Alabama remains the only state in the U.S. to have “warning stickers” about evolution pasted in biology textbooks in public schools (see below). Although the sticker has been slightly changed, it’s pretty close to what you see below. And, of course, it’s unconstitutional, because it singles out just one “theory”, which is demonized solely on religious grounds.
Things are even worse in Arizona, though. According to both PuffHo and Talking Points Memo, one school district (Gilbert) in Arizona is putting anti-abortion stickers in textbooks. Actually, the school hands out the stickers to the students, and makes them paste them in their high school biology books. Here’s the sticker, which references two Arizona laws:
Suzanne Young, a well known author, reports at TPM (my emphasis):
[Young’s] son, a freshman at Gilbert High School in Gilbert, Arizona, told her that if students didn’t put the abstinence-only education sticker in their textbooks, the student would have to speak with their grade-level administrator.
“They’re teaching morality on an educational textbook,” Young, a former high school teacher, said.
. . . This language was taken almost verbatim from an Arizona law that states that schools can only provide support (financial or instruction) to a sexual education program that presents giving birth and adoption as preferred to abortion.
The other law referenced on the sticker states Arizona schools may provide medically accurate and age-appropriate instruction on AIDS and HIV. The instruction must also promote abstinence, cannot promote “a homosexual life-style” and cannot “portray homosexuality as a positive alternative life-style.”
The stickers are apparently a response to a debate in the district last year. The Gilbert Public Schools board wanted to edit the chapter on human reproduction to exclude abortion, according to local reports. But the board nixed this idea because of copyright concerns.
What happens to a kid who doesn’t put the sticker in his/her book? They get singled out for special treatment:
[Young’s] son, a freshman at Gilbert High School in Gilbert, Arizona, told her that if students didn’t put the abstinence-only education sticker in their textbooks, the student would have to speak with their grade-level administrator.
What kid wants to speak to an administrator?
Gilbert, then, is apparently following Arizona law by amending textbooks that even mention abortion. But the other law—the one that says that books can’t promote a homosexual “life-style” or as a “positive” life-style, is just invidious. First of all, I doubt that the books even do that; they probably just mention homosexuality. But if —as I believe—homosexuality is not a “choice,” but a strong biological urge of some people, then portraying it positively (or at least not negatively) wouldn’t be so bad anyway, for it would give solace and support to those children attracted to others of the same sex.
Such are the strictures, born of fear, that the God-fearing citizens of Gilbert, Arizona impose on their children. Grow up, Gilbert!
It’s at least good to know it’s only Arizona doing this now.
Reblogged this on Fairy JerBear's Queer World News, Views & More From The City Different – Santa Fe, NM and commented:
Evolution, Pro Chouce, Gays all targets of Arizona laws meddling with education…
I believe that Cobb County sticker is from Cobb County Georgia, not Alabama.
I like Michael shermer’s take on sex ed: kids who practice abstinence are called parents!!
Wonderful! Millions of people can attest to the truth of this.
Proof that abstinence has a pretty high failure rate. Yet somehow they are able to say it is 100% effective.
With every other contraception method failure rates include both method failure and user failure. Somehow abstinence is not held to this same standard, and they say the rate is zero.
Now I know that some of you are thinking this makes sense, if they are having sex, they are not really abstaining, are they? Nope, having sex is user failure and exactly analogous to condom using partners sometimes not using condoms. The ‘just this once’ condom forgoers get counted as a part of the failure rate. So sex-havers should be counted as part of the failure rate of abstinence. I don’t know what the numbers would be for abstinence failure, but I bet they are not good as abstinence-only areas have higher teen pregnancy rates than comprehensive sex-ed areas.
I remember that Heinlein in his scifis makes a similar point on those who practice ovulation timing sex (I can’t remember the technical term though), he makes it at least once. (Heinlein was obsessed with sex, at least in his later adult books. :-/)
Funny thing is that I read somewhere that it may – as always need to check the science – be that it is somewhat effective. But still, “somewhat” may mean most go on to become parents anyway!
I don’t know if there’s an official clinical term, but it’s commonly called the “rhythm method.” And it’s notoriously ineffective. Indeed, what little utility it has is in its inversion, as a technique to help less horny couples who desire children time their intimate relations so as to increase their chances.
b&
The “rhythm method2, as Ben says. It does have a success rate, if you count “delaying next pregnancy by a year or so” as a success. That is being pretty optimistic.
I don’t know American demographics too well, but for a typical woman that would leave time for around 20 pregnancies, instead of the 40 or so they’re theoretically capable of. So it’s a success rate, of sorts. It might even be a better success rate than Onanism (spreading one’s seed upon the ground, in BuyBullical terms), or substituting anal for vaginal sex.
Damning with faint praise.
Let the heathen spill theirs
Upon the dusty ground
God will make them pay for
Each sperm that can’t be found
– M Python
The vision that conjures up is hilarious
cr
Yep: All that practice, and they still can’t get it right.
