Thanks for the family values, George! http://swiftreport.blogs.com/news/2005/02/parents_protest.html#more February 14, 2005 Parents Protest Exchange of Same-Sex Valentines A group of parents in a southern Illinois town is protesting the exchange of Valentine's Day cards between students of the same sex. The parents warn that students who give Valentines to their same sex peers are undermining the sanctity of the February celebration. Parents decry 'heartless' attack on traditional family values By Cole Walters, Education Correspondent MT VERNON, IL—Christopher Biggins has been working on his Valentine's Day cards since last week. The 6-year-old, who attends the Buford Elementary School in this southern Illinois town, hand addressed 23 envelopes—12 to the girls in his class, 11 to the boys—and signed his name to cards bearing messages like "you're cool," "I like you," and "let's be friends." But then Christopher's family got word that some parents here are planning a Valentine's Day protest. Their issue: the exchange of Valentines between students of the same sex. Giving cards and candy to their same sex peers, say the parents, constitutes an attack on traditional family values and undermines the sanctity of the February 14 celebration. One boy, one girl "We couldn't believe it when we got the news," says Christopher's mother, Elise Biggins, who works part-time as a bookkeeper in nearby Marion. "These are first graders. How can it undermine someone else's Valentine's Day to have them giving each other cards?" The Bigginses decided that rather than risk attracting the ire of the protesting parents, Christopher wouldn't hand out any Valentines this year. "We gave him a choice between only giving Valentines to the girls or not handing out any and he decided to give it a pass this year," says Elise Biggins. "Can you blame him?" No same sex VD Mary Ann Boone is one of the organizers of the Valentine's Day protest. She said that she had never really thought about just how offensive it is that girls and boys often exchange Valentine's with their same sex peers—until this year. "It just hit me all of a sudden that this is something that really undermines traditional family values," says Boone. While Boone's daughter Rebecca, who attends third grade at Buford Elementary, will be bringing Valentine's cards to school today, she will be distributing them only to the boys in her class. To make their point, Boone, along with 15 like-minded friends and neighbors, plans to spend much of today demonstrating in front of Buford Elementary, a 1940's era brick school building on the west side of Mt. Vernon. Armed with signs that read "have a heart," "respect family values," and "no same sex VD," the parents are hoping that they can win over the hearts and minds of the students who go to school here—before it's too late. "This is how it starts, with one little girl giving another little girl a Valentine," says Boone. "But before you know it, you've got serious problems." A tarnished celebration Boone's friend Michelle Nardullis says that she was originally planning to sit out the protest, as she has no children of her own. But she changed her mind, says Nardullis, after she realized what the exchange of same sex Valentines meant to her own celebration of the annual tribute to cupid. "This is one of the biggest days of the year for me, second only to my wedding anniversary," says Nardullis. "I'm expecting at least a dozen roses, maybe even a piece of jewelry. What does it say about my Valentine's Day when school kids of the same sex are giving each other cards?" Can this holiday be saved? Officials at the elementary school say that they're now considering banning all future celebrations of Valentine's Day in the classroom in order to avoid offending parents to whom the exchange of same sex Valentines is offensive. "We've already eliminated peanuts from the school cafeteria to accommodate children with food allergies," says Assistant Principal Cathy McGovern, noting that the Mt. Vernon school board will soon consider a measure banning cupcakes and cookies in an effort to combat obesity in the schools. "Valentine's Day is a nice tradition," says McGovern. "But we don't want to end up undermining our families just so kids can give each other cards."_
Come on now. Do we really have to blame everything on Bush? Do you think these were open-minded, accepting people before Bush and then all of a sudden became bigots once W was elected? Assholes existed before Bush, just like ugly people existed before Camryn Manheim. Besides, even though the Dems didn't try and use the anti-gay sentiment to get out supporters, Kerry didn't exactly give a ringing endorsement to equal rights for gay people.
This is one of the funniest things I have seen in weeks. God, I love America! wait, have to clarify that. I don't love all of America... I love the girls, Not the boys. I'm not queer. Well except for the president, I love him... And our troops I suppose... I'm so confused.
Well then that woman is an idiot, and I am willing to partially retract my statement and say that dumbasses like her could have been convinced by sound bite-spewing politicians.
Not to derail the topic, but overreative parent groups are what's ruining our school system. Knowing that what gets taught in schools ultimately passes to the students, it seems that everyone has gotten their sticky hands into the subject matter. In the process, the truth gets subverted and ignorance is encouraged by the hypocrisy. No amount of teacher salary or dollars spent per student will overcome the horribly ****ed up facts found in our books and curriculum.
I agree and disagree. The over-reactive nature of people has adversly affected a number of areas, education included. I think education also suffers due to under-reactive parents, though. Parents that are either uninterested or don't have time to actively take part in the education of their children allow kids to underperform and teachers to accept underperformance. There's a balance out there, and I think we're out of whack. I don't know what it was in the "good ol' days", but it's off-kilter right now.
What happens when there are enough Jehovah Witness to make a bid to ban all holidays because they are offensive to them?
I got a Valentine from President Bush-- he called me Sweetie -- but it was addressed to Dick Cheney...
Can this be real? Are people just looking for a reason to be offended? The really sad thing is that this is not surprising. It seems we have created a society where everyone (on both sides of issues) are too willing to create a major issue over such little things.
I guess it's a sign of the times when both parents are working, and they are usually overworked and take no vacations. All that does is shift the excessive burden onto our school system. Our schools are designed to have 4 hours of real learning. The rest of the time is to imprison them until their parents get off work. In that given situation, it's a losing battle for most public school teachers, either from not being enthusiastic enough or from being outmanned. There's no respect or benefit of the doubt given to public school teachers, yet they are expected to perform exceptionally. Again, the quality to cost of teachers and funding is not the problem. It's just the easiest tool among politicians to sell to their constituents.
http://swiftreport.blogs.com/news/ I think this is a joke, read some of the stories on the site where the story came from...
