Media Watch:

Wheelock College Wants Kindergartners Taught that Homosexuality Is Positive

Future Teachers Told How to Handle Parents

By MassNews Staff
May 2002

Because her daughter is a lesbian, a professor at the U. of Southern Maine, Rita Kissen, told students at Wheelock College, Boston, recently that she wonders if her two-year-old grandson will feel comfortable in school.

According to the Globe, "She is determined to make sure the answer will be yes - by targeting teachers before they get to the classroom."

If conservatives were to say that there is a homosexual "agenda," they would be laughed at, but it couldn't be any plainer, many observers point out. This professor clearly says she is in Boston for the purpose of "targeting" teachers.

Conservatives agree that her grandson should have a wonderful childhood. No one wants him mistreated. But they do wonder why people, such as her daughter, would put a child into an atmosphere where he is obviously going to feel different, no matter what we do. And to expect this child to fight everyone to protect her daughter's choice is a tremendous burden to place on any child.

Conservatives agree that almost everyone in Massachusetts believes that adult homosexuals should not be mistreated and should have the same protection of the law as everyone else. But they also believe that homosexuality is a foolish lifestyle that involves a high level of disease. After all, why do we have so many benefit parties for AIDS if it is not a deleterious lifestyle?

They also point out that this lifestyle has markedly higher numbers of drug and alcohol abuse.

Therefore, why are we promoting this to our children?

Positive Story

The Globe was very sympathetic to Prof. Kissen and had a lot of quotes from conservatives only for the purpose of telling the readers why those conservatives are wrong.

Kissen told the future teachers not to be concerned about "explosive topics," such as what parents think. The Globe story reported that Kissen was asked, "What if a primary teacher is discussing gay families and a parent comes and says you are teaching something immoral?" Prof. Kissen had the answer at her fingertips. Form alliances with administrators, other teachers, and supportive parents ahead of time.

In other words, the teachers are in charge of training these children, not the parents.

At Lesley's School of Education in Cambridge, the Assistant Dean said that they also try to get future teachers "to be more aware of their own biases and how they respond to those biases."

The Globe story ended with a positive story from a gay teacher in Acton, who is President of the local chapter of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) which sponsors Fistgate every year.

The Globe wrote at the end of its story a closing summation, "He [Marc Lewis] could have used such training when he began teaching three years ago. Lewis said, 'The first time I heard a student use antigay language, it paralyzed me. I didn't know how to most effectively respond in a way that was not punitive, to teach 12-year-olds why that language was hurtful. If I didn't have the ability to respond, what does that say for the vast majority of educators,' Lewis asked."

But, of course, that is not what Lewis or Prof. Kissen or the Globe are about. They are not about protecting children. They are about teaching an entire generation that homosexuality is an approved lifestyle for children and adults, and there are no negative aspects to it at all.

They are keeping alive the discredited theory of a "gay gene" even though there is no one who believes that anymore. Even the Boston Globe discarded that theory in a large story on Feb. 7, 1999.

The Boston Globe story ran on Sunday, March 31, as the headline story on the Education section on page B6. It was written by Sandy Coleman. The headline was, Discussing sexual diversity a challenge to teachers.