| Compromise in Holocaust teaching dispute CNN.com |
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Controversy over gay persecution description Two explicit paragraphs about homosexuals that were edited out of a teacher's guide about the Holocaust will be sent to Georgia teachers after a compromise was reached between a state agency and gay activists. The paragraphs, which describe Nazi persecution of homosexuals during the Holocaust, were deleted from the 92-page guide by the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust before it was mailed to teachers. The deletion angered gay activists. After a meeting Sunday with the Georgia Equality Project, a gay advocacy group, the commission agreed to mail the two paragraphs in a separate letter to teachers who had ordered the guide The guide is titled "Triangles, Badges & Stars: Remembering the Mosaic of Victims of the Holocaust." The paragraphs were originally deleted by the commission out of concern that they were too sexually graphic for young students. 'An affront to the Nazi macho image'"All items will be distributed at no taxpayer expense and with an advisement that some of the material in every section of the teacher guide is of a sensitive nature and should be presented in an age-appropriate manner," the statement said. "The Georgia Commission on the Holocaust regrets the misunderstanding that has arisen between the Commission and the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered) Community," the statement said. The deleted paragraphs read as follows:
Providing the missing paragraphs separately will allow teachers to present the material "in an age-appropriate manner," said Harry Knox, director of the Georgia Equality Project. Knox agreed that the extended descriptions of the Nazis' crimes are "horrifying." But, he added, "everything about the Holocaust should horrify us." Mailing will include Holocaust Museum material"Erasing persecution of gays from the history of the Holocaust repeats the tragic silence of most Germans in the Nazi years," Knox said. Similar guides that included the paragraphs in question were sent to teachers in Florida and California. Also included in the mailings with the two paragraphs will be information produced by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington concerning the treatment of homosexuals, the handicapped and Jehovah's Witnesses by the Nazis. In addition to the 6 million Jews killed during World War II, homosexual males were also targeted by Nazis, along with other religious groups, Gypsies, Communists, African-Germans and the mentally and physically disabled.
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January 11, 1999 - Web posted at: 11:40 a.m. EST (1640 GMT) ATLANTA (CNN). The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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