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03/05/2008

Reasons to pull kid from school: Illness, emergency, or presence of gays

by Jeremy Hooper

Abiding Truth Ministries, American Family Association, AFA of MI, AFA of PA, Americans for Truth, Christian Information Service, Christian Civic League of Maine, Concerned Women for America, Culture Campaign, Defend the Family International, Exodus Mandate, Illinois Family Institute, Indiana Voice for the Family, Informing Christians, Liberty Counsel, MassResistance, Mission America, New Generation Christian Center, Parents' Rights' Coalition, Right March, Stephen Bennett Ministries, Values USA, Watchmen on the Walls.

If the above coalition of "pro-family" groups were to join forces, it would sort of be like that old "Laff-A-Lympics" cartoon, where characters from all sorts of different shows joined together to compete in an animated extravaganza. Except, of course, in this situation, the friendly animated characters would be replaced with grown adults who dedicate their careers to keeping LGBT people marginalized, stigmatized, and demonized.

Well, guess what? The idea of the aforementioned groups joining forces is not just a hair-raising notion. In preparation for the upcoming Day of Silence (a nationwide effort to curb anti-LGBT harassment in America's public schools), these socially conservative groups have joined forces to organize an effort encouraging parents to keep their children home from school on the day of the pro-acceptance event. Here's a bit of what they have to say about their endeavor:

Buddy Smith of American Family Association asserts, “It’s outrageous that our neighborhood schools would allow homosexual activism to intrude into the classroom. ‘Day of Silence’ is about coercing students to repudiate traditional morality. It’s time for Christian parents to draw the line — if your children will be exposed to this DOS propaganda in their school, then keep them home for the day.”



“It amounts to educational malpractice for school officials to engage in one-sided homosexual activism,” said Matt Barber of Concerned Women for America. “Our schools are supposed to be places of learning, not places of political indoctrination. It is the height of impropriety and cynicism for “gay” activists and school officials to use children as pawns in their attempt to further a highly controversial and polarizing political agenda.”

...

“Social activism does not belong in the classroom,” says Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth. “Students would be far better served by reading a good book at home — perhaps even the Bible — rather than being subjected to pro-'gay' indoctrination.”



This year, GLSEN adds a special twist to “Day of Silence”: shameless exploitation of the recent tragic school shooting death of California 8th grade student Lawrence King. Los Angeles media report that although the boy had been entrusted to the care of Casa Pacifica, a residential center for “abused, neglected, and severely emotionally disturbed children,” he had been permitted for the last two weeks to attend school in feminine makeup, nail polish, and high-heeled boots. The adult guardians, school administrators, and teachers responsible for guiding and protecting this precious troubled child failed him miserably; GLSEN fails him again now by employing his violent death to manipulate and deceive millions of children.

...

Gary Glenn of AFA Michigan, said:



"The director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force broke homosexual activists' code of silence on the threat homosexual behavior poses to young people's health when he admitted this month that HIV 'is a gay disease.' GLSEN should cancel its celebration of that code of silence about the severe public health hazards of homosexual behavior, and any school administrator who continues to stand silent while enabling the promotion of such harmful behavior should be sued for criminal negligence."

Yea, kids? We gay activists are "exploiting" Lawrence King's senseless murder? That's weird, because it totally sounds to us like you on the far-right are exploiting our genuine sadness over the tragic matter to make it sound as if such heartfelt expressions are merely a part of our "playbook."

But what the hell do we know? After all, we're merely people who are sick and tired of seeing soul-damaging bias reproducing itself within subsequent generations, forcing countless queer kids to be robbed of the peace of mind that should define their childhoods. How could we ever compete with those who are fostering such bias by ensuring that own children learn the rules to "smear the queer"?!

Parents, Keep Kids Home on 'Day of Silence' [Mission: America]

Your thoughts



Why do groups like these think when schools make the effort to protect GLBTQ youth its indoctrination? Yet it's not indoctrination when these same groups want creationism thought in schools? So on one hand you have public schools doing what they are supposes to do - protecting all of its student bodies which include GLBTQ youth. But on the other hand they want to teach students that the earth is only 6000 years old! These people are kooky!

