Realizing they can’t prevent America’s schools from including gay and lesbian topics in their curricula, the religious right is drumming the troops to lobby, storm or sue their area school boards to get their hetero-through-therapy point of view onto campus.

Spearheaded by ultra-conservative Christians and Jews, the right is working with “ex-gay” groups like Exodus International, JONAH and Inqueery to force schools into granting equal time to their belief that homosexuality can be “cured.” Several key lawsuits have already been filed across the U.S. In one case, Parents and Friends of ExGays and Gays won a seat on the committee responsible for planning the lessons taught in Maryland public schools.

Most mental health professionals agree that what the ex-gay set calls “reparative therapy” is useless at best, and potentially harmful. Even the president of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, Joseph Nicolosi, says only a third of patients are ever “cured,” and even they may still feel same-sex attractions.

» Scott Saxon