BY GLOVA SCOTT
PHILADELPHIA - Last September, the Elizabethtown School Board passed a misnamed "pro-family resolution" banning programs and activities for gay students throughout the district. Elizabethtown is a small town southeast of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Outraged students, parents, and activists from various religious, community, and gay rights groups have staged several candlelight vigils and press conferences protesting the school board's actions. Many say that the resolution speaks against households headed by single parents. The local media throughout central Pennsylvania widely covered the protests.

About 125 people turned out for the February 11 school board meeting, most of them opposed to the antigay resolution. At the meeting, school board member Andrew Saylor read a statement reaffirming the board's actions. He then said that educational programs should not promote same- sex orientation to minor children. He said the policy is to "address a problem before the damage is done. What reasonable person can be against this policy?" he asked.

Dr. Susan Ross, a sociology professor from Dickinson College, noted at a press conference held before the school board meeting, that "only 7 percent of U.S. families fit the description of a traditional family." Most live in an extended family setup, she said.

Other speakers at the press conference, which 50 people turned out for, demanded that the school board's antigay policy be rescinded. Protesters also seek the election of a new school board.

The resolution asserts that "the traditional family, of one man married to one woman and their children through birth or adoption, has been the norm in civilized societies all through history." The school board resolution also appeals to right-wing ideology which emphasis the family as the primary institution responsible for the upbringing of children. It scapegoats gay and lesbian couples for undermining the so-called traditional family. In passing this resolution, the Elizabethtown school board affirmed "that pro-homosexual concepts on sex and family as promoted by the National Education Association will never be tolerated or accepted in this school." Protesters have renamed the school board's policy the "anti-family diversity resolution."  
 
 
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