Dan DeLong, Animal Sexuality and High School English

Mike Dunford has drawn my attention to a situation in Piasa, Illinois where high school English teacher Dan DeLong assigned extra-credit reading about gay animals. The situation seems to be a bit complicated. The assigned article discusses how homosexuality is common in the animal kingdom. DeLong has been suspended from his job and faces a disciplinary hearing.

If a teacher simply assigned reading from areas of study outside the teacher's area that would be a legitimate concern. However, it appears that the assignment was to read the essay and examine the essay's structure and argumentative form. Therefore, this is simply a normal high school assignment. Teachers assign all sorts of different reading about different subjects. That's part of the normal school curriculum. One might be able to describe a problem if one had evidence that DeLong had assigned the essay to make some sort of political, moral, theological or other point. However, I haven't seen any claim that that was the case. The objection simply seems to be that some parents were uncomfortable with the reading.

Unless the school had some sort of blanket policy about the teaching sexual material requiring parental permission I don't see anything that DeLong has done. While news reports are still sparse with details it seems like this is more about fear of gays and homosexuality extended to such a point that even discussing gay sex in animals triggers a backlash. That's stupid. There's simply no other way to describe it. DeLong should be restored to his position as soon as possible.

Update: DeLong has been reinstated.

Science appointments on hold.

Members of the US Senate are holding up the appointments of Jane Lubchenco as NOAA administrator and John Holdren as Science Advisor. Moreover, while the specific Senators causing the delay are still anonymous they are apparently Democrats using these positions as pawns in a bargaining game for unrelated political gains. This situation is unacceptable. I and many others voted for the Democrats in the last election because we were sick of poor treatment of science by the Republicans. Unfortunately, I am cynical enough that holding up critical appointments of qualified appointments for necessary science positions is change I can believe in; it is no change at all.

You can help deal with this. Mike Dunford has multiple pieces discussing the situation and what you can do about it. Mike has the details of which Senators to contact. This situation is unacceptable. The Democrats in the Senate need to understand that people who care about science care about empirical results. We won't just listen to your rhetoric if you don't follow through. Having these appointments confirmed by the Senate is vitally important. Please look at Mike's pieces and contact your Senators.