Published May 20, 2010
We’re always talking about the “talkers” — the stories everyone’s talking about. Today we’ve got two of them, totaling 40 minutes of sex talk on Radio Boston. I promise it wasn’t planned this way.
Talker No. 1: A Catholic school in Hingham kicked out un-admitted an 8-year-old boy after finding out his parents are two lesbians. Mom and Mom signed their names on application forms at an open house, and the rest is history. Now Cardinal Sean O’Malley, of the Boston archdiocese, blogs that he supports the decision for “the good of the child.”
The intersection of Church & Gay in Knoxville, Tenn. (Wyoming_Jackrabbit via Flickr)
O’Malley illuminates his explanation with the story of a little girl, begotten by a murdered prostitute, too abused and ashamed by her peers to attend school. Apparently O’Malley equates homosexuality to prostitution.
Yes, the Catholic church condemns homosexuality as immoral, but parochial schools have a tradition of including all in the flock — Jews, Muslims, children of divorced parents. The kid isn’t gay, his parents are. So how is this case any different? Meghna puts that question to Father Bryan Hehir of the Boston archdiocese.
On the other hand, one wonders why two gay people would submit their child to an education that condemns the very structure of their family. Not that it’s any of my business. My colleague Jessica Alpert says it reminds her of “Trembling Before G-d,” a documentary about orthodox Jews trying to reconcile their homosexuality with their faith.
Talker No. 2: What would you do if you found out a college student was teaching your 9th grader about sex? That’s exactly what Boston Public Schools is doing, to save money. It’s a program called Peer Health Exchange. The idea is that the kids will learn more from people who are, you know, cool.
My colleague Lisa Tobin remembers her tenure as head of the peer sex ed group at Gig Harbor (Wash.) High. She was put in a difficult situation when two of the peer leaders were caught having sex in the music room closet. The big question was: Did they use protection?
Interestingly, Boston’s new program doesn’t require a permission slip.