States' Rights Over Partental Rights?

The Maryland State Board of Education has ruled that the right of the state supersedes the rights of parents in teaching children about homosexuality. The Board said the "right (of parents) is not absolute. It must bend to the State's duty to educate its citizens." The ruling means that the teaching of homosexuality as an accepted and approved lifestyle in Maryland public schools can move forward. Very important! Some professionals feel that the Maryland curriculum could become the model for promoting the homosexual lifestyle in public schools across the nation.

The new policy prohibits any unfavorable view of homosexuality from being presented. A video for use with eighth-graders instructs students on how to put on a condom. The Board has been trying to incorporate the promotion of homosexuality into their sex-education classes. A federal judge overturned a previous attempt to include the promotion of homosexuality because of the curriculum's expressed hostility toward Christianity. But in approving the new curriculum, the Board refused to hear arguments from those who oppose the promotion of homosexuality in the classroom.

• JJ Commentary: It is a very dangerous precedent for states’ rights to trump parental rights. The loss of individual freedom in America continues to accelerate down this slippery slope.