from staff and wire reports

BOSTON - Two state education officials ran a workshop for teens on safe sex that turned into a graphic discussion on homosexual acts, leading to calls from a conservative group to cut gay education programs and harsh criticism from the education commissioner.

The workshop held in March at Tufts University started as a question-and-answer period but rapidly turned graphic, detailed and what many have termed inapropriate for the attendees, who ranged in age from 14-21.

Topics discussed included sexual positions, whether to use condoms and how to have oral sex.

"The workshops were of a prurient nature, and not educational," said Education Commissioner David Driscoll, who has listened to taped portions of the session. "And what we heard suggests that the discussion contributed absolutely nothing to the students' understanding of how to avoid AIDS and HIV." He said the Department of Education did not know what the conference would entail.

The workshop was never intended to get as explicit as it did, but was billed as a "safe place" for youths to get their questions about their sexuality answered, said Jim Anderson, spokesman for hte program sponsor, the National Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

But members of the Waltham-based Parents Rights Coalition, which secretly recorded the workshop and has been distributing tapes, called what was discussed obscene, and a lesson in "how to be gay."

"They were teaching them how to engage in homosexual sex," said Scott Whiteman.

He said Driscoll's disclaimer should be "taken with a grain of salt," he said.

The conservative group is using this incident to call for the state to stop funding gay and lesbian programs in public schools.

"The Department of Education works hand in hand with GLSEN," Whiteman said. "We believe the only way to stop this, is to stop all funding for GLSEN."

Parents Rights Coalition president Brian Kamenker has already garnered suport by airing portions of the tape on a local talk radio station. A transcript of the tape was also put out on the Internet last week, and he is now selling taped copies of the conference for $5 each.

The Massachusetts budget now includes more than $1.5 million to create and sustain Gay-Straight Alliances at high schools across the state.

"Our stance is that the Department of Education has no business at all presenting homosexuality in the public schools," Kamenker said. "It is a very self-destructive lifestyle."

Driscoll said yesterday that the blame has been misplaced on his department.

Although he knew the two staffers were going to speak, and he had a letter in the program brochure welcoming participants, Driscoll insisted he was not aware of the material being discussed.

"The conference was not sponsored by, organized by, or funded by the Department of Education," he said.

Driscoll heard portions of the recorded session for the first time yesterday, and subsequently prohibited anyone on his staff from dealing directly with students on any sex education issues.

The two staffers who participated are coordinators of the Department of Education'sHIV/AIDS program. As of yesterday, no disciplinary action had been taken against either one.

"The participation of our staff in conversations with students about explicit issues of sexuality outside the realm of AIDS/HIV prevention was wrong," Driscoll said in a prepared statement.

There was no telephone listing for one of the educators and there was a busy signal at the home of the other. Newither could immediately be reached for comment.

Teachers who attended the day long teacher and student conference, Teach Out 2000, were given professional development points for participating.

The workshop sessions that day included topics such as "How to decide whether to come out at work;" "strategies and curriculum ideas for addressing gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gender issues in a high school English curriculum;" and "The struggles and triumphs of including homosexuality in a middle school curriculum."