Imagine 13 and 14-year-old girls being instructed to ask one another
for a lesbian kiss in a class exercise. The girls had no choice. The
parents were NOT informed. But hey, if it falls under “anti-bullying,”
than who are you to question it, right?
Red Hook, New York –
A recent anti-bullying presentation at a middle school in New York that
focused on homosexuality and gender identity has angered parents after
their daughters have come home to tell them they were forced to ask
another girl for a kiss.
According to reports, the session occurred last week at Linden Avenue
Middle School in Red Hook, New York, near Poughkeepsie. A group of
students from Bard College led two workshops for the youth, separated by
gender.
During the workshop for girls, the 13 and 14-year-olds were told to
ask one another for a lesbian kiss. They were also taught words such as
“pansexual” and “genderqueer.”
Parent Mandy Coon told reporters that her daughter was very uncomfortable with the exercise.
“She told me, ‘Mom, we all get teased and picked on enough; now I’m
going to be called a lesbian because I had to ask another girl if I
could kiss her,’” she lamented.
Coon stated that she was especially irate over the matter because
parents were given no warning about the presentations, nor an
opportunity to opt out. She is also dismayed that college students were
granted the right to come into the classroom and encourage her daughter
to be sexually active.
“I am furious,” she declared. “I am her parent. Where does anyone get the right to tell her that it’s okay for her to have sex?”
“The school is overstepping its bounds in not notifying parents first
and giving us the choice,” another parent remarked. “I thought it was
very inappropriate. That kind of instruction is best left up to the
parents.”
According to reports, during the workshop for the adolescent boys,
the students were counseled to keep a condom in their pocket at all
times, and were taught how to identify a woman who is a “slut.”
“I was absolutely furious – really furious,” an anonymous parent told
reporter Todd Starnes. “These are just kids. I’m dumbfounded that they
found this class was appropriate.”
However, both the school principal and the district superintendent
are defending the workshops, and are advising that they will schedule
more. Superintendent Paul Finch told the Poughkeepsie Journal that the
presentation was “focused on improving culture, relationships,
communication and self-perceptions.”
“[We] may require more notification to parents” in the future, he
said, contending that the sessions are required under the state Dignity
for All Students Act, which prohibits harassment and bullying in the
classroom.
He advised that Principal Katie Zahedi and guidance counselors at the
school worked with the Bard students to plan the workshops. Zahedi
asserts that the sessions were rather about saying no to unwanted
advances as opposed to encouraging homosexual acts.
“In planning the discussion, we made it clear that absolutely no
discussion of any sexual acts is appropriate to middle school, and they
used the examples of a kiss,” she wrote in an online forum for parents.
“It was a separate activity for boys and girls and ultimately about
respect and safety.”
Mark Primoff, a spokesman for Bard College said that students had
volunteered to give the presentation after Zehedi invited the
institution of higher learning to participate in the workshops.
However, parents remain livid over the matter. A public meeting was held this week for residents to express their concerns.
It is not known whether girls actually had to kiss one another, or if the exercise stopped at the request.
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