LGBT Advocates Celebrate New Laws

Special Report - July 13, 2009
Pro-homosexual advocates in North Carolina are celebrating the enactment of two pieces of legislation that were recently signed into law by Governor Beverly Purdue—one that opens the door for the promotion of homosexuality in the classroom, and another that forces public schools to teach contraception-focused sex education. The governor added her signature to SB526–School Violence Prevention Act and HB 88—Healthy Youth Act on the evening of June 30. As we previously reported, the General Assembly narrowly approved both pieces of controversial legislation.

“The enactment of SB 526 and HB 88 represent a dark day in North Carolina’s history, as they not only mark the first time we have instituted special protections for homosexuality, bisexuality and transgenderism in our statutes, but also a return to the failed contraception-based sex education approach that was taught in our public schools prior to 1995,” said Bill Brooks, president of the North Carolina Family Policy Council. “While advocates presented these bills as an effort to improve the safety and health of our children with assurances there was no hidden agenda, in reality, they will be used by homosexual advocacy groups and contraceptive sex education organizations to open doors to promote sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom, encouraging lifestyles and behaviors that put our children at further risk of disease, unintended pregnancy and lifelong mental and emotional harm.”

The School Violence Prevention Act, also known as the “pro-homosexual bullying bill,” forces all of the state’s 115 school districts to adopt by December 31, 2009, anti-bullying policies that enumerate possible “motivating characteristics” that include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.”  The North Carolina Family Policy Council supported an alternative measure— sponsored by over half the members of the State House—that would have protected all children from bullying without specifying certain groups of potential victims.

Passage of SB 526 marks the first time in North Carolina’s history that the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” are included in state law. Equality North Carolina, the state-level homosexual advocacy group that promoted the measure, describes the new law as “the most progressive anti-bullying law in the South.” On its web site, the group notes that the law is already being touted as a “model” for other states, and promises to help “increase awareness of the law and its effects within the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community, as well as the public at large” by producing a “tool kit” and information packet for schools.

Parents and educators take note. This overt push by Equality North Carolina and other groups promoting homosexuality and all its derivatives will require parents to be proactive at the local school district level if they want to prevent a curriculum designed to promote "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" from being taught to their children. There is no requirement for the public schools to "say" anything about these terms, but there is also no "opt out" provision provided in the legislation.

In addition to celebrating the enactment of the pro-homosexual anti-bullying law, Equality North Carolina also applauded the passage of the Healthy Youth Act, calling it “another great step forward in providing accurate, comprehensive sex education information to teens.” HB 88 changes the state’s abstinence-until-marriage (AUM) law and implements a combination of AUM and contraceptive sex education in a single class format in all schools statewide. Under the new law, beginning with the 2010-2011 school year, all 7th through 9th grade students in the state’s public schools will be automatically enrolled in the new class unless a parent specifically intervenes to have their child withdrawn.

One part of the curriculum is required to include discussion of the 18 FDA–approved methods of contraception, including condoms, diaphragms, and surgical sterilization Parents can withdraw their children from the contraceptive portion of the class or from all of the class. Because the new law maintains the emphasis on “abstinence from sexual activity until marriage”—thanks to the efforts of pro-family advocates and legislators—Equality North Carolina laments that it still “contains problematic, homophobic language that presents only heterosexual marriage as the best option for preventing sexually transmitted diseases.”

Copyright © 2009. North Carolina Family Policy Council. All rights reserved.