tempt for commitment and unnaturalrnlaw has undermined health and marriagernand helped produce quizzes likernthe one at hand. Instead, tenth gradersrnsat there while the authorities asked,rn”Given the problems men and womenrnface, would you want your children to bernheterosexual? If they were, would yournconsider aversion therapy?”rnSome parents are fighting back. Considerrnan ongoing case in which parentsrnThomas and Jeannine Jenei are suingrnBrookline High School for promotingrnthe gay agenda and bullying and isolatingrnstudents, like their daughter, Johanna,rnwho object.rnBrookline High School is often visitedrnby the major media interviewing studentsrnand staff on their fervent supportrnof Governor William Weld’s “Gay-rnStraight Student Alliance.” Studentsrndisturbed by this new intramural proselytizingrnhave been “taunted, harassed,rnmocked and ridiculed for their religiousrnfaith, beliefs and heterosexuality,” parentsrnreport. Lessons have included a socialrnstudies teacher, Polly Atwood, comingrnout as a lesbian in the middle of arnclass and challenging Johanna Jenei, saying,rn”I know this will make someone herernuncomfortable, but now let her tell usrn[the rest of the class] her opinion.” Atwoodrnthen reportedly mentioned somerndetails of her “partner’s” personal life,rnand told her ninth-grade class in “AncientrnHistory” that “women can thrivernwithout men,” that “cavewomen werernself-sufficient and let cavemen nearrnthem only when they wanted babies.”rnWhen Johanna suggested men andrnwomen were meant to live together, Atwoodrnled the class in mocking her.rnAfter several weeks of this ridicule, inrnmid-December 1993, Johanna told thernschool’s guidance counselor, Mark Federman,rnthat she felt isolated and vulnerable.rnNevertheless, Federman urged herrnto return to the class, which she did; shernthen became ill. When the Jeneis requestedrntheir daughter be allowed to finishrnthe two-semester course in an independentrnstudy, the head of the socialrnstudies department, Jonathan Sill, refusedrnpermission, even though such arrangementsrnare commonly granted inrnBrookline and an experienced teacherrnhad already agreed to provide the tutorial.rn”Go ahead and sue,” school andrnunion officials reportedly told the Jeneis’rnattorney. “We’re going to boot you outrnon a summary judgment.”rnBoston Globe columnists Derrick Jacksonrnand Patricia Smith publicly deridedrnthe Jeneis as vengeful and ignorant bigots.rnReporter Rachel Layne wrote a storyrnomitting relevant facts she had receivedrnfrom interviewees. But in thernmeantime, liberal readers had heard thernmarching orders and chimed in with salliesrnof their own. Writing in the BrooklinernChronicle, one thoughtful soul deridedrnthe Jeneis as “POOPS (PeoplernOffended by Other People’s Sexuality).”rnIn addition to POOPS not being veryrnnice, he declared, “POOPS are also notrnreally very bright. Of course, any POOPSrnwho move away from Brookline do us arnfavor. . . . We don’t owe the POOPS arnlesson in true Christianity, and we certainlyrndon’t owe them any money,”rnWho are these “POOPS,” the Jeneis?rnLetters from longtime neighbors calledrnthem “loving, caring, and compassionaternpeople” with “a strong Christian faithrnand a strong marriage.” As for intelligence,rnboth parents “are outstandingrnteachers in Cambridge,” one residentrnnoted. “For a c[uarter century, Johanna’srnfather, Tom Jenei, has been organist andrnchoirmaster at St. Paul’s Church inrnBrookline, and his faith and leadershiprnwere instrumental in rebuilding thernchurch after a disastrous fire in 1976.” Arnfellow student of Johanna’s older brotherrnTom wrote from the University of Chicagornto say, “While I have always disagreedrnwith Tom’s and Johanna’s views, theyrnhave always expressed their opinions intelligentlyrnand respectfully. Becauserntheir views were opposed to those of thernlarge majority of students, they were confronted,rnridiculed and teased much morernthan the average student [but] bothrnTom and his sister were able to handlernstrong, often personally directed oppositionrnto their views.” Such testimonyrnfrom an ideological opponent suggestsrnthe quality of the Jeneis’ own tolerancernand intelligence, and also how fierce thernharassment of Johanna must have beenrnbefore she became ill.rnThough Brookline High School finallyrnagreed to give Johanna credit for thernsemester she had endured, the ostracismrnand mockery continued. In Februaryrn1994, she was committed to Children’srnHospital suffering from acute stress andrnfailing blood pressure. Shortly afterward,rnand at the recommendation of her doetors,rnshe withdrew from Brookline Highrnand enrolled in Lexington ChristianrnAcademy, where she remains. Her parentsrnhave moved to a town 15 miles awayrnand requested compensatory expenses.rnDavid Turner, Brookline’s TownrnCounsel, says he considers the Jeneisrnpart of the crowd that produced thernScopes “Monkey” Trial. The school, too,rnremains militantly unrepentant. ThernJeneis’ attorney Randal Fritz notes thatrnthis punitive stance expressly violatesrnBrookline’s own school code, which requiresrnthat educational administratorsrn”make the well-being of students thernfundamental value of all decision-makingrnand actions.”rnOne would like to dismiss these unnaturalrnlessons and fierce proselytizing asrnaberrant, but they reflect a nationalrnproblem, a new norm called “diversity”rnthat destroys all norms: Lenore Carlisle,rnprincipal of Mark’s Meadow School inrnAmherst, said “teachers will present ‘lovernmakes a family’ in terms of diversity, notrnin terms of human sexuality.” Elsewherernin the Bay State, similar semantic jugglingrnhas led to fourth-graders beingrncoached to role-play homosexual couplesrnseeking to adopt a child. Firstrngraders are “counseled” about a classmate’srnmother’s sex-change operation.rnA parent who lauded Brookline’s historyrnof promoting academic freedom in “discussingrnsexual orientation” in class,rncalled the above-noted scandal at thernRunkle School “a series of small discussionrngroups with first-grade students,rnoutside the classroom [in the guidancerncounselor’s office] about a classmate’srnparent’s sex-change.” Small discussionrngroup? With first-graders? About a lesbianrnsex-change? It is astonishing how arnhip term like “discussion group” can sanitizerninsanity. In a program called “Hot,rnSexy and Safer,” high school studentsrnhave been told, in the name of “AIDSrneducation,” to “practice their orgasmrnface,” and to lick flavored condoms inrnthe school auditorium. The U.S. FirstrnDistrict Court of Appeals ruled parentsrnneed not be informed of such programsrnin advance, nor (echoing GLSTN’s argumentrnfor mandatory discussion by allrnstudents of homosexual curricula) mayrnthey stop their children from attending.rn”The plaintiffs have no right to bar theirrnchildren from exposure to vulgar and offensivernlanguage,” the Court commented,rnadding, “parents cannot dictate whatrnthe schools teach.” If folks like the Jeneisrnobject to the new agenda, they’ll have tornmove.rnCertainly, they cannot expect succorrnfrom the office of Governor WilliamrnWeld. The liberal Republican this springrnrefused to sign a proclamation affirming.rn34/CHRONICLESrnrnrn