I believe that the sticker reproduced in the OP is the one originally held to be unconstitutional by the federal district court for the Northern District of Georgia. On appeal, that decision was vacated (due to gaps in the underlying evidentiary record) and remanded for retrial. Before that retrial could occur, the parties reached an out-of-court settlement in which Cobb County agreed that no such stickers or similar warnings would be used in its classrooms.
The Alabama stickers at issue here will also undoubtedly be found to violate the First Amendment — after the school district has squandered its funds on costs and legal fees in its quixotic religious quest.
After watching the John Oliver’s video on Televangelists posted here not long ago, I also watched his video on sex education. You’ll find things are worse than you think.
John Oliver’s sex Ed video was great though.
This is unbelievable. Even kids in Catholic schools here would stand up to the school if they tried to make them do something like this. They protest if schools try to insist couples at school balls must be boy/girl, and woe to any school that tries to sack a teacher for marrying their same-sex partner.
However, in a much smaller country, it’s almost impossible to isolate communities from outside influence. We just don’t have the solid Christian communities that people can’t escape from, or get all their information and support from. Kids are exposed to a much wider range of experiences from an early age.
Good point. Here in the U.S. the entire state of Utah is controlled politically by the Moronic church. There are huge areas of the southern states that are owned by various fundamental branches of Xians. My original state of Michigan along it’s western coast is solid Dutch Reformed, which is a kind of conservative, don’t mess with Jesus community.
So, the bigger the country, the more isolated communities your bound to find with a narrow view of culture. It’s only on the East and West coasts where you get a pretty cosmopolitan mix.
They bus girls to the boy’s schools, or boys to the girl’s schools?
🐾
Some kids can talk to their parents about things like “sexual intercourse, contraceptives, pregnancy, adoption, and abortion”; some can’t. Either way, the last line of the Arizona sticker is entirely otiose. What kids need to know about is an adult with reliable information they turn to where they can’t go to their parents.
Anyway, if these are matters best left to parent and child, what business does the Gilbert School District have in intruding upon this parental sanctorum by bloviating about its “strong interest” regarding these subjects?
Gilbert has a significant Moron enclave, which is very likely what’s fueling the insanity there.
b&
Just another part of Mesa really, isn’t it. And that has always been the Utah of Arizona.
Ben pretty much summed it up. A lot comments I’ve read put the blame on the Mormon influence in Gilbert.
> But if —as I believe—homosexuality is not a “choice,” but blah blah
I still don’t get why the conclusion would be different if it *were* a choice (whatever “being a choice” means).
For me and my ilk, it wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference. But the point, I think, is that the volitional nature of sexual preference would support one of the premises of the rightwing family-values crowd when it argues that non-heteronormative conduct is deviant (not that is would carry their argument — not by a long shot — just that it would support one of the premises on which their argument is based).
Moreover, the bulk of scientific evidence appears to support the proposition that sexual preference (even if that preference is for a range of sexual activity within which an individual may choose to participate) is largely fixed by genetics.
It also has a legal impact, in that laws that discriminate among people based on immutable characteristics — race, gender, ethnicity, for example — must withstand “strict scrutiny” by the courts.
I agree on all points, yet I cannot help being irked by the form of the sentence — which I see too often — as it seems to bestow great importance to this issue of choice, for a simple conclusion that has no need of it.
By all means let us get to that when it comes up and becomes crucial — in particular for the legal aspects you so rightly mention — but not otherwise.
It is like invoking the multiverse hypothesis in support of the anthropic argument (another pet peeve of mine); the argument does not require it, and the added premise merely provides an opportunity to derail the exchange and sidestep the argument.
Agreed. Sometimes I ask if racial discrimination would be okay if race was a choice. “I see you chose to be black so I’m not hiring you.”
Hell, religion is definitely a choice, but is still protected.
The other shoe has yet to fall, however (and it should). The logic behind the gay marriage decision would apply equally to polyamorous unions.(The Mormons should like that one)
I doubt the Morons will support multiple marriages until after it’s already on the books, and then only officially reluctantly. They’ve fought hard recently to distance themselves from their polygamous past, and they led some of the most vocal and well-funded campaigns against the legalization of same-sex marriages. It’d be very hard for them to make an about-face, and even harder for them to get away with it.
Indeed…Moron support for multiple marriages could well doom any effort to bring it about, as it would instantly be dismissed as nothing more than an excuse for Moron men to have their own harems. Any chance multiple marriages might ever have would probably have to depend on at least seemingly-sincere opposition from the Morons.
b&
Religion is protected, despite being a matter of choice, because the First Amendment expressly guarantees the free exercise of religion.
I wouldn’t expect the polygamy shoe to fall anytime soon, although the way is now clear for the pro-polygamists to make their case in the court of public opinion the way the SSM advocates did.
sub
The Schools down there in Gilbert should just get stickers that say they promote ignorance and hope you feel the same.
