COLAGE denounces the decision of the Evesham Township School Board to ban That's A Family!

Decision Rejects Recommendations from Professional Educators and Ignores the Reality of Students with LGBT Parents

COLAGE joins with New Jersey families and a national network of educational and children's advocacy organizations in expressing their deep concern about the decision by the Evesham Township School Board to abandon its commitment to family diversity education.
Reacting to pressure from a small group of vocal opponents, the Evesham Township School Board voted to discontinue using That's a Family! an educational film made by Women's Education Media, despite the recommendation from its own special review committee to keep the film as part of its elementary health curriculum. The committee, comprised of educators, teachers, parents, and health curriculum experts, urged the school board to keep the curriculum, moving it to 4th grade instead of 3rd. This committee was formed after a public hearing of the school board last February during which hundreds of New Jersey youth, parents and adults, including COLAGE Speak OUT member Kerry Cullen, voiced their support for the film.

Following an intensive review process, this decision goes against the legal, educational, and ethical responsibility of school districts to create learning environments that allow all students to fully realize their potential. "Students with LGBT parents live in the vast majority of school districts across the country including Evesham Township. Therefore it is appropriate for all schools to be teaching their students about the reality of LGBT parented families" commented Meredith Fenton, COLAGE Program Director. "By removing this film from the curriculum due to homophobia and fear, the Evesham Township School Board is neglecting to validate and protect students with one or more LGBT parents in their schools."

Kerry Cullen, a young adult with a lesbian mother responded to the decision, "As someone who grew up with a lesbian mom in New Jersey, I feel that the school board's decision is oppressive and hurtful to all children. True, this issue is close to my heart because of my struggles with intolerance during adolescence, but the banning of this video does not only affect people like me. This action is a direct, deliberate show of fear--fear of differences in families. It seems ironic that the school board caved against hateful pressure, when hateful pressure is something that the gay community is forced to deal with every single day; something that we cannot cave to. Maybe this video could have helped relieve that pressure, if the school board could have been as strong as we are constantly forced to be."

COLAGE encourages youth, adults, parents and allies, especially those in New Jersey to share their disappointment about thisdecision with the Evesham Township Board of Education.

That's a Family! is an award-winning half-hour documentary designed especially for children in elementary school that is being used across the country. It features elementary school children who are being raised by parents of different races or religions, adoptive parents, single parents, divorced parents, gay or lesbian parents, and grandparents serving as guardians. Learn more about the film and hear more of the ongoing responses to the Evesham decision on the Women's Educational Media website.