New flash point in sex ed: gay issues

The "opt out" right is at the center of the debate in Lexington. When Parker inquired about pulling his son out of any discussion of homosexuality at the school, he says, he was told it was not an option because such scenarios would not be related to sexuality but to diversity.

The clash culminated in his arrest last April, after he refused to leave a meeting at the school until his demands were met.

Some parents feel that he is purposely confusing diversity with sex education to push his agenda, and that his request is unfeasible. "Kindergartners talk about their families every five minutes in class," says Laura Tully, spokeswoman of Lexington C.A.R.E.S, a group formed in response to Parker's arrest so that all students, it says, feel welcome in the school district. "These are real families that are in our classrooms. This is not some abstract culture-war issue."

Parker's case may be dramatic, but similar skirmishes are happening across the country. Most of them are at the local level. In Spokane, for example, the school board last summer rejected a revised curriculum that included materials on gay and lesbian subjects because it felt the material was not objective enough, says Scott Stowell, who coordinates the health and science curriculum for the district. He says he was surprised to see a band of parents opposing the revised curriculum at the board meeting.

The situation has become more heated in Montgomery County. Its board of education voted to permit teachers to initiate discussions about homosexuality in 2004. A group of parents called the Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum responded by suing the school district. The district has since scrapped its plan and is writing another curriculum.

Michelle Turner, president of the group, says she has sent six children through Montgomery schools and, until now, she never had problems with the sex- education curriculum. She, like many critics, says she is tolerant of people's personal choices, but resents what she sees as gay advocacy groups wanting children to validate and celebrate those lifestyles. "It's just gone too far," she says.

Groups that support sex education, including information on homosexuality, say the goal is awareness and safety, not indoctrination. "There is this whole myth of the homosexual agenda," says Ms. Fox of SIECUS. "But really it's about keeping young people safe" from situations such as antigay bullying.

Despite increasing calls and funding for abstinence education, the majority of Americans favors not just sex education, but also discussions of homosexuality if it's presented in a "neutral manner," according to a 2004 poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Harvard University, and National Public Radio.

Even as society becomes more open to alternative lifestyles, Parker says, the classroom does not have to reflect that acceptance. "People from the other side say society is changing," he says. "That may be the case ... but it doesn't mean everything goes in talking to young people."

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