Anoka-Hennepin TeachersTest Requires Affirmation of District's Anti-Gay Policy

Faced with a Federal lawsuit and an Office of Civil Rights investigation one would think that the Anoka-Hennepin School District make some small effort not to add ammunition to those who allege that the district - located in loon Michele Bachmann's congressional district - has a serious anti-gay atmosphere which is aided and abetted by the district's anything but unbiased "neutrality policy" that prohibits any positive discussion of mention pro-LGBT topics or information. Christianists (which seem to control the school district), on the other hand are free to spew anti-gay bigotry. Now it turns out that in order to pass a required teachers' test, teacher must endorse the fiction that the school districts anti-gay policy isn't - anti-gay. For those who are honest enough to admit that the emperor, if you will, has no clothes, a failing grade is the result. The supposed correct answer is that the district’s policy limiting discussions of LGBT issues in the district’s schools is intended to make “students feel safe.” Here are some highlights from the Minnesota Independent:

Some teachers at Anoka-Hennepin School District have failed a teachers test because they refused to affirm that the district’s policy limiting discussions of LGBT issues in the district’s schools is intended to make “students feel safe.”

The district’s policy is at the heart of a culture war in the district and is the subject of a lawsuit by six students and their parents who say the district has not taken appropriate steps to prevent bullying against students who are, or are perceived to be, LGBT.

City Pages reported on Wednesday that a training test required by all teachers contains the question: “One of the goals of the Sexual Orientation Curriculum Policy is to ensure all of our students feel safe and respected in our classrooms and/or while participating in school activities: true or false?”

City Pages notes that several teachers in the district are refusing to answer “true,” which causes them to fail the training test.

The policy states that “Anoka-Hennepin staff, in the course of their professional duties, shall remain neutral on matters regarding sexual orientation including but not limited to student led discussions.” Yet, the policy only targets LGBT issues.

[T]he Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Center for Lesbian Rights have filed suit against the district on behalf of six students and their families.

The federal Department of Education and the Department of Justice have also launched investigations into the district after the suicide deaths of nine students in the past two years, several of whom were known to identify as LGBT.

The policy is a farce and like so much coming out of the mouths of "cultural conservatives" is a outright lie. It's all about allowing LGBT students to be victimized while giving special privileges to toxic "Christian" beliefs. Kudos to the teachers who refuse to support the lie.