In a sign of just how far progress has been made in China, both parents and LGBT activists are decrying the inclusion of anti-gay commentary in the latest version of an educational booklet published by educators in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China.
The booklet, “Parents, Please Walk Your Child Through Puberty” (right), claims that because homosexuals are not generally accepted, they tend to be antisocial and eccentric. “They are also starkly different from normal people in terms of outlook on life and views on morality,” reads on passage. “These problems are evident in their relationships with each other and in their relationships with other members of society.”
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The self-styled experts in the Hangzhou Education Bureau and Hangzhou Education Research Institute go on to argue that if only homosexuals could practice some measure of restraint, they would be rid of their antisocial tendencies.
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Activist Wang Long worries that these sorts of cure-the-gay elixirs—which even the Chinese Psychological Society has dismissed—are being taken as gospel by locals. “Once these textbooks are delivered to children and parents, they are very likely to be regarded as the truth, and this will mislead the public.”
After protests by Wang and others, textbook editor Hang Siping promised to remove the offending material, saying, “In the course of writing and publishing this book, we have not consulted a lot of materials on homosexuality. It was inevitable to have words that some have considered discriminatory. “
In other words, they just made it up.
Source: The Shanghaiist
jwrappaport
“Words that some have considered discriminatory.” That’s rich. I wasn’t surprised to see this at first, especially given how routinely the PRC openly flouts the rule of law and the basic rights of its people, but then I remembered that I saw a copy of “A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality” on display at Barnes and Noble the other week. And then I also remembered that the 700 Club is broadcast on ABC Family. Oh yeah, and how many of our elected leaders, judges, and presidential candidates routinely condemn homosexuality as a moral scourge.
I can just imagine that scene in Austin Powers where Dr. Evil says to Austin, “We’re not so different, you and I…” (At least with respect to gay rights discourse.)
Ruhlmann
You’d think they would push non breeding couples with their population problem. Let gay coulpes adopt all those unwanted baby girls. At least their making the correction.
streeteditions
The fact that this is even being being discussed, much less corrected, is evidence of the PRC entering the world of social reality. But then again, they just removed the word for homosexual from their dictionary! HMMMMMM?
Neo
@streeteditions: They also removed the words and phrases such as Democracy and Free Will and Human Rights. But the Chinese people are seeing the world and standing up to these monsters.
nineinchnail
Why should we be surprised that this backward nation with its human rights violation thinks like this?
hangedman1984
@jwrappaport:
To be fair to ABCFamily, they only show the 700club because they are contractually obligated to.
jwrappaport
@hangedman1984: A very fair technical point, but it is not an answer to the substance of my charge, namely, that the discourse on gay rights is often mired in slanderous and fantastically untrue claims that have no place there; and that the institutions that promulgate these claims are little better than those who utter them in the first place. ABC Family (and essentially anyone else who contracts with such TV shows as the 700 Club) is at best a corporate prostitute that allows hate speech to fill the airwaves and likely fall on the ears of those who don’t know better, especially children. I can remember seeing that show on PBS when I was very young. Fortunately, it was as silly to me then as it is now.
To forestall those who would make a free speech counterargument, I am not advocating that ABC Family (or other similarly situated networks) shouldn’t have free reign over programming (because they should!), but rather that their programming choice in this case is abhorrent, especially given how repugnant it is to the very meaning of the word family. They should be ashamed of themselves and can take little moral comfort in disclaiming the content of their shows.