A former reality-TV personality took to Twitter recently to explain why he opposes teaching the accomplishments of LGBTQ people in schools.
James McCoy Taylor, who came in 5th in the 12th season of The Bachelorette (2016), recently told his Twitter followers that he finds the idea to be a “waste” of tax dollars.
This was apparently sparked by a new law in Illinois that will require public schools to include the accomplishments of LGBTQ people in history classes beginning with the 2020-21 school year. The legislation was supported by over 40 education and civil rights groups in the state.
Illinois joins California, New Jersey, and Colorado in adding LGBTQ accomplishments to U.S. history studies in public schools.
Contrast that with the six states – Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas – which have laws prohibiting the “promotion of homosexuality.” Often known as “no pro homo” laws, they prohibit schools from teaching LGBTQ topics in a positive light, according to U.S. News and World Report.
Taylor began with a tweet saying instead of history classes being taught about LGBTQ contributions, instructions in stock market investments would be a better use of tax-payer dollars.
And, of course, he prefaced it all by saying his comment wasn’t “from any kind of hate standpoint.”
LGBTQ history will now be taught in Illinois schools & just like that the decision has been made to home school my future kids
Not from any kind of hate standpoint but THIS is the best way you can find to waste our tax $ ? Can’t have a class about the stock market or something ?
— E X X ➠A L E R T S (@ExxAlerts) August 12, 2019
https://twitter.com/DanielNewman/status/1161683281840103424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Taylor clapped back at openly gay Walking Dead actor Daniel Newman trying to laugh off the whole thing saying the ‘love is love’ crowd turns into haters when they have a different viewpoint.
Is this where I should mention Taylor is a big Trump supporter? Quel surprise…
What’s funny here is, after saying teaching students about the contributions of LGBTQ people is a “waste of tax dollars” and getting push back, he posted an ‘aw shucks’ video saying, “Twitter, you cannot take my smile…”
A msg for all the Twitter Trolls today…
Especially @DanielNewman 😊 pic.twitter.com/3ZlAfGSo4I
— E X X ➠A L E R T S (@ExxAlerts) August 14, 2019
Mr. Taylor – if you’re going to put your opinions out in the public square, man up and be open to possibly learning something. Disagreement doesn’t make someone a ‘troll.’
But, Taylor wasn’t done yet. He had to come back a few days later with this:
https://twitter.com/james_mccoy_t/status/1162423315786555392
By this flawed logic, with the Jewish population of the U.S. being estimated at between 1.4-1.8%, does that mean we shouldn’t teach kids about the Holocaust?
But put that aside.
As TONS of people pointed on on Twitter, the LGBTQ community intersects with all these demographics: women, African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Asian-Americans. Race and sex are not sexual orientation. #duh
Also, at one point, Taylor says he’s in Texas. I don’t know if he lives there or visiting, but here’s the thing…
I was born and raised in Texas and graduated from the public school system there in the early 1980s.
In high school, I learned about the fight for women’s rights, suffragettes, Seneca Falls, and the 19th Amendment.
I learned about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Civil War, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Jim Crow laws.
I learned how Latinos helped Texas win independence, who Sylvia Mendez was, and how Puerto Rico became part of the U.S.
I learned about Japanese internment camps during WWII.
So, when Taylor talks about “waiting in line,” does he not know this history has been a part of public schools for decades? I wasn’t only taught about what men contributed to society.
And what exactly is this “line” he talks about? Can we not teach about women’s, African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American and LGBTQ American contributions at the same time?
In Illinois, there are 176 days in a given school year. Even if you went by Taylor’s ill-thought ‘5 percent’ math of the LGBTQ population, is it unthinkable to imagine spending less than 9 history classes out of 176 on LGBTQ history?
As a nascent gay growing up in Texas, I’ll tell you what I did NOT learn about in school: how a brave group of LGBTQ people stood up for themselves at the Stonewall riots.
I did not learn that an openly gay man named Harvey Milk was elected to public office in 1977.
Nor did I learn about the persecution of gays by the Nazis during World War II.
There’s a LOT that could have been included in my history curriculum back then.
In any case, I’m not the only one who found Taylor to be out of his depth.
I’ll note that, until these recent LGBTQ-themed tweets, a quick scan of Taylor’s posts on Twitter (when not chiming in on ‘Bachelor/Bachelorette’ episodes) have averaged about 5-10 responses. These tweets received thousands of comments.
I think the hashtag #DeleteYourAccount was created for just this kind of moment.
Just a sample from the Twitterverse:
You lack logic. Just as 51% of Hispanics, African Americans, and Asian Americans are women, LGBTQ also are included among women, Hispanics, African Americans, and Asian Americans. It’s not about “waiting in line.” It’s about ending oppression.— zaphod67 (@zaphod67) August 17, 2019
It’s pretty telling that you think you are the one who gets to choose when marginalized groups finally get their rights. Telling indeed.— Lefty Conspirator (@NoKnownFuture) August 17, 2019
ugh thank god, i was just thinking “i wish there was a straight white male who could pretend he was speaking out on behalf of oppressed people when in reality he’s using oppressed groups as an excuse to word vomit his homophobia”— bawbby. (@bawbbysworld) August 17, 2019
How ‘bout the percentage on people who think LGBTQ only look like The Village People Meets a Pride Parade? And doesn’t realize we are freakin’ everywhere—your nurses, doctors, police, teachers, corporate types, soccer ‘rents? pic.twitter.com/6FdXNOWKGi— Yarndogs&caffeine (@bryna_elder) August 17, 2019
White, Straight, Cis man tells everyone who is not that, in what order he approves them to go in to be equal with him. “LGBTQ history will now be taught in Illinois schools & just like that the decision has been made to home school my future kids” “It’s not a hate thing”— Night Sun (@NightSu99677942) August 17, 2019
So this tweet has a lot of problems. Here are a few of them: * That 5% figure is likely just the number that are openly LGBTQ * Even if it’s only 5%, there is on average at least one LGBTQ kid in each classroom * It’s possible for kids to learn the histories of MULTIPLE groups.— Lucas Meadows (@lmeadows) August 17, 2019
Like Dr. King said, when white people tell minorities “wait”, it means “never”.— Rocko’s Modern Wife Guy (@StoicalSophist) August 17, 2019
how about you go be a third runner-up on The Bachelorette and let some other people handle this— Marcia Gay Hardened (@ZacharyRogerO) August 17, 2019
It’s funny when people find thoughtful approaches to bigotry.— Gus Posey (@gus_posey) August 17, 2019
It’s great that a straight white guy took the time out of his busy day to educate us all on what marginalized groups need. pic.twitter.com/jjnMf0JZpk— NeNe (@boiler4life27) August 17, 2019
— Red™️ (@Redpainter1) August 17, 2019
And then there’s my favorite response:
— save jupitor (@allievon) August 17, 2019
The opinions expressed here are those of the author and not of Instinct Magazine nor its contributors.
Gay history or LGBTQ history?
Also, and again, T and Q are problematic because T stems from mental disorder and Q is nothing a political stand.