HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA ESCALATES IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
By Linda P. Harvey
July 15, 2001
NewsWithViews.comPink triangles in classrooms. Grade school studies of "gay" history. Transvestite speakers. School-wide events to celebrate homosexuality. Student activists spreading propaganda through school publications. Legislation mandating homosexual indoctrination.
This was the school year 2000-2001. What will our neighborhood schools be doing this fall to support the relentless agenda of homosexual activists?
In the Massachusetts town of Newton, home of homosexual congressman Barney Frank, a high school history teacher taught that Alexander the Great was a "gay" man. Other teachers in Massachusetts are building lessons around the Stonewall Inn riots in Greenwich Village in 1969, an event credited by homosexual activists with kicking off the "gay rights" movement.1 In a third grade music class in a Massachusetts town, the male teacher told the children Tchiakovsky was a homosexual, and that society's "homophobia" prompted his suicide.
Newton North High School sponsored a special "To Be Gay" day, complete with inaccurate brochures heavily promoting transgendered behaviors (cross-dressing, having surgery to alter one's biological sex, etc.).2
All of this is taking place in a state where 156 schools host homosexual clubs, called "gay-straight alliances" by advocates.3 Such clubs are provided seed money by a state program to "support" students practicing homosexual behavior. Nationally, GLSEN has said there are over 800 such clubs. GLSEN, the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network, was founded in Massachusetts in the early 1990s by a male teacher engaged in homosexual activity.
In California, meanwhile, a week this past April at Santa Rosa High School was devoted to "Days of Diversity." Skits promoted homosexual and heterosexual promiscuous sex. One skit derided the Bible by implication, when a student actor who believed in a special "book" that she reads on Sunday, said that this book gave her permission to "hate." Parents were not fully informed about the contents of the workshops, and many feel they were deceived.
Younger children in another Marin County school saw a performance troupe called "Cootie Shots," whose skits depict families consisting of two mommies and two daddies. This group gains entry to schools by saying it offers programs on "tolerance and diversity." But their version of diversity is really cleverly packaged deviance. In one of the group's skits, the fairy-tale character Rapunzel cuts off her long hair and runs away with her girlfriend.4
The high school students also presented skits dealing with sexual molestation, rape, anorexia and suicide. Other workshops during this diversity week advocated radical environmentalism, socialism and animal rights.5 Some parents who had submitted the "opt-out" forms provided through California pro-family organizations had children who still attended the events. Legal action is being pursued by some of these parents against the school.6
Silencing Opponents, Not Tolerance, Is the Goal
And California faces even more problems if current legislation passes. After the passage of state law last session mandating diversity field trips and other pro-homosexual school activity, this session's legislature is considering SB. 225, which would require that schools with interscholastic sports teams adopt non-discrimination codes supporting "sexual orientation" as well as "perceived gender," or risk being banned from the California Interscholastic Federation. This reaches into the private school sector, which of course has been the goal of the activists all along. Nothing will satisfy until all of society is supportive of homosexuality. A second bill, SB 257, would force schools to target speech that opposes homosexuality as being discriminatory and equivalent to harassment.7
It's not just the liberal northeast and the "left coast" of California where these atrocities are being forced on children. At a high school near St. Paul, Minnesota, 16-year old Elliott Chambers was suspended when he wore a sweatshirt to school last January that said "Straight Pride" on the front. On the back was a sketch of a man and woman holding hands. Some students complained to the principal that they were offended.
Elliot says he had no idea the shirt would cause such an uproar. He had ordered it from a web site (straightpride.com) after someone had seen it at a political rally in the fall. He just thought it was "cool." After months of pro-homosexual indoctrination in his high school, he had quietly developed a dislike for the climate of bias.
"In our school, there are 50 regular classrooms that have been marked with pink triangles as 'safe' zones," Elliott says. The "safe zone" signate lists the name of a teacher as a resource. The idea is that students who have questions about their sexuality can go to this teacher "safely" -- in other words, knowing the teacher will be uncritical, even supportive of homosexuality. The procedure is that these teachers then refer the questioning student to a pro-homosexual counselor outside the school or an activist group like PFLAG, Elliott told us. This all happens without parental notification or consent.
But the atmosphere doesn't end with promotion, but also includes intimidation. Some Woodbury students have been given detentions if they use the phrase, "That's so gay," as an expression of distaste.
Yet teachers are free to express strong opinions as they wish, especially about Christianity. After a "holiday" concert at the school last Christmas season, one female math teacher opened a discussion about the song content, which was dominated by Christian songs. "Didn't you feel discriminated against?" she pointedly asked one Muslim girl.
