This has NO BUISNESS in our schools. It doesnt start with 'R' ..they already kicked one BIG 'R' out they shouldn't have.

All I gotta say is....It aint over til its over.

After reading the article, I'm curious.. since when has Christina Aguelera been part of the LGBT community?

 Teachers are told to reflect and "reinforce to students that in our school and our community there are many different types of families that provide love and care to each other. Remind the students that all family structures are equally important."

Yep, it is clear to me that if kids learn this lesson, civilization, as we know it, will most certainly come to an end.  Heaven forbid that the kids believe that loving and caring for each other is more important that the exact gender makeup of the family members.

Since Sioux uses "world net daily" as his news source, I thought I'd provide another view of the matter. Here is the Bay Area Reporters take on the matter:

www.ebar.com/news/article.php

I beat you to the draw on this, Sioux, but that's perfectly OK. It never hurts to have another drummer to make some noise: http://people.bakersfield.c...

When can we expect a Pollyanaish version of polygamy to be indoctrinated to our schoolchildren? We wouldn't want to come across as bigoted and intolerant in excluding those who practice that, do we? Can we expect also to celebrate a holiday in honor of Warren Jeffs as well as Harvey Milk on our dime?

If this were to happen at a school where my kids attended, I'd sue any and everything over three inches tall............and win.

This is completely over the top, and the alternate life style community wonders just why there are so many people who are totally against it...

We really need to create an internet law similar to "Goodwin's Law" concerning "the slippery slope" argument.  Despite the fact that dog just doesn't hunt anymore, up it comes, time after time.

As for Alameda, the offended parents are free to file a lawsuit or attempt to recall the members of the board. Maybe the Mormon and Catholic Churches will be willing to finance the effort.  My best guess, the hullabaloo wil die away and life will go on as usual.

well gee pee wee..my best guess is it wont go away until its taken off the agenda..face it you haven't been much good at predicting the future yet now have you junior.. hahahaahaha...

did you see the lady with the scarf on her head in the video?? (or did you even watch it) ..thats more than just christians objecting to this bubba..

Face it the world is against what you guys are trying to do no matter how long and hard you stomp your feet.

Which predictions didn't pan out, Sioux?  On Prop 8?  Before the election I said it would be close and it could go one way or the other.  Afterward, I said that the Supremes most likely would limit the effect of Prop 8 to taking away the word "marriage" and nothing else, which is exactly what they did.  If you read the decision all the way through,  the court stated every way that it possibly could that  substantive rights for gay couples and straight couples had to be equal.

Prop 8 won't last, if not repealed before, it will be repealed at the first general election after DOMA is repealed and Nevada legalizes gay marriage in order for Reno and Las Vegas to get the business.

Meanwhile, lets take a look at your crystal ball, remember this?

people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/siouxcityranch/3 5362

PS, you're 55 years old, isn't the "pee wee" thing, just a little childish?

Did someone say Mormon? Ah, yes, it was gopherbro. Funny you should mention that. Did you by any chance get a drift of the separate brouhaha involving your side in trying to stir up some Mormonphobia in pushing the gay marriage agenda? Good thing some newspapers gave the ad the smackdown. I'd have thought every one of them were beholden to The Anointed One and would give this a pass: http://www.washingtonpost.c...

Indeed, Sioux, the world is against what they are trying to do. All that nonsense about the tide turning in favor of gay marriage? Don't you believe none of it. In fact, Brian Brown of the National Organization of Marriage shares a tidbit that the mainstream media is not telling us in an e-mail that I received from him today:

A new Gallup poll finds that by a 57 percent to 40 percent margin, a strong majority of Americans oppose gay marriage. As one reporter in the New Mexico Independent put it, "The same question has been asked six times since 2003 and the results have always been about the same."

Gallup also asked this important question: Would legalizing gay marriage change society for the better? Or for worse? Here the margin is truly huge: Just 13 percent of Americans believe gay marriage will be good for society.  48 percent say it would change society for the worse.
 

The youngsters who are smitten with the idea of having a civil wrong forced on us? Just wait till they grow up, get a career and have kids. They'll then change their Looney Tunes.

So ...

 Just wait till they grow up, get a career and have kids. They'll then change their Looney Tunes.

Funny.. many of them already have a career, and some even children.

