From: rizzoe@FASECON.ECON.NYU.EDU (Emily Rizzo)
Newsgroups: soc.motss
Subject: Gay-Positive Books in NYC Schools
Date: 30 Sep 92 12:44:45 GMT
Organization: New York University

The following  appeared as an editorial in the New York Times this
past Sunday, September 27th, 1992:


  TEACHING ABOUT GAYS AND TOLERANCE

With a note of sadness, a middle-aged New York man recalls the clumsy
insensitivity of his seventh grade teachers.  Even after his father 
died, they kept talking about families as though all normal ones had
two parents.  He was left feeling not only bereaved but somehow 
abnormal.  Children of divorce often felt even more estranged, marked
not only by their truncated households but by stigma.

Those attitudes have since been mitigated in many school districts.
But today's children, more than ever, find themselves living in a 
variety of family arrangements -- unmarried single parents, foster 
parents, fathers in jail, to name a few.  That's why New York City's
Board of Education has adopted a curriculum guide for first graders
called "Children of the Rainbow."

The guide has been attacked because it includes discussion of gay and 
lesbian  couples who raise children.  Some districts think that 
talking about gay families promotes homosexuality.  But children need
to be told about different family relationships, not only to make them
feel more comfortable about their own families, but to foster tolerance
and respect for other families.

As part of the curriculum guide for "Children of the Rainbow,"  first-
grade teachers are advised to be "aware of varied family structures,
including two-parent or single-parent households, gay or lesbian 
parents, divorced parents, adoptive parents, and guardians or foster
parents."  Children are also to be taught "the positive aspects of 
each type of household."

Included in a bibliography of suggested readings are at least two books,
"Daddy's Roommate" and "Heather has Two Mommies," that depict gay and
lesbian relationships.  The books portray these relationships as loving
and strong, much as school-books on heterosexual families portray them 
at their best.  Some readers think the books sensitively represent 
the world as it is.  But critics object that showing gay parenthood in 
a positive light goes beyond mere tolerance and suggests approval
for something of which they disapprove.

In a lesser issue, at least one passage in "Heather" may be unsuitable
for young children; it describes how one of the two mommies is 
artificially inseminated.

But using these or any other books listed is not required.  Teachers are 
required to discuss the fact that such families exist.  They are also
instructed to foster positive attitudes about sexual orientation, 
although they need not go into details about sex among gays.
Despite these caveats, five of the city's 32 districts have expressed
reservations about the inclusion of gays in "Children of the Rainbow."
Schools Chancellor Joseph Fernandez has given these districts until 
October 31st to tell him how they will discuss gay families without 
bias.

Those who would reject the "Children of the Rainbow" curriculum have 
a responsibility to explain how else they will teach tolerance and 
respect for all families, including those headed by homosexuals.  At
a time when gay-bashing has become one of the most vicious hate crimes
among teen-agers, the need for greater understanding is imperative.
Xref: sparky soc.motss:41774 soc.bi:13381