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DC schools' sex-ed plan affirms homosexuality, says FRC spokesman

A policy analyst at the Family Research Council is expressing concern that proposed sex-education standards for the Washington, DC, public school system are supportive of the homosexual lifestyle and subject children to mature subject matter at very young ages. For example, under the draft standards, sixth-grade students would be taught that same-sex attractions are normal.

The draft "Health Learning Standards" encourage teachers to begin discussing different family structures with students in kindergarten. Peter Sprigg, vice president for policy at the Washington, DC-based Family Research Council (FRC), believes that is too early to introduce students to the concept of families having two moms or two dads.

He is also concerned about the appropriateness of a lesson for sixth-graders that would "explain that people, regardless of biological sex, gender, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity and culture, have sexual feeling and the need for love, affection and physical intimacy." Sprigg remarks that that suggests to him "promotion of the idea that homosexuality and even transgenderism is perfectly normal and natural, and even necessary for the people who have those desires."

Sprigg has further concerns about the sex-ed program, particularly the aspect of introducing mature content at very young ages.

"They begin talking about the 'good touch, bad touch' concept in Grade 1, but they begin talking explicitly about sexual abuse in Grade 3," he explains. "They begin talking about how to resist pressure to engage in sexual activity in Grade 5. So ... just how early they begin some of these discussions is one of the things that jumps out at me."

An eighth-grade lesson that includes a section on comparing and contrasting theories about what determines sexual orientation would be positive, he shares, if the discussion is presented in an objective manner.

The FRC spokesman says he hopes the DC sex-ed program will not include the denigration of people with religious objections to homosexuality, as did a sex-ed program in nearby Montgomery County, Maryland, that was eventually tossed out by a federal judge.