Don't get your hopes up to high - times are changing, just as they have in previous decades.

Sioux said:

Face it the world is against what you guys are trying to do no matter how long and hard you stomp your feet.

No, Sioux, the world is not against me.  YOUR world is against me, and your world is shrinking day by day by day.  You know it too, and it's driving you nuts.  Between 2000 and 2008 your world shrank by 8% and next time around it will shrink by even more.

For the record, my world is just fine, and its growing.  I'm astonished by all the new faces that I see at the rallies. Look at what has happened in the last few months in New England and Iowa.  Does that signify a huge shift to the right?  Obviously not. Your world is dying while mine is thriving. You just won't admit it.

Gopherbro, San Miguel de Arcangel won't admit it either. Even if he did, he could certainly do something about it:

 GOPHER Obviously not. Your world is dying while mine is thriving. You just won't admit it.

hahah OK Pee Wee keep that power of positive thinking runnin in overdrive..then when it falls short it wont feel so bad...

shoot for the moon and if you atleast break the stratosphere its better than crawling around in the dirt..maybe things will be better for you in your next life..heck ya might come back as a butterfly or somethin

Pax,  on the list of things that I fear, being speared by an angel doesn't even qualify.  However, I do thank you for pointing me to the gallop poll. Looking at the actual results, as opposed to the right-wing spin, is very interesting, here is the url:

www.gallup.com/poll/118931/Knowing-Someone-Gay-Le sbian-Affects-Views-Gay-Issues.aspx

I'm particularly intrigued by the fact that a majority of people who are personally acquainted with gay people are in favor of gay marriage, while those who don't know any gay people are stongly opposed.  It supports my thesis that the next election will be decided by the new, young voters, most of whom have gay friends in high school.  It also supports the new strategy for repeal of Prop 8 - go door to door, meet people, discuss the issues one on one. 

I would also point out that the 13% better 48% worse figures you cited, ignores the 36% who don't think gay marriage will affect society one way or the other.  Why omit this statistic? Oh, because your entire argument is that gay marriage will destroy civilization as we know if.  If it won't affect things one way or the other, equal protection and due process would seem to require it. So, 49% say that gay marriage will be benefical or won't change things one way or the other, while 48% think it will make society worse. Pretty even split wouldn't you say?

Instead of promoting gay life style, our schools should be promoting traditional marriages where our children can thrive in a healthy environment.  Traditional marriage divorce rate is high, but does that mean we give up and promote a homosexual home as a better alternative?  Why is the Alameda County forcing everyone to sit through something that is totally against their beliefs?  Some schools are taking religion out in fear of this very same practice yet they feel that everyone must be indoctrinated in homosexuality?  Ridiculous!

Personally, I like all the noise the homosexuals are making as that only strengthens the non gay supporting loonies like me.  Yeah, go on continue your slander against us intolerant backward conservatives.  Go on and stomp that cross.  Go on and march on California and Stockdale.  Go on and continue to push your agenda in front of my face.  Go on and shout out your hate towards us intolerant.   I will never tolerate this deviance as homosexuality discrimination is not a RACE, GENDER or an AGE issue.  Homosexuality is a sexual perversion / deviance by CHOICE. 

Do you have any idea how many parents would freak if a ' cross dresser ' showed up to teach a bunch of 3rd graders....kinda makes the ol' milk and cookies go down all wrong...

"Traditional marriage" is a nice catchphrase, but Casooner forgets that what he considers "traditional marriage" has only existed for the last 50 years or so.   If we are truly going to be traditional lets prohibit divorce, take away the wife's legal status, reintroduce dowrys, and limit marriage to persons of the same race and religion.   Too traditional for you?  Then I would suggest you are being hypocritical.

Here is a cute video on the subject:

www.youtube.com/watch

Do you have any idea how many parents would freak if a ' cross dresser ' showed up to teach a bunch of 3rd graders....kinda makes the ol' milk and cookies go down all wrong...

Likewise, it makes my oatmeal go down funny when I open the paper in the morning to read stuff like this: http://www.cc.org/blog/cali...

here is a good article about what happened in the Netherlands under the same circumstances.

Society without boundaries is a society in chaos.

