It’s been nearly 86 years since the Scopes Monkey Trial ensnared the attention of the American public.
John Scopes, a high school teacher in Dayton, Tenn., willingly became the defendant in a court case intended to challenge the Butler Act, a piece of legislation authored by Tennessee Rep. John Butler that prohibited the teaching of evolution in Tennessee schools.
Scopes’ all-star defense team, which included famous lawyer and orator Clarence Darrow, used the trial as a platform to advocate the primacy of science in classrooms. Though Scopes was convicted, the most noted moment in the trial came when Darrow cross-examined former Secretary of State and chief prosecutor William Jennings Bryan, turning him into a blithering mess on the witness stand while he struggled to defend the scientific merits of various biblical stories.
While Scopes’ conviction was later overturned by the Tennessee Supreme Court on appeal, the case deeply affected public opinion regarding the competing roles of science and religion in American education.
Nationwide coverage of the trial mocked the state of Tennessee and the city of Dayton and, for the most part, reduced to ruins the fundamentalist Christian effort to prevent evolution from entering American classrooms.
Surely, then, the state of Tennessee has learned its lesson. About 86 years removed from such a colossal embarrassment, the Volunteer State would have to be the last in the nation to enact an innovatively absurd law intended to eliminate even the mention of a politically-charged topic in its schools.
Right?
Enter Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, whose proposed “Don’t Say Gay” bill would make it illegal to mention homosexuality to students below the ninth grade. The bill has been Campfield’s pet project since 2005, but it finally passed committee April 20 and is up for consideration by the Tennessee State Senate.
Incredibly, Tennessee’s “family life curriculum” already prohibits any mention of homosexuality as a part of sexual education. Campfield insists, however, that extra protection is required for children who are still in danger of being exposed to the “scourge” of homosexuality.
The pesky truth Campfield apparently refuses to acknowledge is that many students who come under the purview of his proposed law are either just forming their sexual identity or have family members who are themselves homosexual. Like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Campfield would like to believe homosexuals don’t really exist in his fair state.
In a radio interview in 2009, Campfield made his opinions on homosexuality abundantly clear. When asked why the gay rights movement should not have a place beside the civil rights movement in Tennessee classrooms, Campfield replied, “If I want to talk about the bestiality movement, do you think we should be teaching that?”
Faulty and offensive metaphors aside, Campfield’s bill has the potential to do tangible damage. A recent study of Oregon teens by Columbia University found suicide attempts by homosexual teens in areas that offered support and acceptance were 5 percent lower than in areas that were less tolerant.
Additionally, the problem of gay bullying can be dealt with more effectively by teaching students about homosexuality in the classroom before they reach high school. Teaching children to respect their fellow students and imparting the knowledge that human sexuality does not always conform to the “family life curriculum” would not eliminate gay bullying, but it would likely make school a more tolerant and accepting environment for a vulnerable minority group.
Campfield has other ideas, though. In the spirit of John Butler, he wants to make the simple mention of a phenomenon that he personally condemns illegal in Tennessee’s schools.
Unfortunately, he’s willing to cast aside the welfare of a sizable number of his own citizens to achieve this.
Chris Seemann is a 20-year-old mass communication senior from New Orleans. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_CSeemann.
 
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