A group of parents from a Hanover elementary school is drafting a letter to the superintendent of schools complaining about an assembly where a group of homosexual singers discussed their sexual orientation with students after a performance.
In the letter, parents plan on asking the "power that be" to look at the event and create a policy on controversial assemblies, said Hanover resident Martha Whitney, who is spearheading the effort.
"If these men had just sung, it would have been no problem at all, but the reference to alternative sexual lifestyles was inappropriate," Whitney said.
She said she has received 53 phone calls from parents supporting her position.
The Flirtations, an all-gay a cappella group, performed for third, fourth and fifth graders at the Bernice A. Ray Elementary School on Feb. 3. The group also performed at the Hopkins Center for the Performing Arts on Feb. 4.
After the group's performance at the Ray School, which is on Reservoir Road, northeast of the College, group members discussed their sexual orientation and asked if any of the children came from a home with parents of the same sex, Whitney said.
"These are issues that [the students] can't even comprehend. Sex should be taught in the home or by trained educators, not by entertainers," Whitney said. "These men were assuming the role of teachers."
According to Whitney, in a Feb. 7 letter to parents, Ray School Principal Loretta Murphy said she discussed her goals for the assembly with the group before it performed.
In the letter, Murphy said she told the group "that her interest was in promoting diversity, not creating controversy." The Hop assured Murphy "that The Flirtations would provide an age-appropriate program," the letter said.
In the letter, Murphy said the performance was "very much in line with the Ray School philosophy of appreciating differences among people," according to an article in the Associated Press. Murphy could not be reached for further comment.
Whitney admitted the Flirtations began by talking about diversity and tolerance, "two commendable attributes to human beings," but she said she thought the rest of the discussion was out of line.
She said when the group began discussing homosexuality, the subject became "very inappropriate."
Fifth graders at the school recently went through a comprehensive unit on sexuality, Whitney said. She said the school did not include homosexuality in the unit because it was viewed as inappropriate.
"So to allow this group to talk to third or fourth graders ... the dichotomy is huge," Whitney said.
Whitney stressed that the parent group is not right-wing or anti-homosexual.
"It's simply an issue of inappropriate material being presented to young children," she said. "If they brought an abortionist in we'd probably reject that too because it's inappropriate, not because we are against abortion."
Whitney also said she would not object to this kind of an assembly at the high-school level.
"It was just a really bad judgment made by the principal," Whitney said. "She thought she was offering the kids something unusual and ... she did."
