Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Obliged to shield from the offensive

In Massachusetts, father David Parker was upset that his kindergarten son was exposed to the book Who's a Family, which mentioned gay families. Parker said, "When affirmation and normalization of these lifestyles come up, parents want to know and have the option to opt out." He filed suit against the school. A gay father responds: How far are you willing to demand the school go? His son is in preschool. He shows up for class programs that feature his son. He and his partner are seen picking the boy up after school. Both attend PTA and parent-teacher conferences. Preschoolers have a time to share what they've done over the weekend and the kid always talks of what he did with Daddy and Papa. He and his partner are treated by teachers and staff as the boy's parents. How much of this constitutes "affirmation and normalization" of his family and should be banned? Fortunately, a year ago a US District court ruled (and recently confirmed by an appeals panel):

"Public schools are not obliged to shield individual students from ideas which potentially are religiously offensive, particularly when the school imposes no requirement that the student agree with or affirm those ideas, or even participate in discussions about them."

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