I am going to ask you to read something
It originally appeared in Rolling Stone. i just read it at Reader Supported News. The title is simple, One Town's War on Gay Teens. It is about the Anoka-Hennepin School District near Minneapolis. It is in the 6th Congressional District, and the Congresswoman Michele Bachmann graduated from Anoka High School, although she no longer lives in the district.
As a teacher and as a human being I am shocked and enraged by what I read. As a teacher I need to be able to support ALL of my students, while modeling for them respect for others. In this district that is impossible. For 14 years it had a "No Homo Promo" policy that prevented faculty and staff from in any way discussing homosexuality in a way that might be perceived as promoting homosexuality. After suicides and law suits the district apparently moved towards a "neutrality" policy that is no better. Consider:
English teachers worried they'd get in trouble for teaching books by gay authors, or books with gay characters. Social-studies teachers wondered what to do if a student wrote a term paper on gay rights, or how to address current events like "don't ask, don't tell." Health teachers were faced with the impossible task of teaching about AIDS awareness and safe sex without mentioning