• www.nationalreview.com/comment/livestro2004062909 24.asp

Maybe pax, you should try reading from reliable sources.  That story is old.  The trip was organized by the kids parents (it was their teacher getting married) and was a surprise to the teacher, any kids whose parents didn't want to them attend didn't have to go (the parents of 2 kids opted out).  

Here is a legitimate news article about it: www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi

Perhaps gopherbro may want to spin another report as well, this time about a gay activist being named to a federal post to oversee public classroom "safety": http://www.wnd.com/index.ph...

Now I really fear the "teachable moments" ominously looming in the horizon and for the safety of my sons from what one critic calls "educational malpractice and child corruption."

 Girlsmom, thanks for the link to the article. It's a broken link, so here's the fixed version: www.nationalreview.com/comment/livestro2004062909 24.asp

Pax calls himself a christian ...

--virgil  

 "Now I really fear the "teachable moments" ominously looming in the horizon and for the safety of my sons from what one critic calls "educational malpractice and child corruption.""

um, you've seen btown school test scores, right ?

You think there are more ominously looming things than your fanatisies about other people's sexuality?

--virgil

Pax, here is Jennings bio:

Kevin Jennings is a writer, a teacher, and a leader in the fields of K-12 education and civil rights. A native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Kevin Jennings graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, where he delivered the Harvard Oration at the 1985 Commencement. He became a high school history teacher after graduation. He became the faculty advisor to the nation’s first gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) at Concord (Massachusetts) Academy in 1988, launching his life on a path dedicated to seeking to make sure schools become places where young people learn to value and respect everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

As more and more educators and students began contacting him for help, Kevin saw a need that wasn’t being met and in 1990 founded the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, a local volunteer group in the Boston area bringing together LGBT and straight teachers, parents, students and community members who wanted to end anti-LGBT bias in the state’s K-12 schools. In 1992 Kevin was appointed to co-chair the Education Committee of the Governor’s Commission on Gay & Lesbian Youth by Massachusetts Governor William Weld. He was the principal author of its report Making Schools Safe for Gay & Lesbian Youth, whose recommendations were adopted as policy by the Massachusetts State Board of Education. The Commission led the fight that made Massachusetts the first state in the nation to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation against public school students and to establish a statewide program to insure educational equity on issues of sexual orientation in 1993.

Kevin left Boston to come to New York that same year as a Joseph Kingenstein Fellow at Columbia University, from which he received his M.A. in 1994. Upon graduating from Columbia, Kevin left teaching to set about building the all-volunteer GLSEN organization into a national force. Under Kevin’s leadership, GLSEN has made safe schools into a national issue, increased the number of students protected from harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity by over 600%, and grown the number of GSA’s from under 50 in 1995 to over 3,000 today. GLSEN programs like GSA’s, No Name-Calling Week, and Day of Silence are now commonplace in America’s schools. Kevin was named to Newsweek magazine’s “Century Club” as one of “100 people to watch in the new century” and is also the recipient of the Human and Civil Rights Award of the National Education Association.

Along the way Kevin earned an M.B.A. from NYU’s Stern School of Business in 1999, authored six books (one of which, Telling Tales Out of School, won a Lambda Literary Award) and helped write and produce the documentary Out of the Past, which won the 1998 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary. Kevin serves as Fundraising Chair for the Appalachian Community Fund, where he established the Alice Jennings Fund to help low income and battered women have the opportunities his own mother was denied as a girl and woman from Appalachia. In his spare time, he plays left wing for the New York City Gay Hockey Association and enjoys walks with his partner Jeff and their golden retriever, Amber.

I think that we are lucky to have someone so qualified and dedicated in this position.

I just realized how Pax thinks.   In Pax's world view, a gay kid who is beaten up in school should be punished for putting his face in front of a straight boy's fist.

How pathetic.

speaking of pathetic..read you own statment..any kid who offends another kid in what ever fashion gets a punch in the nose Pee Wee..str8 kids get punched just the same as gay kids....why is it always the poor pitiful me thing with you guys..

Pax calls himself a christian ...

--virgil  

so does Virg call himself Gay???

Only on Saturday mornings ...

--virgil

I don't have a child in public school anymore, so maybe I'm out of touch. I keep seeing charges of sex perversions and deviate lifestyles being forced upon kiddies and the poor, defenseless parents have no choice but to see their children brainwashed by godless homosexuals teaching children that sodomy is normal, fun and wholesome.

