Second Time Around -- Massachusetts Elementary School Shows Its Rainbow Colors
by Jim Brown
April 24, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Some parents in Massachusetts are fed up with Lexington school officials who are defending a second-grade teacher's decision to read students a book about homosexual romance and "marriage" in class.
Estabrook Elementary School teacher Heather Kramer read her students the book King & King, a story about a prince who spurns a number of eligible princesses to marry another prince. The story ends with the two men marrying and sharing a kiss. When parents Rob and Robin Wirthlin complained about what took place, the school's principal told them no parental notification was required, nor would it be given before future discussion on homosexual "marriage."
Read AgapePress' March 2004 story about King & King
Brian Camenker with the Article 8 Alliance in Massachusetts says Kramer and school officials violated the state's parental notification law, which he wrote. "At this meeting the teacher and the principal were rather insulting," he says. Camenker contends the school officials basically told the Wirthlins "We're not going to give you notification on this -- we're not even going to tell you after it happened, and you can't opt your child out."
The Alliance spokesman says the approach being taken by the school toward the law is ridiculous.
"The law talks about human sexuality issues," he explains. "[School officials are] saying 'Well, homosexuality isn't a human sexuality issue, it's a human rights issue.' So they're saying it doesn't apply here, 'and so we're not going to notify you.'
"It's monstrous that they can just blatantly redefine the English language like that," he says.
According to Camenker, Kramer attend a presentation last year conducted by the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) on promoting homosexuality in the classroom.
One year ago, Estabrook Elementary School was the site of an arrest of the father of a kindergarten student who had been attempting for several months to get his son opted-out from discussions portraying homosexuality as acceptable. Last April, following a meeting with the school principal, David Parker was handcuffed, spent the night in jail, and appeared before a judge the next morning. Trespassing charges were eventually dropped against Parker, but a ban preventing the six-year-old's father from school property remained in effect.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
