Play’s Foes Not Bigoted

February 20, 2005
By Michelle Dunne, Ashburn

In response to Scott Murphy-Neilson’s and Neil Uscier’s letters in the Feb. 13 Loudoun Extra [“Black’s Flawed Argument” and “Listen to the Young”], I would like to say that hatred is not what we parents “living in the dark ages” want to convey.

Homosexuality and promiscuity are not part of the “new world.” They have been with us since the dawn of time. Why do the authors assume that I am “hateful, bigoted and not living in the real world” simply because I want to raise my children on values that have been held by the majority of the Christian population for centuries?

The truth upon which we base our lives is eternal and has nothing to do with living in the 21st century. Politicians such as Richard H. “Dick” Black (R-Loudoun) and parents like me want the same type of freedom that the authors want — the freedom to raise our Christian families as we see fit without someone else’s agenda being forced upon us.

We realize that they don’t care to hear our Christ-centered values. Thus we resort to numbers and statistics. Unfortunately, that kind of information can be twisted to fit any argument. The bottom line is that any sexually oriented type of information is intimate and personal and should be addressed within the safety and loving guidance of one’s own home. Public school is no place to be aiming sex-related agendas of any kind at our children. Whatever happened to a basic education of reading, writing, arithmetic and academic excellence?

We are bombarded with ads about how to keep our kids off drugs — by talking to them and knowing what they are up to. Why are we, the parents, not also encouraged to talk to our own children about sex at home? Why does the public at large believe this is an area that the public school has a right to take over?

The “uproar” to which Murphy-Neilson refers is not just regarding the play. It is merely one symptom of a greater problem. It is the glaring lack of respect for the values and beliefs of all persons. His message seems to be that if we are not “open to discussion” of homosexuality with our children, we are trying to “promote ignorance and censorship.”

I am not open to any discussion regarding sex that is forced upon an audience at a high school play with no warning. We have taken our children to see high school productions before. (“Oklahoma” at Loudoun Valley was extremely well done.) Family entertainment should be just that — suitable for family members of all ages unless otherwise made clear. As for me and my house, that play was not family entertainment.

[Originally published in Washington Post Loudoun Extra, February 20, 2005]

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