for
sexual diversity issues. Opponents then seized the initiative by lobbying state legislators to prohibit the
transmission of positive messages about homosexuality in Iowa schools. Concerned Parents of Des Moines
also campaigned to roll the clock back by removing sexual orientation from the Board’s anti-discrimination
policy. They failed in both, but in the board elections held in September of 1995, a candidate backed by
Concerned Parents won a board seat by defeating Jonathon Wilson, who had come out as gay in the heat of
the curricular controversy.
No Promo Homo policies proliferated at the local level, like this one in New Hampshire:
The Merrimack School District shall neither implement nor carry out any program or
activity that has either the purpose or effect of encouraging or supporting homosexuality
as a positive lifestyle alternative. A program or activity, for purposes of this item,
includes the distribution of instructional materials, instruction, counseling, or other
services on school grounds, or referral of a pupil to an organization that affirms a
homosexual lifestyle.
In the late 1990s, controversy over gay-positive resources erupted in one of the most politically
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