Äike
08-15-2010, 05:29 PM
Young Socialists Rebuke Minister for Intolerance (http://news.err.ee/Politics/78804456-42e6-4696-b2e7-4bdd59a9f8d8)
Estonia will not follow in the footsteps of the Netherlands and promote gay marriage in textbooks, Minister of Education and Research Tõnis Lukas declared yesterday at a cabinet press conference, sparking a fiery response from the Social Democrats' youth section.
According to the television news program Aktuaalne Kaamera, Lukas said that Estonia should not adopt the western world's "extinction strategies" in its educational materials.
The minister jokingly said that he expects someone to soon call for rewriting the classic children's novel Kevade (Spring) so that the schoolboys would be dating each other instead of their co-eds.
The remark was met with severe criticism by the Social Democratic Party's youth section who argued that this proves Lukas unfit for the position.
"I feel ashamed personally along with the whole organization of the Young Social Democrats that we have someone with such a narrow-minded, intolerant and inane outlook as the education minister in Estonia," said Gerd Tarand, policy coordinator of the Young Social Democrats.
The Young Social Democrats pledged to initiate a no confidence vote against Lukas in parliament at the first opportunity.
Estonia will not follow in the footsteps of the Netherlands and promote gay marriage in textbooks, Minister of Education and Research Tõnis Lukas declared yesterday at a cabinet press conference, sparking a fiery response from the Social Democrats' youth section.
According to the television news program Aktuaalne Kaamera, Lukas said that Estonia should not adopt the western world's "extinction strategies" in its educational materials.
The minister jokingly said that he expects someone to soon call for rewriting the classic children's novel Kevade (Spring) so that the schoolboys would be dating each other instead of their co-eds.
The remark was met with severe criticism by the Social Democratic Party's youth section who argued that this proves Lukas unfit for the position.
"I feel ashamed personally along with the whole organization of the Young Social Democrats that we have someone with such a narrow-minded, intolerant and inane outlook as the education minister in Estonia," said Gerd Tarand, policy coordinator of the Young Social Democrats.
The Young Social Democrats pledged to initiate a no confidence vote against Lukas in parliament at the first opportunity.