Text Book Revision Marches to Social Agenda
SPRING, Texas — Outside the Spring Church of Christ, a large roadside sign says a lot about the prevailing sensibility in this cordial town. It reads: "Support New Testament Morality.""Liberal New York"? Where the conservative rallying cry was born on 9/11/01?
This is the home and powerbase of Terri Leo, a state Board of Education member representing 2.5 million people in East Texas.
At the urging of Leo and several other members — who describe themselves as Christian conservatives — the board this month approved new health textbooks for high school and middle school students after publishers said they would tweak references to marriage and sexuality.
One agreed to define marriage as a "lifelong union between a husband and a wife." Another deleted words that were attacked by conservatives as "stealth" references to gay relationships; "partners," for example, was changed to "husbands and wives." A passage explaining that adolescence brings the onset of "attraction to others" became "attraction to the opposite sex."
Leo said she pushed for the changes to combat the influence of "liberal New York publishers" who by "censoring" the definition of marriage were legitimizing same-sex unions...
We really do need to cut the red states loose. Or need to be cut loose from the red states. Either way works for me. Or maybe we should all stop bitching and start a revolution. I know that the concept works for some folks here (cough cough, Kate, cough...) ;-)
