THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT AND PUBLIC-EDUCATION - THE PARANOID POLITICS OF HOMOPHOBIA

With the political rise of the U.S. Religious Right, public educators, administrators, and policy makers have faced numerous charges that pu blic schools promote homosexuality. These charges have been made regar dless of the actual content of various programs and curricula. Neverth eless, the typically incendiary charges seem an effective political to ol in derailing and/or reshaping educational reform and program offeri ngs. Drawing upon the methodologies of social historiography and histo rical policy analysis, this author examines the use of strategic homop hobia by the Religious Right in their quest to ''take back America,'' concluding with a general discussion of homophobia, paranoid politics, and implications for educational policy makers and public school pers onnel.