11-6-2004 Health Textbooks in Texas to Change Wording About Marriage
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? The Texas Board of Education approved new health textbooks for the state's high school and middle school students Friday after the publishers agreed to change the wording to depict marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, changed phrases such as "when two people marry" and "partners" to "when a man and a woman marry" and "husbands and wives."
The publisher does not plan on adding its definition of marriage in books that will be sold outside Texas.
Board member Mary Helen Berlanga, a Democrat, asked the panel to approve the books without the changes, but her proposal was rejected on a 10-4 vote.
"We're not supposed to make changes at somebody's whim," Berlanga said. "It's a political agenda, and we're not here to follow a political agenda."
Board member Terri Leo, a Republican, said she was pleased with the publishers' changes. She had led the effort to get the publishers to change the texts, objecting to what she called "asexual stealth phrases" such as "individuals who marry."
"Marriage has been defined in Texas, so it should also be defined in our health textbooks that we use as marriage between a man and a woman," Leo said.
Texas lawmakers last year passed a law that prohibits the state from recognizing same-sex civil unions.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? The Texas Board of Education approved new health textbooks for the state's high school and middle school students Friday after the publishers agreed to change the wording to depict marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, changed phrases such as "when two people marry" and "partners" to "when a man and a woman marry" and "husbands and wives."
The publisher does not plan on adding its definition of marriage in books that will be sold outside Texas.
Board member Mary Helen Berlanga, a Democrat, asked the panel to approve the books without the changes, but her proposal was rejected on a 10-4 vote.
"We're not supposed to make changes at somebody's whim," Berlanga said. "It's a political agenda, and we're not here to follow a political agenda."
Board member Terri Leo, a Republican, said she was pleased with the publishers' changes. She had led the effort to get the publishers to change the texts, objecting to what she called "asexual stealth phrases" such as "individuals who marry."
"Marriage has been defined in Texas, so it should also be defined in our health textbooks that we use as marriage between a man and a woman," Leo said.
Texas lawmakers last year passed a law that prohibits the state from recognizing same-sex civil unions.
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