(2 of 3)
The mailing had its intended effect. Since October, 26 students have dropped out of Crane's classes. One student told the teacher that her parents and church pressured her to quit and were concerned that her boyfriend would become gay if he remained in the school choir. Crane explained that her boyfriend would not become a homosexual, and asked if her church had applied pressure. As a result, Crane was reprimanded for ignoring a school edict not to discuss homosexuality, and received a warning for violating school policy against religious harassment. Crane sought to have the demerits expunged from his record. Last month, after 20 minutes of deliberation, the board turned him down. "I don't feel safe at all," he says. "There is an incredible aura of mistrust within the school."
That feeling now permeates the schools of Merrimack, New Hampshire. Last August a five-member school board adopted Policy 6540, which states that the school district "shall neither implement nor carry out any program or activity that has either the purpose or effect of encouraging or supporting homosexuality as a positive life-style alternative." The language was lifted verbatim from a failed amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1994 championed by North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms and New Hampshire Senator Robert C. Smith.
"Nothing officially has been eliminated," says Susan Ruggieri, president of the Merrimack Teachers' Association, "but teachers are very, very vigilant in censoring themselves." Thus far, vigilance has led to the dropping of a video on Walt Whitman from 11th-grade English classes because the tape mentions the poet's homosexuality. Shakespeare's Twelfth Night has also been dropped from a class (the play has a character who cross-dresses). Social-problems-and-family-relations classes no longer brook mention of homosexuality. "Part of the problem," says Ruggieri, "is that you don't know where a discussion is going to go."
Merrimack has made news before. Last year the school board briefly flirted with the idea of introducing creationism into the classroom, then backed away. That effort was engineered by a local clergyman. This time around, the local populace had outside help. Before the August vote, the Rev. Lou Sheldon, head of the Traditional Values Coalition, advised local Christian groups. "We walked them through the whole process--philosophically, legally and morally--so they could be grounded in the information that would make them sound far more credible on radio or television," he says. "That's the way we do it."
In February a handful of parents and teachers filed suit in federal court, charging that 6540 violates the First and 14th amendments. "This is a violation of freedom of speech and is discriminatory," says Richard Walker, the lead plaintiff and the high school's guidance counselor. "I don't see this as a homosexual issue." Walker says his ability to do his job is now severely restricted. He steers clear of any discussion of sexuality with students, though he knows that in cases of potential teen suicide, it may be a key issue. "We cannot refer kids to gay or lesbian youth groups," he adds. "But what about a clinical psychologist who is gay, through an HMO? I don't know."