SSM AND MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOLS: National Public Radio excerpts

MELISSA BLOCK, host: Sex education has long been a controversial subject. In Massachusetts this school year, there's a new element to the debate. Now that the state Supreme Court has legalized same-sex marriage, some advocates say teachers have an obligation to talk more in class about gay and lesbian relationships. ...

SAM ZEGAS (High School Senior): ...There were times when I got very depressed about it. I couldn't picture my life further down the road because I didn't know. I didn't what that looked like; I couldn't even imagine it. And that's what changed, that's what changed on May 17th. This is a message from the government of Massachusetts saying, 'This is now part of the social norm.'

SMITH: Zegas is one of many hoping that the day gay marriage became legal in Massachusetts will also mark the beginning of a new openness in schools. Already, some gay and lesbian advocates are working on a new gay-friendly curriculum for kindergarten and up. ...

But many teachers say they're less afraid now since the high court decision legalizing gay marriage. Deb Allen teaches eighth-grade sex ed in Brookline. She keeps a picture of her lesbian partner and their kids on her desk and gay equality signs on the wall. Allen says she's already been teaching a gay-friendly curriculum for nearly a decade, but she says she does begin this year feeling a bit more emboldened.

Ms. DEB ALLEN (Eighth-Grade Teacher): In my mind, I know that, 'OK, this is legal now.' If somebody wants to challenge me, I'll say, 'Give me a break. It's legal now.'

SMITH: And, Allen says, teaching about homosexuality is also more important now. She says the debate around gay marriage is prompting kids to ask a lot more questions, like what is gay sex, which Allen answers thoroughly and explicitly with a chart.

Ms. ALLEN: And on the side, I'm going to draw some different activities, like kissing and hugging, and different kinds of intercourse. All right?

SMITH: Allen asks her students to fill in the chart with yeses and nos.

Ms. ALLEN: All right. So can a woman and a woman kiss and hug? Yes. Can a woman and a woman have vaginal intercourse, and they will all say no. And I'll say, `Hold it. Of course, they can. They can use a sex toy. They could use'--and we talk--and we discuss that. So the answer there is yes.

SMITH: In Massachusetts, local districts have broad discretion when it comes to sex ed, and schools range from this one in Brookline to many others that teach abstinence only or offer no sex ed at all. But teachers say gay and lesbian issues come up all day; not just in sex ed, but everywhere from gym class to social studies or biology. And many teachers say they don't want to go there. ...

SMITH: Barbara, an elementary teacher northwest of Boston, did not want to use her real name. She says she feels growing pressure from her school to be, as she puts it, 'politically correct.' But she says she'd quit if she ever had to assign books like "Heather Has Two Mommies," or to answer questions about what gay means."

listen to the whole program here

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