Posted by: Alonzo | Mar 5, 2008 12:40:50 PM

Yep, ain't propaganda fun? If you say it with authority, you can get people who are predisposed to believe you to buy that the sky is green, and that anybody who tries to tell you otherwise is being a religious bigot!

Posted by: JWSwift | Mar 5, 2008 12:54:31 PM

The "pro-family" movement's key strategy is to accuse our side of doing EXACTLY what they themselves are doing. Which is exactly why highlighting every instance is so important. The more people experience the hypocrisy, the more people will start to understand what their campaigns are all about.

Posted by: G-A-Y | Mar 5, 2008 1:00:47 PM

From the Day of Silence website: "The Day of Silence (www.dayofsilence.org), a project of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in collaboration with the United States Student Association (USSA), is a student-led day of action where those who support making anti-LGBT bias unacceptable in schools take a day-long vow of silence to recognize and protest the discrimination and harassment -- in effect, the silencing -- experienced by LGBT students and their allies." Funny, I don't see anything about twisting classmates' arms until they say, "I hereby reject traditional morality!" Maybe it's buried on some other page? Or do you need the Religious Right Bizarro World Secret Decoder Ring to uncover that part of the message?



Posted by: Jarred | Mar 5, 2008 1:22:01 PM

Most offensive portion: "The adult guardians, school administrators, and teachers responsible for guiding and protecting this precious troubled child [Lawrence King] failed him miserably;" by allowing him to "attend school in feminine makeup, nail polish, and high-heeled boots." Yeah, they must not have known that the penalty for boys being too feminine is death. What a twisted, sick way too look at this. Blame the his guardians for not sensoring his looks?! How about blaming the kid who shot him for his looking the way he did? How about blaming the intolerance that made the shooter think it was necessary or justified to kill another boy if he expresses romantic interest in you. JUST SICK!

Posted by: GayMormonBoy | Mar 5, 2008 2:59:13 PM

GayMormonBoy: I totally agree with you. Unfortunately, though, I think most of us realized it was only a matter of time before someone went there. Sadly, many of these groups seem to make a habit of being sick.

Posted by: Jarred | Mar 5, 2008 4:20:41 PM

Apparently the anti-gay industry's "Day of Truth" has gone to pot.

Posted by: a. mcewen | Mar 5, 2008 5:43:45 PM

I read some recent news that kids were going to be segregated into gender-differentiated classrooms: girls and boys. I don't know how they'll account for this little problem now... If you're a drudge fan: drudgetracker.com

Posted by: Jimmy L | Mar 5, 2008 8:22:19 PM

How is promoting acceptance, equality, and inclusion (along with rational analysis) in our schools considered to be gay activism or indoctrination? In Illinois, our legislators recently enacted a law mandating a moment of silent "prayer" in our schools. Fortunately, many schools have literally interpreted that to mean a few seconds. Why is prayer taking time in our schools when it could be accomplished in the home before school? It is morally imperative for our country's elementary and secondary schools to enact programs which teach inclusion and acceptance since so many children are taught hatred and ignorance at home and live in a society that condones anti-gay bias in our families, schools, military, adoption, marriages, employment, housing, athletics, etc...

Posted by: Bob Zuley | Mar 6, 2008 11:44:52 AM

Bob: Simple answer -- it's not! They want people to think acceptance is "indoctrination," in order to mask the fact that THEY are the ones trying to indoctrinate public schools with faith-based bias.

Posted by: G-A-Y | Mar 6, 2008 11:48:43 AM

"Encourage your church leadership to follow the bold example of Pastor Ken Hutcherson who is vocally opposing “Day of Silence” in his community in Redmond, Washington." Is this the same Pastor Ken Hutcherson who has said "God hates effeminate men" and "If I was in a drugstore and some guy opened the door for me, I'd rip his arm off and beat him with the wet end"? Gee, I wonder if I can name someone - say, a 15-year old child, perhaps - who was recently brutally murdered for being "effeminate"? These anti-gay groups have no sense of decency at all.

Posted by: Neil H | Mar 7, 2008 9:55:36 PM

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