US National Education
Association to Endorse
Same-Sex ‘Marriage’
NEA president calls
pro-marriage, pro-family groups ‘divisive’
By Gudrun Schultz,
lifesite.net from the Web, July 11, 2006
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S.
National Education Association (NEA), the nation’s largest teachers’ union, has
voted strongly in favour of supporting legal homosexual “marriages” and civil
unions, AgapePress reported last week.
NEA delegates approved a resolution that would amend Section B-10 of the NEA
handbook, “Racism, Sexism, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identification
Discrimination” to explicitly include homosexual “marriage”, where the union
statement of belief declares that discrimination based on “race, gender, sexual
orientation, gender identification … must be eliminated.”
The amendment reads:
“The Association also believes
that these factors should not affect the legal rights and obligations of the
partners in a legally-recognized domestic partnership, civil union, or
marriage in regard to matters involving the other partner, such as medical
decisions, taxes, inheritance, adoption, and immigration.”
The original amendment, proposed by
the union’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus, called for the
union’s endorsement of homosexual “marriages”, civil unions and homosexual
adoptions in all 50 states, regardless of the states’ current laws. That
amendment was changed to specify the union’s endorsement of homosexual
“marriages” and civil unions only in states where such unions are legally
recognized.
The NEA Resolutions Committee crafted the changes after the original amendment
generated a massive protest from concerned individuals, led by the American
Family Association.
In response to the protests, NEA President Reg Weaver wrote to state affiliate
leaders: “While I understand that the e-mails and phone calls you are
receiving are generating concern, we must not allow the tactics and
manipulations of these divisive groups to derail our process.”
The union is also pushing for the mandatory inclusion of homosexual, bisexual
and transgender issues in required content for teacher accreditation. The
Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identification issued a report
stating, “that the NEA advocate for the inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender issues in the ‘National Council for Accreditation of Teacher
Education’ review of the teacher education program, reported AgapePress.
The NEA anti-discrimination policy calls for programs to “encourage all members
of the educational community to examine assumptions and prejudices,
including…racism, sexism and homophobia.”
The union also voted to alter the wording of NEA policy statements, adopting the
word “acceptance” in place of the word “tolerance.”
To contact the NEA and express concerns:
1201 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036-3290
Phone: 202-833-4000
E-mail:
https://www.nea.org/aboutnea/contact.html
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