In other outstanding Republican-led legislative action on the cultural front, a subcommittee of the Tennessee House of Representatives approved the infamous “Don’t Say Gay” legislation passed last year by the State Senate, banning any classroom discussion of homosexuality in public schools prior to the ninth grade. The Senate action attracted a great deal of national attention, in part thanks to the aggressively ignorant homophobic views of its sponsor, Sen. Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville).
While House Democratic leader Craig Fitzhugh was the only member of the subcommittee to speak against the measure, another Democrat, John DeBerry of Memphis, had perhaps the most interesting comment in favor of “Don’t Say Gay:”
The basic right as an American is my right to life, my right to liberty and my right to the pursuit of happiness. Within that includes being able to run my home, raise my children as I see fit and to indoctrinate them as I see fit.
Ah yes, parenting as “indoctrination.” But some parents clearly need indoctrination on how to indoctrinate, as Nashville Scene‘s Jeff Woods noted:
Before the House education subcommittee acted, chairman Joey Hensley scored bonus points by admonishing all Tennessee parents not to let their children watch “Modern Family” on television because they might discover there are homosexuals in the world.
These days, life often imitates parody.
