Lani Eugenio was so appalled by a sex education brochure given to her 12-year-old son by his health teacher at Kohala Middle School that she flew to Honolulu yesterday to protest personally to the Board of Education. Sex education brochure at
middle school protested
By Susan Essoyan
sessoyan@starbulletin.com"I'm not a prude," she said before addressing the board, "but to me this is pornographic."
The brochure, "Discovering Your Sexuality," is part of the Weekly Reader series, Current Health. It explains how children mature sexually, talks about crushes, and summarizes research on sexual orientation.
In describing the work of Dr. Fritz Klein, it lists questions his researchers asked in their study, including, "To whom are you sexually attracted?" "With whom have you had sex?" and "Do you love only members of the same sex, only members of the other sex, or both sexes equally?"
Eugenio, whose son is in 8th grade, said she found the material offensive and likely to "encourage (students) to participate in homosexual, bisexual or promiscuous sexual activities."
"Why is our educational system teaching sexually suggestive materials that confuse and molest our children's minds and morals?" she demanded. "If it's happening in sleepy Kohala, then it must be happening elsewhere in the Hawaii public school system."
She also strongly objected to websites listed on the brochure, including the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States and Planned Parenthood Federation of America's teen site.
Board member Carol Gabbard, who invited Eugenio to the meeting, called for a new policy "insuring that parents must give written approval before their child is exposed to this type of sexual freedom and pro-homosexual propaganda."
Board member Meyer Ueoka expressed concern about the brochure and asked that the attorney general look into whether such materials can be censored.
Schools Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto promised to investigate.
State Board of Education
