The following is merely an excerpt from Nightmare at Franklin, by Tom Mountain, published Nov 8, 2006, by Newton Tab; we encourage you to continue reading the full story…

Emer O’Shea knew something was wrong the minute she picked up her daughter from Franklin Elementary School. The third-grader was normally very perky upon seeing her mother and new baby sister, but this time she glanced at her mother without indicating what was wrong, except to say that the school’s social worker had visited the class. But Emer soon heard from another parent about what had happened in her daughter’s class that day, and she was both stunned and mortified. The next day her young daughter finally opened up with a question that would baffle most parents of an 8-year-old child, “Mommy, is it possible for a man to have an operation to become a woman?”

Transgenders and transvestites. These were the topics that a staff member at Franklin School in West Newton chose to teach to a class of third-grade children. The school’s social worker described to the children that some men like to dress up as women, and yes, some men even have operations to change into women.

The opportunity for this “teachable moment” – the kind that Superintendent Jeff Young likes to portray as merely responding to some child’s “random questioning” – occurred when the social worker was describing various families outside of the traditional mommy-and-daddy norm and showed the class a picture of a woman with two children, asking what they saw in the picture. A child then raised his hand to tell her (are you sitting sit down for this?) that he thought the picture was of a man who had a sex change operation and was now a woman. Apparently, the child’s own father was undergoing such an operation (which he/she has since completed).

The social worker then elaborated on this “teachable moment.” But this wasn’t just any social worker employed by the Newton Public Schools. This was Laura Perkins, former board member of GLSEN, the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network; or rather, “Laura Perkins, MSW, Franklin School and the Newton Early Childhood Program,” according to the GLSEN Boston Conference, where she hosted a seminar in which the “Rationale for integrating GLBT (Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender) issues in the early elementary years will be presented” and “classroom lessons demonstrated.” (See 5C.)

As a result of this particular “classroom lesson,” Emer’s daughter was petrified. For an 8-year-old accustomed to a child’s world of Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny, the little girl had nightmares, and explained to her mother she was scared that her baby sister could turn into a boy.

So Emer did what any normal responsible parent would do – she demanded an explanation from the principal, Cynthia Marchand (617-559-9500). She and several other parents from this class met with the principal who, according to Emer, responded defensively and fully backed her staff member.

Emer then went to Superintendent’s Young’s office with her concerns. She handed Mr. Young a written description of what happened, whereupon the superintendent promised to respond to her soon. He didn’t. So after three weeks, she called to make an appointment. As Emer described it, Mr. Young remarked that the Parental Consent Law didn’t apply to this situation because, he claimed, the topic of discussion was not planned for. He concluded that it was really just “a teachable moment.”

Continue reading at TownOnline…

Excerpted from Hawaii Elects Nations Highest-Ranking Openly Transgender Official, published Nov 8, 2006, by Associated Press:

Kim Coco Iwamoto, a 38-year-old attorney, did not tout her gender status in the campaign but has advocated for transgender youth and related issues. She came in third Tuesday in the competition for three seats on the 14-member board, which governs the islands’ 285 public schools.

Iwamoto would be the highest-ranking openly transgender person elected in the United States, said Denis Dison, a spokesman for the Victory Fund, a Washington-based group that tracks lesbian, gay and transgender candidates and helps fund their campaigns.

Continue reading at Fox News…

Excerpted from Gay History Month in City Schools Seen Part of Trend, by Susan Brinkmann, published Nov 6, 2006, by The Catholic Standard and Times:

…For the first time, this year ninth-grade students will read a collection of short stories titled, “Am I Blue?” which is about people who have been affected by the coming-out experiences of youth…

Until two parent groups hired Liberty Counsel lawyers to stop it, a Maryland school district curriculum was about to teach 8th- and 10th-graders that Jesus condoned homosexuality because He never mentioned it by name, that Christians often use the Bible to justify hatred and that being homosexual is similar to being left-handed.

Some of the fuel behind the movement is coming from what many believe is an overly cozy alliance between the National Education Association (NEA) and gay activist organizations, such as the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), the nation’s leading pro-homosexuality education group.

“GLSEN is very closely aligned with the Gay-Lesbian caucus inside the NEA,” said Jeralee Smith, a California school teacher and the outgoing chair of the NEA’s Ex-Gay Educators Caucus.

“When the NEA’s Gay Lesbian Caucus started, I’m sure they wanted to see a gay president in charge of the NEA,” Smith said. “Well, that happened when Bob Chase became president. Chase was outed as a gay man by the Washington Blade around the end of his term as NEA president.

“It was during Bob Chase’s presidency that the Sexual Orientation Task Force was initiated, giving a whole arm of NEA leadership to gay- lesbian -bisexual -transgender (GLBT) causes,” Smith said. “In 2002, a 60-page document detailing NEA’s support of GLBT causes was adopted by the NEA executive committee, and handed to NEA delegates as a report which, technically, didn’t even require a vote.”

Since that time, pro-homosexuality curricula have been steadily creeping into schools across the country, says Regina Griggs, executive director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX).

“Programs like this are in all 50 states, and probably in every major county in the country,” Griggs said…

What if a student later becomes ill, after having been encouraged to embrace the lifestyle by a school program that deliberately withheld information about the risks? Could the student sue?

“I was recently contacted by somebody who, because of one-sided information being provided by doctors, went through a sex-change operation. His mental issues just got worse, and he now realizes this isn’t the choice anyone should make. He wants to sue because he wasn’t provided with full information.”

In the meantime, Lindevaldsen said,

“This is all politics. It’s all politics in the courts and it’s all politics in the schools. And the pawns are our children.”

