While one Alberta politician wants the Toronto curriculum on homosexuality taught in Alberta Schools New York parents threw out the chancellor who wanted homosexual studies in grade one. While the Toronto School Board’s sexuality counselor, Tony Gambini, is offering his gay-positive counseling to other Ontario boards. Toronto parents are fighting the curriculum and counseling on a school-by-school basis.
Parent Association meetings across Toronto are rejecting the official board programme and counseling. And they are making their case by waving sexually-explicit gay pamphlets that have been given board approval. The pamphlets are so explicit that they can’t be shown on television, or read on air, but can be handed out to children by school counselors.
“Having sex with men can be as scary as coming out. But just like being gay, having sex with men is natural.” declares the glossy new Safer Sex Generation brochure. This pamphlet was approved by the Toronto Board of Education on November 26, 1992, for “targeted” distribution to “at risk” students.]
All the boys photographed are clean cut: they are students, not street youth. But, more devastating still, all the boys could be under 18. Parents are concerned that because the “f” word is used throughout, the school board would be condoning anal sex between men and boys under 18. This brochure seems to encourage criminal activity. Will the Toronto school board that approved the pamphlet’s distribution be liable should a lawsuit arise?
The board policy leaves the door open for other Public –Health pamphlets such as Anal Sex, Oral Sex and Safe S[ado]M[asochism].
While high-school parents are furious about thee explicit gay sex brochures, elementary school parents are concerned about what picture books may be showing up in their school libraries and kindergartens. The Toronto resource guide Sexual Orientation:
Homosexuality, Lesbianism and Homophobia recommends nine story books for young children, the same books that have infuriated New York parents.
New York Board of Education ousted chancellor Joseph Fernandez on Feb. 10, 1993. Fernandez had supported condom distribution in high schools and the Children of the Rainbow curriculum in first grade. The later taught not only about multiculturalism but also about gays and lesbians. The recommended reading list includes the same books that were recommended in the Toronto curriculum: Heather has Two Mommies, Daddy’s Roommate and Gloria goes to Gay Pride.
In Heather Has Two Mommies, Heather is raised by a lesbian couple, after being conceived though artificial insemination. “Being gay is just one more kind of love. Daddy’s Roommate declares. In it two men are shown in bed together.
“We do not tell first graders about homosexuals. Why should I have in my school something that is against the religion of the parents of most of the children attending.” said local New York Queens District board president Mary Cummins, (Globe & Mail December 8th, 1992).
“Young children just want to know who is going to skip rope with them and be their friend. [With these books] we are making them grow up too fast,” said one New York parent.
Ray Martin, Alberta’s NDP leader wants the Toronto curriculum in Alberta schools but the idea got a resounding “no” when asked on an Edmonton radio phone-in show.
Parents in Toronto public schools are questioning the suitability of the board-approved homosexual curriculum, counseling a resource material. The material does not recognize an adolescent phrase of homosexuality that some children pass through. Principals, health teachers and school guidance teachers are being challenged by parents to ignore the board’s curriculum, counseling and resources and to ban sexually-explicit brochures from their schools.
As one mother asked school staff at her home and school meeting, “If my 15 year old son tells you he is gay, will you give him this (Safer Sex Generation) brochures?” The principal said no.
A former lesbian spoke so eloquently at the same meeting that al the parents applauded her. “Change is possible, she said. I know personally. Meanwhile the curriculum teacher that “sexual orientation…is probably not susceptible to dramatic change.” Ms. Krin Zook was seen on CTV’s W5 team teaching grade 11 class with Tomy Gambini. She publicly identified herself and Gambini as “gay and lesbian ”to the class and the television public, and proclaimed that sexual orientation cannot be changed.
“Not all students are buying the message that homosexuality is a normal, healthy lifestyle.”
After, Councillor Gambini gave a presentation on homosexuality to an ESL (English as a Second Language) class, the regular teacher asked a student to thank the councilor. The student said politely, “Thank you for sharing your secret problems with us.”
Individual school principals will have to choose between these board-approved sexuality counselors and curriculum and the rising concerns of hundreds of parents in their schools
Parents were ignored at the board last June when the curriculum was approved. The word was not out, so their numbers were small. But during. The last nine months numerous radio and television programmes, including the Shirley Show, have raised the awareness of the general public. At each school, newly informed parents are gaining clout.
Many parents are only now entering the fray. Before other Canadian school boards consider this programme and counseling, they should see how the whole Toronto scenario plays out.
For more information phone CURE; Citizens United for Responsible Education (416) 693—CURE.
