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And they lived happily ever after … in Hell

In what is considered to be the first case of its kind, two Massachusetts families are suing their public school system, after the book King and King was read to a classroom of approximately 20 seven-year-old students. King & King is a storybook about a crown prince who rejects all the beautiful princesses, instead deciding to settle down with another prince and live happily ever after. The parents are suing, claiming that the school district broke a 1996 Massachusetts law that requires parents to be informed before sex-education lessons are given. The school, however, is arguing that it had no legal obligation to inform the parents of the books it reads and that the book was not intended as sex education but as a way to educate children about their cultural environment - Massachusetts is the only state where gays and lesbians are allowed to marry.

According to Boston.com, the suit also alleges that town and school officials have violated the Massachusetts civil rights code and the state’s parental notification law. The parents further accuse the school district of “intentionally indoctrinating very young children to affirm the notion that homosexuality is right and normal in direct denigration of the [parents’] deeply held faith.”

And what would that “deeply held faith” consist of? Perhaps, the belief espoused by the Kansas Westboro Baptist Church, whose protests at the funerals of fallen U.S. servicemen include banners reading, “God Hates Fags,” and “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” because of their belief that God is punishing American troops in Iraq for defending a nation of homosexual sinners?

Well, if that is the case, then perhaps the parents can suggest an alternative fairy tale: The Little Prince Who Liked Other Princes Until God Sent Him Straight to Hell! I suspect that would be more in tune to their deeply held faith - and, from what I hear, it’s quite a page-turner.