Posted on 12/16/2004 10:05:07 AM PST by presidio9
Two parents, shocked at frank talk during a gay and lesbian awareness day at Newton North High, were forced off the property after one parent whipped out a video camera and started taping.
``This does not belong in curriculum,'' said Kim Cariani, who said four police officers and the principal told them they would be charged with trespassing if they did not leave.
``It's against my religion. It's morally wrong and forced in a child's face.''
Each year, some students at Newton North forgo classes during To BGLAD: Transgender, Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Awareness Day with assembly-like sessions including ``Out at the Old Ballgame'' and ``Color Me Queer.'' Students are not required to attend.
Cariani kept her two kids home during the day, but she was curious.
Cariani and another parent, Brian Camenker, were in the audience when adults in a panel discussion talked about being gay. When one man told the students he was attracted to his sister's husband, Cariani said she started to record the ``propaganda, false information and lies.''
The principal demanded Cariani turn over the videotape or leave, Camenker said.
``They took the two of us and pulled us out and gave us one minute to leave and if we came back on the property we would be arrested for trespassing,'' he said.
Tom Mountain, a columnist for the Newton Tab, was also barred from the assembly ``for the safety and security of the children,'' he said he was told.
Newton schools Superintendent Jeff Young said it is a violation of school policy to tape or photograph students without parental permission. Cariani refused to give up the tape, so they were asked to decamp, he said.
The awareness day, held for the past 10 years, is one of several ways the schools highlight diversity, Young said. Students who don't want to go can go to the library or computer lab.
Ping
Funny, no one ever questioned my taping the Christmas Pageant at my daughter's Grammar School.
"Presumably, the kids who were there had their parents' permission to attend,"
Well, I'd assume so, but that information is not in the article, nor is any count of how many students actually did attend. I'm sure that the woman in question kept her children from attending, though.
Massachusetts High School to Celebrate ‘Transgender, Gay Day’
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1496 ^
Topics include ‘queer families’ ‘gays’ in sports and ‘heterosexism.’
Students in Newton, Massachusetts, will be treated to an entire day of pro-homosexual propaganda on December 15.
“To BGLAD Day” features workshops and speakers who will make students feel good about homosexuality, bisexuality and transgenderism.
“This is so incredibly objectionable,” Brian Camenker, who heads the Article 8 Alliance and the Parents Rights Coalition, said of To BGLAD Day. “The parents are so outraged that this is being pushed on their kids that they don’t know what to do. To use children’s minds this way without even letting the parents know is horrible.”
A spokeswoman at Newton North told Concerned Women for America’s Culture & Family Institute that a notice was not sent home with students, but that the event had been posted on the school’s Web site and listed in event calendars at the beginning of the year, and that some e-mails had been sent out.
When asked if the events were mandatory, she said, “Classes are scheduled to attend various workshops, but if students are uncomfortable or their parents are uncomfortable, the students can instead go to the library.”
Camenker, whose son attends Newton North High, said he has sent a copy of the “gay day” schedule to the school superintendent and all eight school board members. He said parents will be at the school monitoring the events, and that he is working on a plan to bring in former homosexual Stephen Bennett, who has a ministry in Connecticut, to speak to students about overcoming homosexuality and countering the pro-“gay” slant.
At a previous “gay day” two years ago, a 20-year-old male wearing a dress addressed students and told them he was taking female hormones but hadn’t yet had his penis cut off, Camenker said. Last year, a boy was suspended for making fun of another boy who had come to school in makeup and a dress.
“They brought in this stuff through ‘safe schools,’ but ‘safe schools’ really means making the schools safe for kids to act out as homosexuals,” Camenker said.
Article 8 Alliance is a pro-family Massachusetts group dedicated to stopping “gay marriage,” unseating the four Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justices for their November 18, 2003, decision legalizing same-sex “marriage,” and freeing the schools from homosexual influence.
Newton is, among other things, the hometown of openly homosexual U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D). On October 9, 2001, the city’s schools adopted a “Respect for Human Differences Mission Statement, which in part says: “The Newton Public Schools will provide a climate that actively promotes social justice where children perform at the highest levels.” The long list of “human differences” includes “sexual orientation.”
The Newton schools also pride themselves on being up to date on the latest multiculturalism fads. Here is their statement on multicultural education under “core values.”
Effective multicultural education suggests a re-examination of the history, social constructs and dynamics related to race, class, gender, ethnicity, economics, and culture that impact curriculum and instruction. Multicultural education includes rigorous curriculum and inclusive teaching that challenges all students and staff. We are committed to developing a philosophy of multicultural education that can be infused across transformed curricula.
The day after “gay” day, the school is staging One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which the school Web site notes “explores the definition of sanity.”
And, although the school district’s calendar notes that September 16 is Rosh Hashanah, the period between December 24 and January 2 is listed only as “December recess.” The calendar does list March 25 as Good Friday, but ignores Easter.
