April 22, 2011
Via-email: boe@mcpsmd.org
The Honorable Christopher Barclay, President
Montgomery County Board of Education
850 Hungerford Drive
Rockville, MD 20850
RE: April 13, 2011, Recommendations from the Board’s Citizens Advisory Committee on Family Life and Human Development
Dear President Barclay:
I am writing not just on behalf of the Metro DC Chapter of Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), but also as the parent of two gay sons, now adults, who grew up in MCPS. MCPS has taken great strides in recent years to address with intelligence and wisdom issues of sexual orientation.
In 2007, the Montgomery County Public Schools began implementing a curriculum for 8th and 10th Grade Health Classes entitled Respect for Differences in Human Sexuality. While the curriculum was and is strong, several important pieces of information -- which had been recommended by the Board of Education’s Citizens Advisory Committee on Family Life and Human Development -- were not included in the curriculum (although some were referenced and one was permitted, but only in response to a student question). Three organizations, including Parents, Families, and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX), whose principal purpose is to oppose the mainstream medical and mental health professional associations' conclusions regarding sexual orientation, brought suit against MCPS. That suit was summarily dismissed in a 2008 decision of the Montgomery County Circuit Court. In that decision, Judge Rowan made it clear that school systems have the right to include conclusions of such mainstream professional associations in their health education curricula. The court's decision is linked to this Gazette article, and the key language is at pp. 8-9. See http://www.gazette.net/stories/020108/montnew164125_32406.shtml Thus, it is now settled that there is no legal impediment to inclusion of material from mainstream health care professional groups.
After several years of experience with the curriculum, the Maryland Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (MD/AAP) -- which was MCPS’s prime consultant in the development of the curriculum -- wrote to the Board and the Superintendent urging inclusion of the missing pieces that had been recommended in 2006 and 2007 by the Citizens Advisory Committee. The MD/AAP’s recommendations reflect the conclusions of the mainstream medical and mental health professional associations. (A copy of that letter is attached.)
On April 13, 2011, the Citizens Advisory Committee (whose membership is now largely different from the Committee that made the 2006 and 2007 recommendations) voted to urge MCPS to include in the curriculum the information that was recommended by the MD/AAP, specifically that
** Homosexuality is not a disease or a mental illness [N.B.: Teachers currently can only convey say this in response to a question].
** Sexual orientation is not a choice and the American Medical Association opposes "therapies" that seek to change sexual orientation that are premised on the assumption that people should change their sexual orientation. [N.B.: Here is the full text of the AMA statement: The AMA "opposes the use of ‘reparative’ or ‘conversion’ therapy that is based upon the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or based upon the a priori assumption that the patient should change his/her homosexual orientation." (AMA Policy Number H-160.991 Health Care Needs of the Homosexual Population, available at http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/about-ama/our-people/member-groups-sections/glbt-advisory-committee/ama-policy-regarding-sexual-orientation.page)]
** Children raised by same-sex couples do just as well as those raised by heterosexuals, and are no more likely to be homosexual.
** Children who have fleeting same-sex attractions may assume incorrectly that they are gay or lesbian. Mere fleeting attraction does not prove orientation.
** Homosexuals can live happy, successful lives; they can be successful parents.
Not surprisingly, these recommendations are opposed by PFOX.
We urge you to adopt these recommendations. (Under state law, curriculum changes regarding issues of human sexuality must first be reviewed by a Citizens Advisory Committee. Your Committee's April 13 action satisfies that requirement under state law.) We trust our mainstream medical and mental health care professionals to provide wise counsel in this and other areas. Please take the steps necessary to convey this information in the MCPS health education unit Respect for Differences in Human Sexuality, and to once again reject the importunings of groups like PFOX.
Sincerely,
David S. Fishback, Advocacy Chair
Metro DC Chapter of Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
Olney, MD
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