younger is because they are exposed to these ideas younger and younger. It has been proven scientifically that girls are getting their periods younger because of all the sexual stimuli in their environment.

No, it has been scientifically suggested (not proven) that girls are getting their periods younger because of all the growth hormones in food these days.

Regardless, these are probably the same kind of parents who don't let their kids read Harry Potter because it will encourage them to practice witchcraft and worship Satan. (ooooooooo, scary!)

I don't recall my parents being informed of discussion topics at school when I was a kid. They were notified when lice was going around...or chicken pox. But I'm pretty sure there was no pre-notification that we were going to be LEARNING something. If you want that much control over what your kid learns then home-school them!

Serena, I thought the early periods were from the preservatives in peanut butter? Or was it floride in the water? No, it must have been those black patent leather shoes. Thanks Alex, maybe next year I can read about Lord Voltemorte.

OK, without kids of my own, the difference in what I have observed in America and in Thailand with Europeans is striking! Parents do not mind sharing a Gay beach with small children. There is a damn family water park next to the Gay beach and it is hunky dory with everyone! I have yet to see a parent strike a child, they would consider it ignorant. Same with the Thai mothers in the shopping malls.

In America it is as though they want to teach shame to little boys and girls alike. I demand fitness testing before heterosexuals are allowed to reproduce!

See you at the next parents book burning and fish fry.

Boo to the Inquirer for using male pronouns, for one thing.

Good on Haverford for dealing with this but I'm afraid to scroll far enough down the Inky's page to see what the comments there look like. If that's what the local Haverford paper had, I hate to think what the larger Philly area had to say, speaking from experience.

I think you're right, though, that it's a fear of LGBTs being considered normal, and the RR know it. Hence all the focus on teaching (or not teaching) children at a young age. We know many adults lose their bigotry through experience, and with children it's even easier.

All I can really think of is South Pacific at times like this:

"You've got to be taught before it's too late
Before you are six or seven or eight
To hate all the people your relatives hate
You've got to be carefully taught"

I know the song is about racism, but I think it fits.

OMG Robert! You crack me up!

Thank you Serena, Erin M. and all the rest of you wonderful folks who think that exposing children to the wonderful differences in who we may be is not something evil or to be scorned, but simply another interesting person in our/their universe. Having raised a wonderful biological daughter with my male partner, she reciprocated by becoming a great, open and accepting person who is stronger and wiser for understanding and accepting that it's not a person's sexuality by which they should be judged, but the content of their character. She is married, just made me a grandfather and all the more accepting and loving of folks not only sexually different, but religious, cultural, and philosophically different and embraces everybody for their differences as much as their similarities.
Our upcoming generation is one to be very proud of, they didn't have to work at accepting folks from all sorts of different backgrounds, but came to distinguish folks on how accepting, loving, open and honest they were, not hysteriical and unjustified beliefs based on a set of pronouncements and condemnations that have long outlived their usefulness.
Erin

Boo to the Inquirer for using male pronouns, for one thing.

Absolutely. I don't see what's so hard about using the correct pronouns.

I always get a kick out of those bemoaning how kids these days learn about sex so early. 13! 14! 12!! They seem to forget that a little over a hundred years ago, that was 'Get married and have a baby' age across the world.

There is a conundrum for the RR and some on the panel working on DSM-IV: Gender variant children who aren't permitted to transition over time often wind up with a heavy load of emotional baggage. Some don't survive puberty because they hate the changes their bodies are going through so much, they commit suicide. It happens. If they survive, they find transitioning much more expensive.
Gender variant children who are allowed to transition at an earlier age, and who are accepted by their families and schoolmates are happier and do much better in school.
The RR simply must learn that gender variance is a medical issue and not a moral one. I see nothing religious about encouraging the marginalization of a child which that leads to violence.

Please support TYFA. Please.

In the news this morning, I read how classmates of a trans teen are crossdressing in support of her! Plenty of kids have no problem getting it. Just the adults. Here's a couple of links to the story, as usual they're using the wrong pronouns. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/05/08/2008-05-08_high_school_students_crossdress_to_suppo.html

http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008805080471

I have two comments from the "reformed breeder" perspective. Yes, I finally came out of the closet at age 46 and my spacious walk-in closet included a wife of 21 years and two wonderful children, not to mention the house in the burbs, cars, horses, dogs, cats, mortgages, health insurance and all the other civil rights and protections that straight marriage confers on confused and repressed guys like me. I don't regret my years playing on the other team but I'm happier now in the minor league. The players are scrappy, genuine and a more loving and care bunch.

My children were fortunate enough to attend a private school that celebrated diversity and as a consequence have grown into tolerant and caring young adults who understand that being different means being specia--not bad, sinful or something to be feared and therefore hated out of a sense of insecurity. Their experience in such a school environment helped them to celebrate their own unique characters and to succeed in ways that otherwise would have caused them failure. I think it has also helped them accept me and my lifestyle and has strengthened our relationship because it is now based on honesty and open mindedness rather than the middle-class materialist hetero god-fearing xenobic blueprint that saturates the lives of young children.

Growing up in the 60s in a western Pennsylvania suburb I was never exposed to the concept of "gay" until I was called a faggot at school and had to look that one up in the library. (Why ARE those boys calling me a bundle of sticks?) Gay wasn't covered in the filmstrip we saw at school in 5th grade because it had nothing to do with "where babies come from." And the big "talk" with Dad was actually exectuted by Mom--handing me a "where babies come from" book and telling me to read it and that if I had any questions I should just ask. Oh yeah, right!

How I wish that I had been invited to a convocation when I was eight or nine and brimming with questioning feelings but not yet MENTALLY (emphasis borrowed) capable of putting it into the words of a question. Perhaps if I had a caring and concerned community interested educating me about the whole wonderful spectrum of human sexuality I might not have spent a lifetime in self-doubt, confusion, self-denial, repression, depression, substance abuse and otherwise causing a lot of pain to family and friends when I blew my closet door off its hinges four years ago.

I'm better now. I've learned that we all come to know our selves in our own time and that it's better late than never. The earlier, though, that we learn about the full context of our identities the easier it becomes to form a strong and healthy character and isn't that what education should really be all about? I think the parents that are worried about their young children being exposed to ideas like diversity and mutual respect should consider that their opposition to this program has already exposed their children to far worse ideas like prejudice, repression, shame and, dare I say it, hate?

To: KMFox9400

Great posting! Thank you for sharing this with us.