State ruling awaited on sex-ed challenge

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Maryland school officials say they will respond as early as this week to a request to stop Montgomery County from beginning sex-education classes this month that include lessons on homosexuality and the use of condoms.

"I expect a ruling by the end of [the] week," said Bill Reinhard, a spokesman for the Maryland State Board of Education.

The request was filed by a group of residents and parents known as Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum (CRC).

The county's Board of Education unanimously approved the new curriculum for eighth- and 10th-graders in January and filed a response Tuesday to the group's request to stop the classes, which will begin as a pilot project in six county schools.

"I don't think the state board will rule in favor of the appeal," said Stephen N. Abrams, a county school board member who represents Rockville and Potomac.

CRC was joined in its appeal by the Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX), and the Family Leader Network.

The groups' primary concerns are the presentation of homosexuality as "innate," and the descriptions of condom use and anal sex without disclaimers about risk, CRC President John Garza said. "No court that ever ruled on homosexuality has said it is innate."

Mr. Garza also complained that the Citizens Advisory Council, which was set up to give the school system feedback on the curriculum during the drafting process, was not given an opportunity to debate the assertion that homosexuality is innate.

"This is part of a growing trend across the country," said Peter Sprigg, a county resident who served on the advisory council and has written two books on the homosexual debate. "Homosexual activists are aggressively promoting full acceptance of their lifestyle in the schools."

Jim Kennedy, also a member of the advisory council and president of the group Teachthefacts.org, which supports the new curriculum, thinks the appeal will fail.