
{"id":2997,"date":"2008-07-17T06:24:43","date_gmt":"2008-07-17T14:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=2997"},"modified":"2008-07-17T06:24:43","modified_gmt":"2008-07-17T14:24:43","slug":"let%e2%80%99s-stop-pretending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2008\/07\/17\/let%e2%80%99s-stop-pretending\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stop pretending"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Chris Fitzsimon is right to characterize my opposition to the bullying bill as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153having nothing to do with bullying.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>(\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Standing up for all kids,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d July 10, 2008) The flip side of this charge is that support for the bullying bill has nothing to do with bullying either. And therein lies the problem: The primary aim of the bullying bill is not to prevent bullying, but to add sexual orientation to the list of protected classes recognized by North Carolina.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nFederal law recognizes seven \u00e2\u20ac\u0153protected classes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Sexual orientation is not one of these classes, although some states and localities treat it as a protected class that, by definition, receives \u00e2\u20ac\u0153special protection\u00e2\u20ac\u009d against discrimination. Setting aside the question of whether sexual orientation should actually be a protected class, the irony of the bullying bill is that it has hindered genuine dialogue about sexual orientation \u00e2\u20ac\u201d precisely because it has obscured the issue behind a mask of pious solicitude for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153all God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s children.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Protecting all God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s children would have been better served by the Senate version of the bill, which avoided specifying that certain types of children merit extra special protection from bullying.<\/p>\n<p>Every person on earth is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a child of God,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d deserving of equal protection under the law. No one is questioning this fact, and it is unfortunate that the bullying bill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s primary sponsor, Rep. Rick Glazier, chose to frame the debate as being about either God or children. If we were to be honest about the true intent of the bullying bill, though, it would become obvious that the school system is a terrible venue for working this question out.<\/p>\n<p>The bullying bill, for instance, does not define sexual orientation or gender identity. At what point is a teacher or administrator supposed to determine that a child is a homosexual? After he engages in a homosexual act? How are teachers to know that? Moreover, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t such acts, whether they be homosexual or heterosexual, contradict the state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s commitment to abstinence-only sex ed? So, then, is a student to be classified as a homosexual merely because he might have certain tendencies that are not being acted upon? And what about kids who are below the age of consent, not to mention young children who have no discernable sexual \u00e2\u20ac\u0153orientation\u00e2\u20ac\u009d at all? Once we begin to ask these difficult questions, it becomes apparent that we should leave kids out of this matter altogether. I am more than willing to have a debate about whether sexual orientation should be a protected class. But let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stop pretending this legislation has anything to do with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153protecting children.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><em>Dr. Jameson Taylor<br \/>\nThe Civitas Institute<br \/>\nRaleigh<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chris Fitzsimon is right to characterize my opposition to the bullying bill as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153having nothing to do with bullying.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Standing up for all kids,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d July 10, 2008) The flip side of this charge is that support for the bullying bill has nothing to do with bullying either. And therein lies the problem: The primary aim&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2997\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}