A friend reminded us of a story by Ed Oliver from five years ago (back when MassNews actually had some good reporting). He covered a meeting of 250 very angry parents at the Bridge School) on October 4, 2000). Swirling about town at the time was the busing and forced march of junior-high students to an "artsy" photo display of "diverse families" ("Love Makes a Family") at the Unitarian church by the Battle Green. And just the previous spring, the Fistgate scandal had awakened parents to the dangers in our schools.
Well, MassResistance was there with friends, leading a demonstration in front of the church on another occastion later that October, when Lexington's guest of honor, Rep. Barney Frank, showed up for their "Respecting Differences" forum (co-sponsored by the Lexington public schools). Needless to say, Frank responded most rudely to our cheerful greeting and outspoken signs:
"Don't Violate Our Parental Rights!"
"Diversity??? or... Thought Control?"
"Mom and Dad Know Best"
"Tolerance, Not Acceptance"
[Rep. Jay] "Kaufman protects Judge Lopez ... Not Our Kids!"
As you read about the Bridge School meeting, "Lexington Parents crowd curriculum meeting", note the typical stonewalling technique used by the school officials: Collect cards with questions from the concerned parents, but only answer the softballs. Excerpts:
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.
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.'"
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."
Helen Cohen, former pastor at the First Parish Unitarian church who now chairs the Lexington School Committee [thought we couldn't "mix church and state"?] played a big role in the indoctrination plans back in 2000 (as she still does):
[Lexington resident Lorraine Fournier] 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.
