It Seems Schools Etc Are Not Promoting Homosexuality Enough...

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23768312
several examples in the link but:
//Also included in the BHA's list of "high concern" schools is Hallsville primary school in Newham, east London, which it criticises for using the phrase: "There should be no direct promotion of sexual orientation."//
So are saying that the school should be promoting it then?

[FredPuli43]

sp, 'promoting homosexuality' can only mean telling pupils that there's nothing wrong with it and that it is normal that some people are homosexual.

And /or it could mean teaching homosexual history and culture. Teaching them Polari, and why it was necessary, about Greek and Roman attitudes to homosexuals, about our Kings and notable men who were homosexual, and who usually hid that fact from the public and so forth. Draw the line at playing them Shirley Bassey records ! They'd be mystified by gay icons !

[sp1814]

ToraToraTora

Just thought of something - the report criticises the school for the phrase "There should be no direct promotion of sexual orientation".

It doesn't say "There should be no direct promotion of homosexuality".

So based on this, isn't your question wrong?

[ToraToraTora]

no, the objection is to that phrase and the whole subject matter is homosexuality so it is diffcult to conclude that the intentions of the critic is other than as stated. It's like saying here should be no direct promotion of any football team and the supporters of Arsenal objecting.

[bazwillrun]

"and that it is normal that some people are homosexual. "

just because its acceptable doesnt mean its normal

[LazyGun]

@baz just because it is unacceptable to you does not mean it is abnormal, either. You confuse normality with what is common.

[FredPuli43]

I was waiting for that, baz. Read my words again and you'll see that I was very careful not to say that homosexuality was normal. I do know how careful I have to be with words on here, and anticipate the likely response if they are not precise. Still, you chose to make the point you were going to make anyway, once you saw the word 'normal', so I really needn't have bothered !

[bazwillrun]

over time will evolution select hetero or homo as being the way forward , bearing in mind nature has pretty ruthless methods of selecting the best genes for its purposes

[FredPuli43]

Evolution hasn't eradicated homosexuality in mankind so far , baz. Plainly, it is no hindrance to the survival of the species. And homosexual men and women can still reproduce. Many a lesbian has become a mother and many a homosexual man a father; Oscar Wilde had children. Their children can also grow up to reproduce, and may not themselves be homosexual. In the extremely unlikely event of there being nobody left on Earth who was not homosexual, the species would still survive, it being in the interests of those people, and the species, to perpetuate

[Hypognosis]

@baz and Fred

We also do not know whether it is inheritable or entirely behavioural.

We know that DNA can 'instruct' a stem cell to turn into a brain cell and I could conjecture that additional genes set about determining how brain cells branch out and link together to form neural pathways.

If so, practically any sensory stimulus could become cross-linked with the pathways to the brain's pleasure centres and that could be what leads to sexual preferences.

That explanation is slightly biased towards 'nuture', rather than 'nature'. For inheritability of a 'gay gene' you would have to explain how a protein (genes code for proteins and only proteins), or a set of genes and gene products, leads to a neural pathway structure which behaves the same in every individual _regardless of nurture experience_ and results in same-sex preference. Complications arise when you have to further explain both female/female attraction and male/male attraction from one conformation. Is the special neural pathway responding to bodyshape or is it about abstract mental constructs of man-ness/woman-ness?

We've barely dipped a toe into the water with regard to understanding the brain. Even if we understood the salient details, I doubt it would help shoolkids to know. If we already have a comprehensible explanation for them, then let's carry on using that.

[sp1814]

ToraToraTora

What do you mean by 'promotion'?

I seriously have no idea what that means in the context of delivering information.

Do people think that by talking frankly about sexuality, schools are encouraging orientation?

Or perhaps schools are in the business of spreading knowledge?

[Hypognosis]

^^^
Eye donut bailiff un spill chequers. rucking new sense same tomes.

[ToraToraTora]

SP, I don't really know what promotion means in this context, clearly the BHA do as they ae saying there should be some.

[gingejbee]

The meaning (in this context) of "promotion" has always been the bug-bear whenever this question is discussed, It was in Section 28 in the UK and is, now, in Russia.

[sp1814]

ToraToraTora

The point of this investigation is that it has found that some schools are actively suppressing information about non-heterosexual relationships.

That's the issue.

Not the so-called 'promotion' of other sexual orientations.

[joko]

i think some are misunderstanding the use of the word promotion in this issue - is is not intended to be like a convincing sales technique.

[LazyGun]

Evolution has been with us for as long as their has been life on the planet. Homosexual orientation continues to be present, across many mammals, for generation after generation, at around the same level. So it is not being "selected out" by evolution. This seems to be a misunderstanding of what evolution is and does.

There are a couple of genetic studies looking at why homosexuality continues; One study for instance suggests that the gene that codes for homosexual orientation is passed down through the generations because it is part of gene complex which improves fertility; the gene most associated with homosexual orientation travels along as part of that complex.

[ummmm]

I've always thought it was genetics. My aunt has 3 children. Eldest son is straight, middle son is gay, youngest daughter is gay. Eldest sons daughter is gay.