Abstinence only sex education is an abomination that causes exactly what it, supposedly, is intended to prevent. What’s next: chastity belts? Separation of female students from male students again? This kind of public “education” produces individuals who aren’t prepared to live in a modern world.
Actually…it’s to ensure that the daughters remain valuable property for their fathers to auction off. Damaged goods don’t sell as well. Same as always.
b&
It’s one thing to recommend abstinence as long as a rounded, accurate education is provided.
In that framework, it’s not much different from telling people that the only way to reliably lose weight is diet and exercise. Like abstinence, most people don’t seem to be able to stick to that either.
To be fair, you can’t really expect any organism to willingly starve itself. Fortunately for humans, it’s what you eat that matters as much as how much…you can stuff yourself silly on fresh vegetables and not only avoid adverse consequences, but do yourself considerable good. The key is to eat modest amounts of complex fibre-rich unrefined carbohydrates (fresh fruits, whole grains), protein, and fat…and satiate any remaining hunger with fresh veggies, as much as you care to eat — stuff yourself silly.
And exercise doesn’t require anything fancy…just half an hour a few times a week with no special equipment is all it takes.
But, yeah. Starvation and slaving away isn’t something very many people can handle, quite understandably. The problem is getting people to understand that “diet” doesn’t mean “starve yourself,” and that “exercise” doesn’t mean “run a marathon.”
b&
I don’t think it’s necessary to insert the words “as I believe” into a sentence regarding the fact that homosexuality is a biological urge and not a choice. I know it isn’t a choice just as anyone who has thought about it knows the same thing. I am heterosexual and I could no more choose to be homosexual than I could choose to be a zebra or the man in the moon. And I’ve had close family members and some friends who are homosexual. All of them knew they were gay by the time they were part way into puberty and realized who they were and weren’t attracted to. Most of them tried to deny it and choose heterosexuality but were unsuccessful. It’s a fact that it’s not a choice.
Is this just a ‘Gilbert’ thing or is it an Arizona thing? What do the other school boards in Arizona do in response to that crackpot law?
cr
Might be best to let the people living in Arizona tell you, I only lived there a couple of years way way back. But Arizona has always been a republican place…remember Barry Goldwater. So any republican state means lots of crazies in politics. The Sheriff there in Phoenix is right up there with crazy.
Goldwater himself though, it should be said, was pro-choice, and was strongly opposed to the Christian Right. The crazies we’re talking about here are most certainly not the political offspring of Barry Goldwater. He was a Republican, but he was a totally different animal as far as these issues are concerned.
At the time, IIRC, Goldwater was regarded as a way right-wing nutjob. These days in retrospect he seems more like middle-of-the-road.
cr
Goldwater would be a slightly liberal Democrat these days. Nixon would be far too liberal to get the Democratic nomination. Judging by actions and policy, as opposed to speeches, Obama is the most conservative President ever to hold office.
b&
Arizona is a “purple” state. Gilbert is in Maricopa County, which overall tends more blue than red. My own congressional district is represented by Krysten Sinema, the least religious member of Congress and the only out bisexual.
Mesa and Gilbert, though, are home to what I think might be the largest Moron enclave outside of Utah. Matt Salmon’s district is there, and he’s consistently rated as the single most conservative member of Congress.
b&
sub
Can’t we just swap Arizona and Oklahoma back to Mexico — let it rename ’em Aztlán 1 & 2 — straight up for a stretch of Baja near Cabo and a chunk of the Yucatan to be named later?
We should definitely shoot for that deal.
And someone was proposing giving Texas back to Mexico the other day.
What I want to know is, what has Mexico ever done to you lot to deserve that? 😉
cr
We should throw in Texas as a kicker.
Still be the best deal since Tom scored an apple, a kite, and a dead rat for letting the other guys whitewash Aunt Polly’s fence.
It seems to me that we have a responsibility to support the school district’s noble endeavor by providing the students with appropriate stickers.
I thought it telling that the other law says, “…MAY provide medically accurate and age-appropriate instruction on AIDS and HIV.” This leaves them an, “out” to not tell students anything at all about this disease (that is only contracted by, “sinners”, anyway).
I wonder if you can edit the stickers once you’ve applied them.
In my experience, school children/students are wont to “edit” and adorn the front pages of their textbooks …
/@
A slight tangent: I’ll bet the adoption industry loves this shit.
When you get children imposing their will on other children is that not called bullying, nevertheless, there is definately one class of child in Gilbert that should not be having sex..
can such a blatantly anti-gay law stand up to a constitutional challenge?
Stronger, it would, arguably, be appropriate fact to be looked at in textbooks.
An example that is relevant locally, because it was recently doing the rounds, is that statistical fact that children with same-sex parents have as good an environment as children with multiple-sex parents. (And the “arguably” comes in with statistical buyer’s beware, et cetera. I am not sure how sound the science is.)
Plus the oldtimers of the Christ Democratic party here in Sweden just started to try to push against same-sex parent families, because [insert religious morals or magic here], not worrying that above statistics is rejecting or at least complicating their position.