Teacher suspended over article about gay animals.

Illinois high school teacher Dan Delong has been suspended for allowing his students to read a Seed Magazine article about homosexuality in the animal kingdom.  Although the assignment was entirely optional, one parent took umbrage and demanded that the Piasa educator be pulled from the classroom.  Delong's students promptly created a Facebook group that now boasts over 1800 members calling for his reinstatement.  School secretary Pat Milner says that a special board meeting is set for 6 p.m. on Monday at the district office to discuss how best to discipline the teacher.

From Psychology Today:  Mr. Delong is a married, heterosexual teacher who identifies as an ally of the GLBTQ community and clearly has the respect and admiration of his students. This is just one of many examples of how teachers are taught to be conservative and non-controversial and why GLBTQ youth don't feel safe in schools.  If a school district considers teaching with a scientific article written by a professor at Stanford University and published in a popular science magazine as controversial and worthy of suspension - then how can we convince other educators to stand up and teach critically?

The article in question, written by Jonah Lehrer, discusses the research of Joan Roughgarden, a respected biologist who has documented homosexual relationships among more than 450 animal species. 

From Leher's The Gay Animal Kingdom:  According to Roughgarden, gayness is a necessary side effect of getting along.  Homosexuality evolved in tandem with vertebrate societies, in which a motley group of individuals has to either live together or die alone.  In fact, Roughgarden even argues that homosexuality is a defining feature of advanced animal communities, which require communal bonds in order to function. "The more complex and sophisticated a social system is," she writes, "then the more likely it is to have homosexuality intermixed with heterosexuality."  (Scary stuff, huh?  Few homophobes would even bother reading something like this.)

Logan Murphy writes on Crooks and Liars:  Bigotry is not a natural instinct, it is taught.  Homosexuality is as natural as the sun in the sky, but ignorant, hateful people will never accept that fact.  The suspension of this high school teacher in Piasa, Illinois is a perfect example of how this hatred and ignorance infests the minds of our children.  I applaud Mr. Delong for attempting to teach his students the art of critical thinking and to open their minds to facts.

Critical thinking is the enemy of people who skew science to fit their literal interpretation of the Bible and use scripture to demonize gays and lesbians.  If Delong loses his job over this, I predict there will be an outcry loud enough to bring down those proverbial walls of Jericho.

Comments

[Carol]

Parents that are religious extremists want to keep their children as misinformed and ignorant about life as they are - and they have the option of either homeschooling them or sending them to a private church run institution. Many of them already do that, I know. I pity those kids. When I have children I want them to know about the real world, and learn to be openminded towards other people.

[Aggie, Fair Haven, Vt.]

Good example of how absolutely spineless administrators and school boards are. They look to see which way the wind is blowing, rather than taking a stand on principle. Shameful...

[IsaacSapphire]

Or you could see this as one more good reason to seek alternate schooling options yourself. I was homeschooled and read articles and popular books like the one mentioned in this article, heck, my *Christian* kiddy educational newspaper had gay penguin articles.

I'm more disturbed by how a single parent can create this kind of fuss over an optional assignment and disturb the entire school system.

[El Teacherino]

In essence, there is no safe response in a public school. There is no good answer. There is no way to disseminate accurate or valid knowledge without repercussion. We're allowing non-educators to change the shape of education and dictate what is being taught and how it is taught. As a teacher, I am well aware that one day I will indeed be fired for something I teach. I'm cool with that so long as the students are learning actual facts.

[Noneya Bidness]

The claim that bigotry is not natural is dubious at best.