Gay Coloring Assignment Has Parents of Nursery Schoolers Seeing Red

GENEVA, NY—When four-year-old Amanda Parker arrived home from nursery school at East Street Elementary last week, she was eager to show her parents the picture she'd drawn that day. But when the tot removed the crayon-on-manila-paper creation from her bulging backpack, her parents were shocked at what they saw. Amanda had drawn and colored a rainbow, the official symbol of the homosexual agenda in this country.
"To say we were taken aback would be a serious understatement," says Amanda's father Dan, a facilities technician. "As soon as we saw what she had in her hand our jaws just dropped." Then came the hard part: Dan and his wife Margie had to explain to their daughter what was wrong with the picture she'd drawn and the colors she'd used.
"She got it," he notes. "We tore it up as a family." That night, with Amanda tucked in and in the arms of the Sandman, Dan and Margie began to discuss filing a lawsuit against the school.

>> For school, not pot of gold
Administrators at East Street Elementary declined to talk to the press, but sources close to the school say that they've acted quickly to curtail any damage stemming from the incident. Katie Chernowitz, the teacher who encouraged her students to both draw and color rainbows, has been placed on indefinite administrative leave. The school has also moved to limit the colors of markers, crayons and paints that its K-4 students can use in an effort to prevent future rainbow incidents from occurring and further tarring the school's reputation.

>> Color me angry
That's good news, says peeved parent Connie Martineau, who called the school principal after her son Scout expressed some discomfort about the rainbow coloring assignment. "We've taught him well," says Mrs. Martineau. "He knows that a rainbow, especially one that includes colors like pink and purple, isn't just something you see in the sky after it rains. It's a symbol of the homosexual agenda."
Now, several of the parents have formed a committee to approve in-class assignments—from coloring to spelling exercises—to ensure that they meet strict family values standards. "If we had learned that the teacher expected them to color rainbows, you can guarantee that it wouldn't have happened," says Mrs. Martineau.

>> Searching for symbols
The rainbow incident is just the latest skirmish in an increasingly hard-fought culture war, in which parents like Martineau must be hyper vigilant in the event that their children are exposed to gay-friendly images and language in the classroom. Parents across the country are now on the look out for rainbows and the colors used to create them, as well as other known symbols of the homosexual agenda including dancing flags, kites, bubble gum, tambourines, whistles and green lasers.

>> Three colors: red, white and blue
Back at the Parker's house, Dan and Margie are helping Amanda prepare for another day at nursery school. Into the VeggieTales book bag goes a snack pack, a child's cardigan and a small box of crayons. This last item is new—just a week ago, Amanda routinely took a 64-count box of crayons to school, including a set of multicultural crayons to help her draw and color different skin tones. But today Amanda is taking just three crayons to school: one each in red, white and blue.
"That may not be every color in the rainbow but that's really the point," says Dan Parker. "If she has to give up a few colors to fight the homosexual agenda, it's worth it."