By Ed Oliver
October 5, 2000

Approximately 250 parents crowded into a special school committee meeting last night at Lexington’s Bridge Elementary School to find out what the schools are teaching about homosexuality.

The meeting was held to dispel rumors circulating through town that a new homosexual curriculum is about to be implemented. The rumors began after the Tufts Fistgate controversy last spring caused parents to question school administrators. 
Inquiring parents became further alarmed after their children brought home bulletins announcing that the Lexington Schools are co-sponsoring a pro-homosexual seminar called “Respecting Differences,” which will be held October 14th and 15th. After that, Superintendent Pat Ruane announced at a September 12th School Committee meeting that the schools would  “expand the notion of what diversity is all about” by training teachers to handle questions and issues about gay families.

The question-answer format was frustrating to many last night because only written questions on index cards were allowed, screened, and few were answered before time ran out. However, people were allowed to ask a follow-up question if not satisfied with an answer by going to the microphone.

One parent asked what a teacher would do if a child declared to his classmates that only a mother and father can be a family. What if he said his parents told him it was so. Would the child be told he is wrong, thereby undermining parental teaching? “That is not a thing we could ignore,” the parent was told. “The teacher would tell the child there are all types of families.”

Another parent asked if the high school Gay/Straight Alliance would ever go to the middle school to speak to the kids? The superintendent answered, “I’m not ready for that when we don’t have the adults at the school trained appropriately yet.” 

A parent commented, “I am uncomfortable having others talking with my kids about this. Are my kids going to have to accept this? What are you trying to accomplish here?”

The parent was answered with the mantra about safe schools and promoting tolerance.

Lexington resident Steve Trippi, who said he founded a local group called “Citizens for Responsible Spending,” was concerned last night after the special meeting. “This was a bag job, this was awful,” he told Massachusetts News. “The sad part is our tax dollars pay for this b.s. This is not an open forum, all the questions weren’t addressed, they only took the easier ones.” Trippi and others gathered around him compared the format to the League of Women Voters who screen written questions directed to candidates. “They don’t let God in the back door, but they let this in the front door,” said Trippi.

New Territory
Last night, Ruane told the standing room only crowd that the schools are looking at the reality of an increasingly diverse society through the “formal and informal curriculum.” She explained that the books, materials and teachers on hand last night were to help them understand the formal curriculum. “There is no mandated curriculum around issues that are sensitive,” she said. However, the informal curriculum is “teaching to the moment.” She told the crowd that there is a need for teachers to “be on the same page” regarding homosexual issues and they would have to be trained to be a “partner to the community.” Ruane commented, “This is new territory.” 

After Massachusetts News wrote about the Lexington curriculum controversy and the upcoming “Respecting Differences” weekend, the Boston Globe responded by publishing a pro-homosexual feature story on the subject, complete with a photo of lesbian “partners” playing with their four children in the back yard of their Lexington home. It is reported that the town is experiencing an influx of lesbian “families” with children.

Bridge Principal Barbara Manfredi told the audience, “Our school has several lesbian-headed families.”  She said children of gay parents need to see that their parents are a “family.” Several school library books for young children on display carried the theme of “different” families. “Last spring, our teachers received training from two Newton teachers,” said the principal. “Lexington has taken the courageous step of recognizing gay and lesbian families.”

Among a sampling of books on display was one from Clarke Middle school titled “Annie On My Mind,” which is about a lesbian relationship between two teenage girls. 

A handout given to parents explains the book selection criteria and philosophy of the American Association of School Librarians. It states that a school library media program “serves all the students of the community—not only the children of the most powerful, the most vocal or even the majority, but all of the students who attend the school.” Also, students have the right to choose what they will read, “rather than allowing others to do this for them.”

Parents were told that all content is acceptable in library books, and selection criteria are based on age appropriateness and favorable reviews.

The homosexual children’s books “Heather Has Two Mommies,” and “Daddy’s Roommate” are not in the schools-- not because of content, parents were told, but because they are poorly written and have unfavorable reviews.

One administrator explained that the social studies curriculum deals with several controversial topics in a “bias free manner” so students can make up their own minds. He said much of the material they use comes from outside, not from textbooks, but the material is “approved.”

In keeping with the Parental Notification Law covering sexual issues, letters are sent home, but only once at the beginning of the school year. The 11th grade letter informs parents that speakers come to school “from the gay and lesbian community who answer students' questions and discuss their concerns.” The sentence is buried at the bottom of a large paragraph and is easy to overlook since it is not included in the bulleted topics that a busy parent may scan rather than read the fine print.

When asked, a Lexington High School health teacher told Massachusetts News the school brings in gay speakers from SpeakOut, a state endorsed homosexual activist group. SpeakOut is the group that sent a homosexual speaker to Acushnet’s Ford Middle school. The Ford School principal subsequently barred the speaker for using inappropriate language. Later, the speaker told a Fistgate workshop that  SpeakOut would continue to discuss anal and oral sex with children because kids cannot discuss those topics with their parents or clergy. After Massachusetts News was directed to a second Lexington teacher to get more specific answers about gay speakers, the second teacher said gay speakers talk about their life and experiences being gay, but she did not go into much detail. When told about the Acushnet fiasco with SpeakOut, the teacher turned away. 

At the meeting, the subject of gay speakers was not addressed by administrators although several people told Massachusetts News they submitted questions about it. 

Lexington parent Lorraine Fournier, who has been increasingly vocal on this subject, wrote a letter which was published in the Lexington Minuteman on September 21. In it, she told how she went to Superintendent Ruane and told her that God created Adam and Eve, he “didn’t create Adam and Adam or Eve and Eve.” She told Ruane that homosexual education went against what she was taught. Fournier wrote that the Superintendent told her, “There is a separation of church and state.”

Massachusetts News showed  Fournier’s letter to Ruane and asked if it was true she told Fournier that there is a separation of church and state. Ruane said she did and strongly voiced her opinion again that there is a separation of church and state.

Massachusetts News asked Ruane, “Why then are the Lexington Schools co-sponsoring the ‘Respecting Differences’ activities along with the lead sponsor, Lexington’s Unitarian Church?” 

Rather than address the obvious double standard, Ruane could only respond with, “That’s how Lexington does things, as a community.” 

A further illustration of church-state coordination, besides the professional credits teachers can accrue for participating in the Unitarian-sponsored activity, occurred when the Unitarian pastor, Helen Cohen, wrote an essay which was published right beside Superintendent Ruane’s opinion piece in the Lexington Minuteman on September 28. 

Both articles touted the “Respecting Differences” weekend. Pastor Cohen wrote in her article that she thinks homosexuality is natural, has a biological basis and that Jesus was “inclusive.” The Lexington schools are paying to help promote the Unitarian humanist view, while Fournier and other parents say that their religious views are not even tolerated.

When Massachusetts News asked Superintendent Pat Ruane in an e-mail recently if the school system’s new push for “inclusiveness” training makes the rumors about a new homosexual curriculum understandable, Ruane responded, “For the record, we are not ‘pushing’ anything.”
 

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