Antigay activists
and other opponents of same-sex marriage are starting
to concede defeat in Massachusetts after noticing more
awareness of gay married couples in state schools. Now
that marriage equality is the norm in the Bay State,
the subject is increasingly showing up in the
classroom, to the chagrin of some conservative families and
organizers, the Associated Press reported Friday.
According to Massachusetts educational
guidelines, schools need to introduce the topic of
different sexual orientations by the fifth grade, and
current events have helped that discussion. "It certainly
strengthens the argument that we need to teach about gay
marriage because it's more of a reality for our kids,"
Paul Ash, superintendent of schools in Lexington, told
the AP. "The children see married gay couples."
But that's too much information for some
parents, like Tonia and David Parker, who are suing
the Lexington school district with another couple
because their children were read a children's book with gay
themes. The Parkers say their right to teach their own
moral values to their kids was violated because they
were not able to let their child opt out of the class.
"In many parts of the United States, we could
have presented our concerns and our objections, and it
wouldn't have been a problem," Tonia Parker said to
the AP.
Anti-marriage equality activist Brian
Camenker of the Article 8 Alliance has also
noticed the impact of legal same-sex marriage. "It's
like you're dealing with people from Mars, people who feel
they're so superior, they can use your child's mind as a
sandbox for their own personal ideologies," he told
the AP.
Countered Carisa Cunningham, spokeswoman for Gay
and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders: "Maybe the impact
of the law is that it has made people much more
defensive and much more afraid," she said to the AP.
(The Advocate)
