Who's in a family - Estabrook Diversity Book Bag

The jist is that the parents of a kindergartener were upset that the school sent home a diversity bag that included a book that was implicitly approving of a gay household. After an exchange over e-mail, the father went to the school and refused to leave until the principal promised that gay lifestyles would not be discussed in front of his child. He was eventually arrested.

Well, I read the e-mails between the school and the parents. I haven't seen the whole book but I read an except on Amazon.com. Also, here's Michelle Malkin's Blog Entry on the Topic.

Frankly, I'm on the fence (painful, I know).

The book really doesn't discuss sexuality and it was one of a variety of choices available to the parents for discussion at home--not in the class. I don't think it is unreasonable to show children drawings of different types of families so that they don't make fun of children who live in different types of households. The claim is that this book and similar ones "celebrate" homosexuality and I'm just not sure that is the case. Also, the parents could have just chosen a different book from the "diversity bag."

(Of course, I would have rejected the idea of the diversity bag, anyway. We would have pulled out my worn copy of D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths and then I would have donated a copy to the bag.)

At the same time, the parents' request that their child not be exposed to issues of sexuality or values that are contrary to theirs is a fair one. I also think it is inappropriate for a kindergarten teacher to discuss adult love (heterosexual or homosexual) with her class.

On the other hand, is it really reasonable to ask that your child be removed from the classroom if a conversation begins about how a classmate's two fathers took him fishing? Even if morals and values issues are not directly addressed, they come up.

The e-mails seem polite on the surface but I wonder how polite the conversation was in the office? Why did the parents insist on extracting a promise before the initial meeting--that doesn't seem like a good faith effort to resolve the issue. I don't think refusing to leave the school until a promise is made, which might not even be feasible, is the best way to work through a conflict.

Parents should have control over their children's moral education but what if each teacher has a list of twenty different topics each set of parents don't want discussed with their child?

Interracial relationships came up; Kate please go outside for five minutes. Evolution? Johnny, please leave. Mohammed, before you tell us about Ramadan, Ben has to go outside. Oops, sorry, Ben... come back... Jordan is the one who can't hear about other religions.

I really do wish schools would go back to focusing on reading and writing instead of on everyone's feelings. If this school hadn't sent home the book, this would be a non-issue.

That was long-winded, I know... but I really am not sure about this one at the moment. I'm sure there are passionate opinions on this subject and I'd like to hear them.