Parents Accuse School of Promoting Homosexuality

Several parents are claiming that mandatory freshman orientation class at Deerfield High School in Illinois which includes a segment where teens from the Straight and Gay Alliance, a school club, speak about there experiences as gay high school is encouraging homosexuality.

The classes are designed to help students adjust to high school; parents who object to the content can have their children excused. However, a resident of Deerfield, Lora Sue Hauser, wants the panel discontinued. Hauser, the leader of a group called North Shore Student Advocacy, says that parents and trained counselors are better equipped to handle the issues brought up in the classes.

"The school makes heterosexuality and homosexuality equivalent, and our country is deeply divided on that," said Hauser. She says that dozens of parents who belong to the group won't speak out, fearing being labeled as religious fanatics or worse.

School administrators say that the group is picking out one small aspect of the class, which begins with familiarizing students with the school and with services offered. More controversial topics are not covered until later in the year.

Assistant superintendent for human resources Suzan Hebson believes only a few parents oppose the freshman advisory class.

"We have a great deal of pride in the program and don't feel we are overstepping any boundaries that [most] parents would feel are inappropriate," Hebson said.

In contrast, Ellen Waltz, a Deerfield mother of eight, feels the climate has changed. She feels that students who believe that homosexuality is immoral and violates their religious beliefs are now the ones being bullied.

When her daughter spoke out at the panel four years ago she was called anti-Semitic and anti-gay by panelists.

Her daughter came home in tears saying, "Everyone hates me." Waltz plans to remove her son from class the day of the panel.

The advocacy group, led by eight board members who live in North Shore communities, published a full-page advertisement March 1 in a local newspaper, the Deerfield Review. The ad states: "We believe these students are being used to further the causes of gay activists," and demands that Deerfield High officials "rein in your staff who are using the school to promote their personal views."

Hauser is also an advisor for the Illinois Family Institute, a group that describes itself as "dedicated to upholding and re-affirming marriage, family, life and liberty in Illinois."

The panel, which consists of seven students who belong to the Straight and Gay alliance, speak of personal experiences, what it's like to be bullied or to be straight and have gay friends. This year the panel has four students who self-identify as gay, bisexual or transgender, and three who are heterosexual.

Erin Kaplan, 17, a senior, who describes himself as the only transgender student at Deerfield, said he believes that the climate at school has improved since the panel discussions began five years ago. He said the student alliance began the practice "after a really big wave of homophobic comments, targets for being gay."

"What is important is that we learn to respect each other as peers," Kaplan said. "That's really the heart of what we talk about."

Sources:
Fox News http://www.foxnews.com/
Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com