I see a need for sex ed. (as in family relationships, relating to opposite gender, etc.)  I see a need for teaching elements of tolerence and respect for the rights of others, which should include not bullying someone. 

So, going back to the original bolg: is it the truth?

In Pax's world view, a gay kid who is beaten up in school should be punished for putting his face in front of a straight boy's fist.

How would a k-5th grader know that he was gay??? Does he just wake up one day in second grade and say, "hey, I'm gay", and proceed to tell everyone in class that he came out of the closet??  Or would his two moms tell him he was gay??

Don't K-5th graders have better things to do than learn what little johnnys two dads do under the sheets at night??

Virgil...do  youhate yourself thee morning after?

Catpaw. the thing is history with the gay community is if you give them and inch they will try and take a mile. Im not for bullying anyone..but whnile the sit bac whing about being picked on just think about the people they  have relntlessly7 been stomping on to get their agenda passed..Im srry any compassion for their cause was punched outta me ages ago

RON ....Or would his two moms tell him he was gay??

ew ew hand raised..Id say two moms..as a hetro parent that conversation would never be discussed until the child was old enough to be on their own..

So why the need to tell k-5 graders what Johnnys two dads like to do in bed at night??  Is that really appropriate for k-5??  Don't they have better things to be doing with their time??

I love the part about "parents will not be allowed to opt out". No school is going to tell me what I am allowed to do with my kids.

 "traditional marriage" has only existed for the last 50 years or so

You're kidding, right?

I agree ghostriter,   I'm not going to just sit back and be pushed around  because the schools say I have too. If gay people want kids to know about their  lifestyle then they can teach it to their own kids and leave mine alone.

aren't you being intellectually dishonest, ghostriter?  You know perfectly well that the quote is:  " Casooner forgets that what he considers "traditional marriage" has only existed for the last 50 years or so."

So, lets look at what elements of "marriage" you consider traditional. That way we can see how far back your definition of "traditional marriage" goes.

Marriage laws and customs change constantly over time.  Gender is just one of them. Here are some elements that have changed over time:

Race: 

1. The Law prohibits marriage between persons of two different races.

2.  Custom prohibits marriage between persons of two different races.

3. Neither law nor custom prohibit marriage between persons of two different races.

Religion:  

1. The Law prohibits marriage between persons of two different religions.

2. Custom prohibits marriage between persons of two different religions.

3. Custom allows marriage between persons of two similar religions, but not between persons of dissimilar religions.

4. Neither law nor custom prohibits marriage between persons of two different religions.

Status of Wife:

1. The wife has no separate legal status, she is under the complete control of her husband.

2. The wife has limited legal rights  only if she separates from his husband and declares herself to be a a "femme sole,"

3.  The wife has most, but not all of the legal rights of the husband

4. The wife has full legal rights.

Divorce:

1. Divorce is prohibited.

2. Divorce requires a special enabling act of the legislature.

3. Divorce is allowed only for adultery.

4. Divorce is allowed for adultery and abandonment.

5. Divorce is allowed only for "good cause".

6. Divorce is allowed "on demand".

Spousal Abuse:

1. The husband may "discipline" his wife by "reasonable means" including a switch no thicker than his thumb. A wife must submit to the husband's sexual demands, and no such thing as "spousal rape" exists at law.

2.  Physical assault by one spouse against another is treated as a crime.

3.  The crime of "spousal rape" is recognized by the law.

Buying your wife:

1. Law and/or Custom requires a "dowry" to be paid by the wife's father to the husband.  The husband has complete control over this money.

2. Law and/or Custom requires that a "settlement" be made at the time of the marriage, with money being placed in the hands of trustees for the benefit of the wife (this is to keep the husband from spending the money, the wife cannot control the money because she has no separate legal status).

3. The wife is granted limited control over her own property with no control over community property.

4.  The wife is granted full control over her own money with limited control over community property.

5. The wife is granted joint control with the husband over community property.

All of these elements were "traditional" at one time or another over the last few hundred years with respect to marriage.         & nbsp;       

So, looking over all of these elements of a "traditional marriage", just how traditional is your marriage?