From our good friends at MassResistance…

A prominent staff member of a high-profile gay “youth outreach” organization that works closely with several state agencies and distributes literature in public schools across the state has posted a video of himself dressed in drag depicting Lt. Governor Kerry Healy as a lesbian.

Mark Snyder is office manager at Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth. He has testified at the State House for BAGLY on behalf of the expansion of homosexual programs in the public schools. BAGLY works closely with number of state agencies including the Massachusetts Department of Education and the Governor’s Commission for Gay and Lesbian Youth, and the Governor’s Task Force on Hate Crimes, is linked to from various government websites, and has apparently received state funding for several years.

In the video (WATCH IT ONLINE HERE), which Snyder posted and linked on his web site, appears to be a mock political ad, where Snyder, dressed in drag, says:

“Hi, I’m Kerry Healy and I have a message for the voters of Massachusetts. My opponents may try to paint me as one-dimensional but in fact I have a varied personality. Did you know that I’m a raging bull-dyke? I don’t just make muffins. I eat muff. I’m Kerry Healy and I approved this message.”

“If these are the people working with state agencies to counsel our children, then we’ve got some huge problems in the Massachusetts government,” said Brian Camenker, director of MassResistance. “When are people going to wake up? This is not just incredibly outrageous, it’s really pretty sick. And when is the Boston media going to take this seriously, instead of ignoring it?”

“Is anyone going to ask why people like this are being allowed to interact with children, and why these groups are involved with our government?” added Camenker.

A main focus of BAGLY is “transgenderism“. Much of its materials and activities revolve around encouraging kids to explore dressing up and acting like the opposite sex, and ultimately considering medical procedures to “become” the opposite sex, by having female breasts and male sex organs surgically removed and by taking various hormones. (The executive director of the group is an openly transsexual “male-to-female”.)

Courtesy of our good friend, Linda Harvey of Mission America

Here’s what the Washington State “Safe Schools Coalition” has in mind for classrooms during November: presenting homosexuality as something revered among Native American Indians. (Happy Thanksgiving…) Please let us know if you encounter this sort of material in your child’s school.

PS – If you find this material disturbing (and you should), you can see the complete agenda at their site, including:

• Lesson Plans for K-12
• Books, videos, etc.
• Resources for teachers (click on subjects listed on the right: Coaches & PE, Drama, Health, History & Civics, Journalism/Media, Music, or Rural)

Dear Safe Schools Coalition members and friends,

Teachers who are planning your lessons for November may find it helpful to integrate some of the following, to infuse LGBTQ/2-spirit* cultural awareness into the every day life of your classroom. Especially those teaching history, civics, social studies, home and family life, or language arts.

1. Important dates to acknowledge in LGBTQ history for November and days of national recognition
2. Indigenous viewpoints on Thanksgiving
3. Two-spirit/GLBTQ* indigenous people to honor in the name of National American Indian Heritage Month

* LGBTQ = Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Queer.
** Two-spirit = a term of honor to describe a Native American or other Indigenous LGBTQ person, implying their special role as a spiritual bridge among genders. Usually the term is not chosen by an individual to describe him or herself (which would seem self-aggrandizing to many in Indian Country). More often it is a designation of respect conferred upon an individual by an elder.

Excerpted from Gender Confusion in the Kindergarten?, by Dr. Albert Mohler, published Oct 18, 2006:

Some cultural developments represent massive shifts in consciousness and worldview. These developments can only be explained by a dramatic reshaping of our moral sense and understanding of basic reality.

Such is the case with news coming from both coasts indicating that “transgendered children” are now enrolled in kindergarten programs…

Let’s be honest here — these stories represent a breathtaking shift in the way human beings view sex, sexuality, and gender. The whole transgender issue, now a major focus of public interest, is proof of this. But the fact that these two articles deal with “transgender children” diagnosed with “gender dysphoria” at the age of 5 represents something altogether more shocking. “Gender fluid” children in kindergarten?

Continue reading at Albert Mohler…

Excerpted from Gay British teenage male becomes carnival queen, published Oct 6, 2006, in the pro-homosexuality Washington Blade:

Wearing a tiara and flowing dress, 15-year-old David Bridge was cheered by thousands as the Blackberry Carnival queen in Axbridge, England, wire services reported.

[Click HERE to see the boy’s photo]

…The carnival committee was reportedly stunned by Bridge’s drag-themed audition, but was won over. “We had to decide which would offend people least, including David,” said carnival chair Robin Goodfellow, 66. “It was felt we couldn’t eliminate him just because he was male. This was the best solution on the day.”

Continue reading in Washington Blade…

Excerpted from NY Transsexual Teacher Inappropriate Role Model, Says Knight, by Jim Brown, published Sept 13, 2006, by American Family Association:

…School officials announced a male teacher at the high school — who has been diagnosed with a “transsexual disorder,” says AP — is going through a medical transition and is dressing as a woman. Bob Knight with the Culture and Family Institute says the district should be putting the interests of its students first, but “like much of the public educational blob, is [instead] showing utter contempt for the parents.”

Knight contends that, by its actions, the district is telling parents it does not care if children become “sexually confused” by the transsexual teacher, or that someone “with a serious gender-identity disorder is being placed as a role model” in front of the students. In addition, he suggests the district is so committed to what he calls the “pansexual revolution” that it is telling parents “you’re going to go along with it, and we’re not even going to give your kids an out.”

Such an attitude, says the pro-family spokesman, is “arrogance at its worst.” He also feels the district, which has instructed students to refer to the teacher as “Mrs.,” is failing to ensure students have the best possible role model before them.

“I think that the district is well within its authority to tell the teacher …’If you can’t figure out that you’re really a man — you’ve got the DNA, the genetic sequence for being a man — you can’t be a teacher,'” says Knight…

School officials says the teacher will instruct about 100 students this year…

Continue reading at AFA…