Tennessee's Gag Rule on Gays

What's with Tennessee? In my head, they are still tainted by the Scopes Monkey Trial.

From NewsChannel5, out of Nashville:

One state lawmaker does not want homosexuality brought up at all in schools.

Rep. Stacey Campfield said he believes the issue of homosexuality can be too complicated for young minds to understand. Campfield filed, the "Don't Say Gay" bill, which would essentially ban teachers from talking about the topic.

"I think our teachers need to stick with reading, writing, and arithmetic," Campfield said. "It confuses a lot of children that are already in a difficult part of life, and it's a very complex issue."

Campfield pointed to newspaper articles as examples of where homosexuality was being taught in schools, like a program in Knoxville that contains information on aids, gay and lesbian sex. He said second graders had access to the information.

"Let's take this off the table, lets not talk about this to very young children, I don't see a problem with that," Campfield said.

And the news video:

I mean, I kinda see the whole "it's kids, let's pull things off the table," but we did sex ed in 5th grade... and I seriously doubt they would suggest something like, say, Christianity would be inappropriate to teach.

The point is this: I doubt it's part of their curriculum. And it sounds like a waste of time and a smoke screen. Veiled homophobia/heterosexism with the typical excuse, "We're saving the children!"