Article 8 Alliance is supporting a Parents Rights Bill in the new Massachusetts Legislature. The bill would change attendance rules to make sex-related programs and courses “opt-in” instead of “opt-out” and would include all school programs and activities.
Since the administration of Republican Gov. William Weld (1991-1997), Massachusetts taxpayers have been dunned about $1.5 million annually for a Gay and Lesbian Youth Commission, which aggressively promotes homosexuality in public schools and helps schools create “Gay/Straight Alliances,” which are student clubs that advocate the acceptance of homosexuality.
The commission is continuing its work under Republican Gov. Mitt Romney, who has made no objections to the commission’s work and funding.
Here is the official “gay day” notice from the school’s Web site, complete with the long-discredited “fact” that one in 10 students is homosexual:
To BGLAD Day - (All day event)
Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2004
ToBGLAD: TRANSGENDER, BISEXUAL, GAY AND LESBIAN AWARENESS DAY
_________________________________
B Block (7:50-8:45 am) – Little Theatre:
A Day in the Life: Statistically one in ten students at this school are (sic) not straight. Teenage life is complicated enough, but how does it differ for Gay/ Lesbian/ Bisexual/ Transgender (GLBT) teens? Come to this panel and find out.
C Block (9:05-10:20 am) – Little Theatre: Student Speakout: Newton North students read original pieces about GLBT issues. Session 1: 9:05 – 9:35 Session 2: 9:45 – 10:20
D Block (10:25-11:20 am) – Little Theatre: Life Outside the Gender Norm: What happens when ones (sic) gender identity does not match their sex? In this session, speakers will talk about their experiences with gender identity and expression.
E Block (11:25 am -12:20 pm) – Little Theater: Out at the Old Ballgame: Athletes and coaches discuss what it’s like to be GLBT in the gym, on the field, and on the road.
F Block (1:00-1:55 pm) – Little Theater: Family Matters: What does it mean to be a family? What discriminations and legal obstacles do queer families face? Children and parents discuss living with queer family members.
F Block (1:00-1:55 pm) – Film Lecture Hall: GBLT What's in a Name: What is homophobia? heterosexism? Why is there a ToBGLADay? In this interactive presentation, we will use activities to provide the groundwork for talking about GBLT issues.
G Block (2:00-2:55 pm) – Little Theater: Color Me Queer: A panel discussion of race, culture, and sexual identity.
Newton North High School 360 Lowell Avenue Newtonville, MA 02460 (617) 559-6200
On another note, I let my kids stay home when they staged a similar play at our local school. Rather then being frowned upon, my kids were looked up to for having such 'cool parents' that would let them 'skip' school ...
For me the most important fact was that a taxpayer funded school took a day off from its normal curriculum to celebrate gay lifestyles. If all things gay were so important to some parents, what was stopping them from holding a special event on a Saturday?
So a school invites people from, ahem, "sexual minorities" to school to talk to minors, and doesn't want the proceedings recorded?
I wonder what would happen if they had a "be proud of your heterosexuality day" with grown men giving a program to the underage girls in the school (attendance would not be mandatory, of course), and a father of one of the girls was tossed out for trying to videotape the proceedings.
The concept of taxpayers owning the schools is lost on some people. Oh wait people should not question how their money is spent. Never mind.
No secret agenda or indoctrination presenting a Christmas pageant, so what is there to hide? Exactly.
She also was not the only person video taping the event. She just was in opposition to it. Ah diversity.
I would think she pays taxes to support all this anal and stool worship. What gives the school or anyone the right to deny the PUBLICS (Public school after all) right to know?
Yeah, and she was tossed, but she got the tape. Good for her. It is true that students are not required to attend, but how do the parents know what it is they are attending? They probably have no idea how graphic it is.
So let me understand your position. It sounds to me like because this was voluntary there is no victim here....
Okay what if the schools held siminars on Russian roulet? Voluntary of course. You see Homosexual behavior is one of the most dangerous acts one can participate in. Now is not this school liable for promoting a behavior that can been seen as dangerous? ( Hiv/ AIDs)?
I'll tell you who they think they are. They are the people that control the majority of the children the majority of the day. That's who. And it scares the heck out of me.
Thank God for homeschool.
Yet another argument for home schooling. I am glad I do not have children. I would have raised hell if it were at a school attended by one of my loved ones.
Heterosexual enticement of minors to engage in sex is a felony is Massachusetts.
First it is probably opt-out rather than opt-in. So the parents probalby didn't give explicit permission. Second, how would the parents know what they are giving permission too if it is secret? Do you really think that the principal accurately describes what is going on to the parents?
Sheesh yourself. The school can take away this woman's freedom to use a video camera by defining it as threatening to the children, yet they spend the day praising an immoral sex act to the children. Those assemblies are far more threatening to the children than a video camera aimed at exposing the truth. What are they trying to hide? If the information is so wonderful, why is it so secret?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.