What Texas Creationists Can Teach the Gay Movement

In the future, it’s likely that your children will learn about Phyllis Schlafly over Edward Kennedy, read that global warming and evolution are basically fallible guesses and hear a revised version of history that diminishes the efforts of minority groups.

And it’s all because of a few evangelicals in Texas.

The Texas Board of education has been pushing a far-right, conservative agenda in Texas textbooks which is aimed at countering the perceived (read: imaginary) liberal propaganda in students' curriculum. Lest you think that this only affects the Lone Star State, Texas is a behemoth in textbook distribution as well as national test standards, which means that what we do in Texas certainly doesn’t stay in Texas. So when your kids, nieces, nephews and younger siblings formulate their opinions through social studies and science, they will be reading it through the cross-colored glasses of the Texas Board of Education.

When you think about it, infiltrating a board of education was quite ingenious. A few religious extremists took aim at the right place, in the right time and wielded a frightening amount of power. Now, why didn’t we, the gay community, think of that?

There are many lessons to be learned from this conservative politicking in America’s schools.  But the greatest takeaway is that our cause can sometimes be advanced more effectively by whispering on a local level rather than yelling on a national one. Due to the knee-jerk reactions of most conservatives when any person, issue or piece of legislation comes within a ten-foot radius of gaydom, it’s difficult to win even the smallest victory on a widespread level without a fight.

However, due to the disinterest of the average citizen on local and state levels, gay victories can be realized with much less opposition. Texas, the same state where conservatives rule, boasts a lesbian mayor in Houston, a twice-elected lesbian Sheriff in Dallas, and gay representatives in other key Texas cities. The New York Times reports that all over the country, gay candidates are winning elections, ostensibly because voter turnout is depressingly low in many of these races.

We have many national problems that need national answers — "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the Defense of Marriage Act, to name a few — and these answers will inevitably come from the federal level. However, as advocates and fighters in the gay rights cause, our focus has been disproportionately focused on a national level, especially in the executive branch. It isn’t as simple as President Obama standing for or against us. His agendas sit like an elephant atop a high-wire, precarious and scary, with the slightest turbulence causing his plans to topple and fall. He will always be overly careful when dealing with the gay issue as not to disturb the shaky balance. Not necessarily so in lower levels of government. True, he could do more, but we could do more by dividing our attention to the grassroots level.

The State Board of Education in Texas schooled us all in the importance of every level of governance. Too often, we're either marching in a protest in our hometown or marching on the steps of the White House, while leaving the widest expanse of political ground unoccupied. Our agenda doesn't have to be pushed forward by a Moses, leading us through the desert for forty years. Instead, each of us should look to our City Councils, School Boards, Police Departments, Government-Funded Social Service Sectors and in every nook and cranny for opportunities to invest in the process, from the ground up.

Photo Credit: wohnai