What a school can do is create a safe environment for children to ask questions, consider what they're hearing and seeing, and be given some accurate information. But think about all the stories children read about mommies and daddies. Just as those stories aren't about heterosexual sex, lessons about gay people aren't about gay sex. What we're talking about is incorporating ways, in the context of lessons about families, current events, literature, or civil rights, to simply acknowledge that gay and lesbian people are among us and to prevent harmful stereotypes and prejudices. Similarly, we may not all agree about homosexuality, but a school is obliged to make sure that gay people and their family members are validated and shown respect.
All major religions teach some variation of the values of love, compassion, and justice.
It's entirely appropriate for schools to teach those values to children, to ensure that everyone in our diverse community is treated with respect, and to provide a safe learning environment. For example, by the time gay and lesbian youth reach adolescence, they are much more likely than heterosexual youth to turn to drugs and alcohol, to drop out of school, to run away from home, or to attempt to kill themselves. And unchecked hatred and ignorance of gay people are fueling an avalanche of violence. Anti-gay attacks are the fastest growing hate crime in the United States. If they remain silent, they appear to agree that a certain group of people don't deserve respect.