Apparently, the school board of Woodbury High School as well as the PTA knew nothing about the pink triangles until the publicity surrounding Elliott's case. The "safe zone" program was an idea implemented by a male librarian along with the principal. After the case surfaced, the triangles were modified to add symbols to racial and religious equality as well as equality for those with disabilities.
Elliott's parents, Lena and Kendal Chambers, have sued the school district for its stubborn stance. In a preliminary injunction in May, a U.S. District court judge ruled in favor of the Chambers, saying there is "a strong likelihood" that the principal infringed upon Elliott's constitutional rights.8
Yet it could be worse. There are as yet no openly "gay" teachers at the school who might pose a risk to students as poor role models, or worse -- the threat of sexual molestation. People who profess a homosexual preference are much more likely to molest children and adolescents, especially males.9 A Newton, Massachusetts parent told us that at his child's elementary school, all five of the male teachers are openly homosexual. He believes this shows a clear preference in hiring.
There are, meanwhile, at schools throughout the country, student activists co-opting school publications to disseminate the myths of homosexual advocacy. They use the budding journalist's pen to claim it's an issue of "enlightenment and education" and a civil rights matter rather than well-documented unsafe behavior. At Upper Arlington High School in Columbus in April, students devoted ten pages of a slick magazine to an inaccurate and one-sided promotion of homosexuality. The advocacy was laced with the usual claims of "prejudice and ignorance" by conservatives. It also inaccurately portrayed the work of the ex-gay ministry Exodus International. (For more detail, see the May-June-July 2001 issue of Choice 4 Truth.)
An entire column also promoted a Columbus community "support" group for "gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered" youth under 21. This group meets in a homosexual church, and even young teens can attend without parental notification or consent. Such groups exist throughout the country in most metropolitan areas, posing a high risk to children who can interact, socialize and be lured into sexual episodes by the older teens and adults who operate such groups.
Sexual Anarchy, Not Homosexuality, Is the Reality
An ethic of sexual anarchy with homosexuality as its lead issue is being deliberately sold to our youth under the guise of "safety" and "tolerance." Meanwhile, young people's lives and emotional stability are endangered if they make a decision in these tender years to engage in homosexual activity -- or are seduced into such acts by a teacher, coach, or older peer. As we have repeatedly said, there is no evidence of a genetic connection for homosexual desires, and a wealth of evidence that such feelings arise from emotional instability, often fueled by the confused legacy of sexual abuse. The thousands of ex-homosexuals testify to the fact that homosexual feelings can be changed, and it is a betrayal of our children not to let them know about this hope. Yet many schools now are being told by activist groups, including the ACLU and teacher organizations, that they must not encourage heterosexuality instead of homosexuality when counseling troubled or questioning kids.
The "gay" -friendly educational system continues to open its doors to groups like GLSEN and PFLAG, who have been aided by substantial funding boosts in recent years. Many concerned parents are removing their children from the public schools. But others, equally concerned, either do not have the option because of family circumstances, or have no clear educational alternative for their children. And, should we abandon the schools anyway? (ed. note: Absolutely! The sooner the better.)
Turning our backs on the culture and retreating into conservative or religious enclaves is what got us into this mess to begin with. Let's contact our local schools, find out what's going on, and join with other concerned citizens to make some changes this next school year.
Sources:
1. "More school lessons tackling gay issues," Boston Glove, July 7, 2001
2. Brochures from Newton North Gay/Straight Alliance.
3. Globe, as above
4. "(Gay) school days," Citizen magazine from Focus on the Family, July 2001
5. The Lively Letter from Scott Lively, Abiding Truth Ministries, Citrus Heights, CA, May 1, 2001
6. www.cnsnews.com, April 23, 2001
7. Information from Campaign for California Families, www.savecalifornia.com (916) 443--1410
8. "AFA law center wins first round in 'straight pride' case," AFA Journal, American Family Association, July 2001
9. Most cases of sexual abuse of children and adolescents involve boys being assaulted by men. This is by definition 'homosexual' since it involves same sex sexual abuse. For 57 pages of documentation about sexual abuse involving homosexuality, see the excellent web site, www.cprmd.org
© 2001 - Linda P. Harvey - All Rights Reserved
Linda P. Harvey is President of Choice For Truth, a project of Mission:America P.O. Box 21836, Columbus, OH 43221-0836 (614) 442-7998 e mail: missiona@ee.net web sites: www.missionamerica.com and www.Choice4Truth.com