Big Gay Common Core?

According to a post over at ThinkProgress…

Common Core may not be a well-intentioned set of improved educational standards, as supporters would have you believe, but instead a trojan horse designed to turn every schoolchild in Florida, if not America, gay.

This ominous warning came at an anti-Common Core event in March courtesy of Florida State Rep. Charles Van Zant (R). Speaking at the “Operation Education Conference” in Orlando, Van Zant warned that officials implementing Common Core in Florida are “promoting as hard as they can any youth that is interested in the LGBT agenda.”

Their aim, Van Zant warned, was to “attract every one of your children to become as homosexual as they possibly can.” He then apologized to the crowd for having to be the bearer of bad news. “I really hate to bring you that news,” the Florida Republican said, “but you need to know.”

VAN ZANT: These people, that will now receive $220 million from the state of Florida unless this is stopped, will promote double-mindedness in state education and attract every one of your children to become as homosexual as they possibly can. I’m sorry to report that to you.

I call bullshit!

A. Being gay (or not being gay) is not something that can be trained into or out of a person.  You simply are or  you are not gay.  And yes there is a spectrum of sexuality but one does not locate themselves on the spectrum because of some subversive collection of text books and some handy-dandy sexuality spectrum gazing glasses that come in the common core science kit.   Now, if inviting children to ask critical questions about science, psychology and religion frees them to accept and live into who God has created them to be, then fan-freakin-tastic! (Side note: it still just makes me sad and mad as hell that so many parents would want their children to live half-lives of anguish rather than live fulfilled live with who they are created to love). But that is not what these ridiculous and hateful scare tactics are about. Not even close.

This constant stream of holler about the gays is only about fear and control.  Small minds are easily controlled by fear and powerful men who want to control small minds will wield lies like the demonic weapons they are in order to hold onto their control how every they can.  What we are witnessing is the utter desperation of the fundamentalist conservatives who see they are losing their strangle hold grip on a society that no longer wants to swallow the lies that are being forced down our throats.

Here is the essence of what is really scaring the bejezzus out of the fundamentalist right.

Thinking.

From the common core.

“The Common Core emphasizes using evidence from texts to present careful analyses, well-defended claims, and clear information. Rather than asking students questions they can answer solely from their prior knowledge and experience, the standards call for students to answer questions that depend on their having read the texts with care.

The reading standards focus on students’ ability to read carefully and grasp information, arguments, ideas, and details based on evidence in the text. Students should be able to answer a range of text-dependent questions, whose answers require inferences based on careful attention to the text.”

Yup – careful reading, asking questions, engaging in critical thinking and developing well-defended claims WILL be the downfall of something and it has nothing to do with anyone’s sexuality.  It has everything to do with equipping minds to ask critical questions and breaks the bonds of ignorance and fear.

What I need to do now is take a long and critical look at Common Core, talk with some teachers I respect and do the research a mamma with kids in public school should do and engage these ninnies head on.

Friends, I can not ask this of you enough – please pay attention to what our elected officials are slinging out there and speak up.  For the love of God, do some of your own reading, careful analysis, question asking and critical thinking and speak the F up every chance you get.