Baltimore, Md., Jan 15, 2006 / 22:00 pm
A nonprofit group that is working to impact the national debate on homosexuality—by letting everyone know that no one is born with same-sex attraction and that change is possible—is launching a national effort to have this view included in sex-education curricula across the country.
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays won a lawsuit last May. The group had initially demanded that the board include information about changing from homosexual to heterosexual in its sex-education curriculum, but the school board and superintendent refused. The group then filed a lawsuit against the Montgomery County, Maryland Board.
In a landmark decision May 5, U.S. District Court Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. stated that the present curriculum was an egregious form of discrimination. He also noted that only gay-affirming materials are allowed into schools and ex-gay resources are censored. The judge recognized the group’s First Amendment rights.
“The wisdom of approving a curriculum which prohibits students from discussing one viewpoint of a controversial subject goes to the very essence of that First Amendment faith,” the judge wrote in his judgment.