and 19% of the population is handicapped...
and 20% of the population is elderly...
and 28% of the population are racial minorities...
all these groups are discriminated against.
Why specific lessons about this 4%?
Because they have serious political power in that area and like to wave their dick around (sorry, couldn't help myself).

Does a 5 year old really need to know WTF gender bias even is? I'd say no, but that's just me because I have one...trying to get lessons in about not pointing out physical differences in people is enough for them at that age.

But I'll reiterate, these are not lessons kids need to be learning or should be learning at school. These are lessons for parents to teach.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

That's fair.

My post was mostly in jest.

I agree with you that parents need to take the step themselves.

As far as specific lessons for 4%, we're talking about in the Bay area which is 15% or more. It's a lot more relavent there than say Butte Montana. I also don't agree with the bullshit that people in the media are saying about indocrinating our youth and the like. These people are making it seem like organizations are going in to school and recruiting kids into some black ops gay army. I haven't had to talk with my kids yet about gay people and for here in Colorado Springs it's just not appropriate to be in our schools based on the likelyhood of it being an issue, but in Gaytropolis California it may be something kids need to learn about. I don't know.

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I wish my gf posted here instead of just lurking. She's done a ton of research on gender identity/diversity and would have far more to say than I ever would. She would love this lesson though as she'd often wondered why "female" elicits a belief that one should act a certain way, have long hair for example. (My gf has a shaved head.)

It seems that part of this lesson is teaching kids that they don't have to do things stereotypical to their gender, i.e. liking pink as a girl or blue as a boy. That hardly seems like a lesson that is a step towards the demise of society. As someone who often doesn't fit the stereotypes of my gender, it seems like something kids should be taught, that no rigid definition of how to be anything exists.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

I love this video.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

"It seems that part of this lesson is teaching kids that they don't have to do things stereotypical to their gender, i.e. liking pink as a girl or blue as a boy. That hardly seems like a lesson that is a step towards the demise of society."

I think I made it clear that that wasn't what I was criticizing. Telling kids that they can be the opposite sex if they fell like it on any given day is dangerous to their emotional/sexual development. I'm fairly certain that every school counselor I've ever worked with would agree.

Well, we're talking about Oakland, not the Castro...these kids should be taught about gun safety before gender identity...seriously.


As for the whole blue/pink gender programming stuff; I now know, because I've seen it...environment has very little to do with it.

My daughter is a girlie girl...princesses, ponies, glitter and shit.
We don't let her watch any TV that would have made her like that stuff. My wife is a tomboy, doesn't wear makeup or dresses at all really...so she's not getting it from home. She has to wear uniforms to school so she doesn't get her penchant for pink tutu's from there.
She's just a girl.

We need to stop treating kids like empty computers that need to be programmed in a politically correct way and just let them be kids.
They'll figure out what a tranny is when the time is right, and the right time isn't bloody kindergarten.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

Because of what you said.

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"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hockey Night in Buffalo

Well that's very enlightening.

I think I followed up enough to show that I do understand the topic. It's not rocket science to begin with, but thanks for the condescension. Why can't people attack the argument instead of the person?

I would say that the topic of discussion is more opinion based than scientific fact, hence the polarization.

I can agree with that to some extent, but at some point this stuff goes beyond basic opinion, and into the professional level of debate. For Fly to make that initial statement would mean that she does understand the topic, or else how would she know or assume that I don't? So if she understands the topic so well, why would she just jab at me without adding to the topic from some knowledge base? If someone's had more educational or work experience with kids, social/gender issues, and sexual related crime, by all means please add to the discussion.

I don't claim to be an expert as you inquired or joked about (or as my wife can claim to be), but I probably can claim a great deal more experience in the area than many people. What happens when I don't type a mini-paper with my initial post is that some people make wide assumptions. If people would just discuss the topic further they would find out exactly where I'm coming from, and opinions could possibly be shared without the insults and polarization.

Is it less objectionable to incorrectly call someone a homophobe/racist than it is to call someone a gay/racial slur? Maybe, but not by much.

It was totally a joke.

I always enjoy that clip, or almost any time that a player gives a reporter a hard time.

Actually, I would bet most of us agree 5 year olds don't need to know about gender issues.

What a 5 year old cares about: Will I get desert after dinner?
What a 5 year old doesn't care about: Does Susan have a penis?

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Hold my beer and watch this...

There are countries in Europe (thinking of the Netherlands in particular) where basic sex education is started that young and their sexual enlightenment is shown in the form of better statistics across the board in terms of lower STD rates, abortion rates, teen pregnancy rates, and even divorce rates than the United States.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

And that would be relevant if you ignore about 1000 other factors.
And we're not talking about sex education.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

I would say that's fair.

I consider Sex Education to be education on sexuality, not merely education on fornication in which gender identity issues would fit.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

Good for you.
So you're asserting 5 year olds indeed do need to be educated on transgender issues to be a well rounded sexual individual?

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Hold my beer and watch this...

Gender identity is a completely different concept from fornication, and only tangentially related.