Parent Upset Over Mass. School's Pink Triangle Program
by Jim Brown
January 13, 2005
(AgapePress) - A Massachusetts mother is expressing outrage over what she calls "the promotion of the homosexual agenda" in her local school system. Last July, the Department of Education in her state allowed a rainbow-colored homosexual pride flag to continue flying at John Glenn Middle School in Bedford; and now pink "Safe Zone" decals have been appearing on classroom doors at the school.
Pam Clare, who has a sixth grader and a seventh grader at John Glenn Middle School, is upset at what she sees as an ongoing problem in the Massachusetts school system. She notes that the State DOE permitted the rainbow flag to go on flying over the school, despite complaints from parents who objected to the political and sexual messages it conveyed. And now, the appearance of the pink triangle stickers is once again indicating the school system's apparent complicity in efforts to promote homosexuality to youngsters.
The "Safe Zone" program is a collaborative effort between Massachusetts schools and the DOE. The classroom door decals were provided by the National Youth Advocacy Coalition in deference to Massachusetts laws prohibiting discrimination based on "race, colour, sex, religion, national origin or sexual orientation."
Clare, who heads a group called Families for Truth, feels the decals do not belong in a middle school environment. She says the words on the stickers clearly state that they are "a message to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans-gendered youth," and that message has been approved by the district superintendent and the JGMS School Committee for kindergarten through eighth grade classrooms.
The community pro-family advocate says she could understand exposing older students to the pro-homosexual message, but for elementary and middle school-aged children, the stickers are simply inappropriate. "They have been at the high school for a number of years," she notes, "but it's beyond belief that [district administrators] are okaying these type of terms for young children."
Clare believes school officials are trying to protect a homosexual teacher at the school who has for years promoted her own personal and political agenda in the classroom. Defenders of the flag and the decals might argue the school is trying to teach tolerance and discourage discrimination; but the concerned parent says it is "ludicrous" for the school to claim the group it is protecting is an ethnic group, or to deny that the issue being pushed is really about sexuality -- not civil rights.
Besides, the Massachusetts mom contends, by allowing the "Safe Zone" decals, the school officials are actually discriminating against non-homosexual students. "The administration is claiming that our schools in Bedford are safe for all students," she says, "yet they are providing a VIP sticker for supposed gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gendered youth. They're not providing anyone else with any kind of zone."
Clare says by offering special protected status to certain students based on sexual orientation or transgender identity, the officials at John Glenn Middle School are being patently unfair and, in effect, "They are denying my children equal protection." She and other members of Families for Truth were among a group of 30 parents who attended a School Committee meeting last month, demanding that the pink triangle stickers be removed.
