Cal State Fullerton recently approved a queer studies minor, and starting this fall, students will examine the culture of gender and sexuality in courses such as Queer Theory, Sexual Orientations and American Culture and The Psychological Study of LGB Experiences. The program was pushed for after a string of highly publicized suicides by young gay men, according to the Orange County Register. Administrators say they want members of the LGBT community on campus to see themselves reflected in the university's curriculum.
Though some people don't want young minds exposed to such topics.
]
OneNewsNow.com, the “news” site of the Christian conservative American Family Association, opens an article like this:
“California State University-Fullerton has initiated a progam [sic] for Queer Studies in what may be the start of a full-force takeover by homosexual activists in the public school system.”
Forrest Turpin of Christian Educators Association International fears the program may eventually become a mandate similar to SB 48, which requires that California public schools incorporate the contributions of gays and lesbians in their lessons.
“I just would be afraid that it's a beginning,” Turpin told the website. “They always start with step number one and continue down the line.”
He also added, “The university is empowering them by allowing and promoting their point of view. What they're not doing is empowering students who have a different viewpoint and would like to have their perspectives in the marketplace of thought and discussions.”
Michael Brown, author of A Queer Thing Happened to America, told The Christian Post that he believes the minor is “a totally wrong course of action [for schools], helping to undo gender distinctions, or as others have argued, to blend gender or end gender or bend gender.”
Other just call it “learning.”
Fullerton is the fourth Cal State to create a queer studies minor. San Diego State recently became the second university in the nation to launch a major in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies.
