Friday Gay Blogging

And Tango Makes Three: This story has been making the rounds. Pam's House Blend has a good summary.

From the article in the Loudon Times:

It was first thought the book was pulled from the school system altogether, but Wayde Byard, public information officer for Loudoun County Public Schools, says there was no county-wide ban of the book.

"It was moved to the teacher's reference shelf only at the elementary school level. It is still in general circulation at the middle and high schools."

Byard says the elementary school level has the greatest range of ages, from Kindergarten to 5th grade.

"Developmentally, some students in the younger grades might not have been able to understand this without having an adult, such as a teacher, parent or guardian reading it with them. So we recommended that this would be a book that a child read with an adult so it can be put in context."

That's mealy-mouthed bureaucrateses for "We just wanted to shut the bitch up." The story illustrates a number of things, starting with the degree to which objective reality is not allowed to intrude on the christianist world view, and also the sheer cowardice in school administrations. The "developmentally inappropriate" argument might have some validity in some circumstances, but in a case like this, where, as poster dana points out, kids are very accepting of a variety of family arrangements, it's a dodge.

I love this quote from WaPo:

Nikki George, a Sterling parent, said her daughter, a second-grader, tried to take the book out of her library at Forest Grove Elementary in Sterling last week and was told that she could not. She had heard the story last year, when a minister at her Unitarian Universalist church read it to a group of children during a service.

George said that the book helps teach a lesson that she wants her children to know: There are all types of families.

"We happen to be a mom and dad and a boy and a girl," she said. "But sometimes you have a grandmother and a mother, sometimes you have just a dad, sometimes you have two moms or two dads. The important thing is that it's a family of love."

One nice thing about this story is that other parents are pushing back.

Other People Have Wingnuts, Too.:

Israel seems to have its share:

Israel decriminalised homosexuality in 1988 and has since passed several laws recognising gay rights.

Two earthquakes shook the region last week and a further four struck in November and December.

Mr Benizri made his comments while addressing a committee of the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, about the country's readiness for earthquakes.

He called on lawmakers to stop "passing legislation on how to encourage homosexual activity in the state of Israel, which anyway brings about earthquakes".

TRex has an illuminating comment.