Naked Bigotry Update: Tacky Texas Textbook Tactics
Try saying this ten times fast: “Don’t mess with Texas textbooks!“
The [Texas] State Board of Education approved health textbooks for Texas high school and middle school students on Friday, after publishers changed the wording in some of the approved textbooks to reflect marriage as being between a man and a woman.A day earlier, some board members had said the books attempted to nullify Texas’ law banning the recognition of same-sex civil unions because the books used terms like “married partners” but do not define marriage as an institution between a man and a woman.
One of the publishers changed its text to include a definition of marriage as a “lifelong union between a husband and a wife.”
Board member Mary Helen Berlanga asked the panel to approve the books without the changes. “We’re not supposed to make changes at somebody’s whim,” Berlanga said. “It’s a political agenda, and we’re not here to follow a political agenda.“
The decision could affect dozens of states because books sold in Texas, the nation’s second-largest textbook buyer, often are marketed elsewhere.
The elected board, which includes 10 Republicans and five Democrats, is allowed to reject books only because of factual errors or failure to follow state-mandated curriculum.
Um, “lifelong union between a husband and a wife”? Here’s an utterly delicious factoid (I love when a Google search hits the jackpot):
The state with the lowest divorce rate in the nation is Massachusetts. At latest count it had a divorce rate of 2.4 per 1,000 population, while the rate for Texas was 4.1.
Heh.
Again, keep in mind that the textbooks said nothing about civil unions, domestic partnerships, evolving cultural norms or the political controversies currently swirling about. The “factual error” was merely the use of the gender-neutral term “married partners.” Apparently that term, by itself, is enough to put the Texas dogmatists on Red Alert (or is that “Red-State Alert”?)
Once again: Don’t tell me it’s not about naked bigotry.
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