U.S. Supreme Court Turns Down Case about Gay-themed Books in Public School Classrooms

by Michael Jones · 2008-10-09 09:19:00 UTC
Topics:

And Tango Makes ThreeShall we consider this a victory for gay Chinstrap penguins everywhere?

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by a handful of Lexington, MA parents over the inclusion of several gay-themed books on a public school's reading list.  The families, whose own personal religious views condemn homosexuality, argued that the gay-themed books included on the reading list violated their First Amendment right to freedom of religion.

Never mind that the books weren't required reading.  And never mind that the principal of the school in question, Joseph Estabrook Elementary School, has long contended that the books are about families, and not sexuality.

As Joe Biden might say, let me repeat that: "The books are about families, and not about sexuality."  One of the books on the school's diversity reading list, "Who's in a Family?", shows pictures of same-sex parents along with other types of families.  Another book on this list, "King & King," is a fairy tale about two princes finding love and getting married.

The original lawsuit filed against the school district isn't just anti-gay; it's anti-family. At its core, that's what this lawsuit is about.   A few parents (less than five parents in a school with more than 470 students) objected to a "diversity reading list" not because the books present any sort of sexual or cultural story.  It's because the books provoke discussion on what constitutes a family.  Almost no one would argue that same-sex parents and their children don't constitute a family.  There's no sense in hiding that.

And it's nice to see that the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with that today and rejected the case.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Think Before You Speak Campaign Launches
NEXT STORY:
Bullied high schooler convinces MPAA to change ‘Bully’ rating to “PG-13”

COMMENTS (0)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.