Opinion:
School Dollars at Work

The following opinion article was written by Brian Camenker and published in the Newton Tab on April 1, 2003.

This survey was given to all Newton North kids in homeroom last week. It also asked kids to identify their race and religion, answer several "sexual orientation" questions and check off which of the school staff use "sexist, racist, homophobic, or derogatory remarks."

This is part of "The Day of Silence," going on next Wednesday, April 10, at NNHS. The school is actually encouraging kids to disrupt classes by not speaking all day. It's in solidarity of the homosexual movement -- "for those who are being silenced." Then on Friday is a "Day of Speaking," with school assemblies on homosexual issues.

Gay activists are claiming that schools, including Newton North, are an "unsafe environment" and therefore everyone must go through gay rights training, or risk being a bigot. The whole thing is really made up of lies and twisted logic (by very troubled people).

It gets worse. This is organized by a national homosexual organization called Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. GLSEN targets schoolchildren, and is so toxic that even the Mass. Dept. of Education stays away from them. A few years ago, GLSEN's annual Boston-area conference featured children as young as 14 being taught homosexual sex acts. Kids were shown techniques for inserting their hands in another person's rectum for sexual pleasure; boys were given tips on performing oral sex on men, and lesbian sex acts were discussed with girls. (I am not kidding.) There was a huge outcry, it made the national press and the Legislature even got involved. Two state employees who participated were fired.

But this is Newton. In their magazine, GLSEN published an article about Supt. Jeffrey Young, praising his efforts to put homosexual programs in Newton's elementary schools, despite the reluctance of some school principals.

So at GLSEN's conference this past March, two Newton teachers gave workshops on how to push homosexuality in elementary classrooms. At that conference (organized for teachers) GLSEN distributed their "Day of Silence" organizing kit. They claim that high schools across the country are involved this year.

Of course, school officials snidely point out that a letter was sent to parents last week saying kids did not have to fill out the survey. But its description of the survey was very misleading. And when homeroom teachers passed out the survey, their written instructions were to tell all the kids to full it out!

The organizers purposefully confuse people about the intent of the program. In their signs, plastered all over the school, they mix in religion, disability, class and race, along with "sexual orientation." To make a safer climate in the school, they say. But in the end, it's 90 percent about homosexuality.

How does it affect a kid who's developing his own sense of emotional identity? Kids whose bodies and minds are changing. Since this is an experiment, no one knows. And no one cares. But one must ask: What kind of person would do this do kids, just to further a political agenda?

And then there are the children who really are physically or mentally handicapped. They are told to admit it on a survey. And then they are compared with gays. How does all this affect them?

If you talk to the kids these days - off the record - most of them will tell you that the don't like it at all, and wish the school would stop throwing this in their face. And they're annoyed at the parade of weird kids who jump on the bandwagon and scream at everybody about it.

These public servants do not have the right to use our kids minds as a sandbox for their political and social fantasies. As parents, we're tired of the intimidation and anger against anyone who disagrees. And the lying and deception. What right do these people have to do this to other people's kids? When is this town going to give Jeffrey Young, and his School Committee, the boot they deserve?

Brian Camenker is an Auburndale resident who can be reached at BCamenker@groupvm.com.