A trip through Lexington

This morning I traveled through the town of

Lexington

, MA on my way to the doctor’s office. As has been previously noted by several MOJ contributors, this is the community in which a group of parents unsuccessfully sued the public school system over the mandatory use of the Linda de Haan/Stern Nijland book “King & King.” I have examined this book and its sequel, “King & King & Family.” I sympathize with the parents who brought the suit. In spite of a recent editorial by the Boston Globe which applauds the dismissal of the suit and tacitly approves the use of the “King & King” book in the diversity education of kindergarten and first and second grade children [HERE], the Court’s opinion on the limitation of parents’ rights is deeply troubling as is the Globe editorial. As I previously mentioned, it seems that the

U.S.

’s international legal obligations regarding parents’ rights and education of the children are irrelevant. Also problematic is the underlying view that the court’s decision promotes rather than restricts the concept of equality for all. The first volume, “King & King” tackles the marriage issue. The second volume, “King & King & Family” takes care of the adoption issue by same-sex couples. The understanding of equality posed by these two books (perhaps others are in the works by Ms. de Hann and Ms. Nijland), is flawed. More discussion is needed on this important issue, and I hope to be working on it during the coming academic year in a series of essays examining the question: what is equality? From my perspective, the Globe and the de Haan/Nijland team have presented a mistaken view of what equality is. With God’s help, I hope to offer another view that may be of interest to MOJ contributors and readers.    RJA sj