Very nice dissection, Gopherbro.  :)

I pulled this off of NBC bay area news.

Parents will not be allowed to opt thier children out of the class like they can with some health and sex education classes.

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/n...

Just a thought~ do any of your children live in the real world? There are families out there,with children that are comprised of same sex parents. Hopefully you as responsible parents can teach you children that while you do not approve of certain things,they need to be respectful of others. We allow our children to be taught many things~ some of which I am sure do not met eveyone's approval.

I guess this hits close to home for me ,because I was a single parent at the time when being a single parent was like being a plague carrier.

I always get Alameda and Anaheim mixed up and my mind.  Thinking it was Anaheim, I found it very hard to believe.  Coming out of Alameda, I can believe it as far as the presentation of an anti-bullying class is concerned.

Still, consider the source of any story that takes a benign, well-intended anti-bullying class and tries to portray at as some atrocity.  "If it sounds too bad to be true" is often a good precautionary guide, too.  :)

it is not an anti bullying class.  Can we get that straight??

So true, your last sentence, Sage.  (The rest of it, too. :)

Back in the day, the reason why men were paid more for equal work was that men had families to raise.

That logic didn't carry over very well when the job fell into the hands of a single mother, did it?

I've been reviewing some actual new sources about the situation, as opposed to the right-wing propaganda sites. So, lets look at the actual facts of the matter:

1. Is bullying a problem in school?  Everyone's experience says that it is.

2. Is bullying bad?  I think so. I believe a majority of thinking adults think so.

3. Can bullying lead to more severe problems. Yes. Suicide is one ( www.jaredstory.com/  )  also, sometimes murder ( www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/news/record/2378.h tml  )

4. Do gay kids get bullied?  They certainly do.   Please see the glsen.org article above.

5. Do kids get bullied using anti-gay language at a very young age?  According to several teachers that I know, yes they do.  Kids are sponges when it comes to absorbing words (spelling is a little harder), and in particular when it comes to asorbing "bad" words.  The most common one is "f*gg*t" or "f*g".   In the lowest grades they don't know what it means, really, but they know it is a "bad" word and will cause distress.   It is not uncommon for second or third graders to taunt some unfortunate child using these words.

6. Do the schools have a legal duty to stop bullying?   Yes they do, and when the don't they can be held liable for damages. ( www.bullyonline.org/schoolbully/caselaw.htm  )

7.  Is the Alameda program designed to prevent bullying?  Yes it is. 

8. Is the program only designed to protect gay students against bullying?  No, it is not.  It is designed to protect everyone.  Superintendent Kristen Vital said the district will be developing a guide to help teachers deal with other types of bullying — such as racism or mocking someone's religious beliefs — over the next few weeks. The entire curriculum then will be reviewed, Vital said.    "We need to start somewhere," said Trustee Niel Tam, who voted yes. 

ronmexico said,

it is not an anti bullying class.  Can we get that straight??

Yes it is Ron, and you would know better if you got your information from a real news source and not from a right-wing propaganda site.  www.mercurynews.com/alamedacounty/ci_12470522

Another excellent comment.  Thank you for making the effort to put it into realistic perspective.

You are very welcome ApolloDawn.  You can't have a rational discussion without first trying to sort the facts from the propaganda.  When I read something on the Daily Kos, I try to check it out as throughly as if it has been on freerepublic.com.

Trustee Trish Spencer, who voted no, said she was concerned that lessons about other vulnerable students were not on the table.

But Superintendent Kristen Vital said the district will be developing a guide to help teachers deal with other

types of bullying — such as racism or mocking someone's religious beliefs — over the next few weeks.

"We need to start somewhere," said Trustee Niel Tam, who voted yes.

Tam noted that the district spent two years developing the lesson plans on gay families.

Hmmm.... So lets spend 2 years crafting lesson plans on gay families and 3 weeks on other vulnerable students.....Now why wasn't that done during the 2 years of crafting gay lesson plans??  Or are gay families more important than Jewish or Amish families??

Nope, Ron.  Once you've figured how to handle the hardest one, the others pretty much slip into place.  Also, please note that once the entire package is done, it will be re-reviewed. 

Really, it takes 2 years for gays, and a matter of weeks for the rest?  I guess gays really are that much different than normal people..