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| School's Out -- Will the Rainbow Bus Take Our Kids to the Land of Diversity? Caution: This article contains graphic descriptions that some may find offensive. By Ed Vitagliano (AgapePress) - Transvestite teachers. Boys kissing boys in restrooms. Teens taught about anal sex. "Gay" fairy tales for children. Could these things actually become a reality in our public schools? The speed of change in our society thus far, driven by resolute homosexual activists, indicates that the answer is most assuredly yes.
So what changes can be expected, and what would life in our public schools be like if homosexual activists win the culture war? The following are predictions based on current trends. Entrenchment of 'Gay' Viewpoint In their 1972 Gay Rights Platform, activists meeting in Chicago, Illinois, demanded "[f]ederal encouragement and support for sex education courses, prepared and taught by gay women and men, presenting homosexuality as a valid, healthy preference and lifestyle as a viable alternative to heterosexuality." Similarly, in their 1993 March on Washington, DC, activists demanded that such radical instruction be taught on "all levels of education" -- federal, state and local, grades K-12. Support for the homosexual agenda is already solid throughout the professional education organizations, such as the National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, American Association of School Administrators, and the National Association of School Psychologists. The National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) has also made it clear that it supports the normalization of homosexuality within the public school system. In 1999, for example, National PTA President Ginny Markell said her organization would be making available the video That's a Family!, which embraces same-sex families, as part of a nationwide effort to fight discrimination against homosexuals. At its 2004 conference in Anaheim, California, the National PTA partnered with Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), a pro-homosexual group, to cooperatively present a workshop that instructed educators about how to promote homosexuality in public schools. Across the nation, outside homosexual pressure groups are constantly pushing schools to create an environment in which the "gay" lifestyle is celebrated. Perhaps the most effective of these groups, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), says it has almost 70 chapters throughout the nation. The group claims on its website that, by the end of the 2002-2003 school year, 1,864 student clubs -- called "Gay-Straight Alliances" -- had registered with GLSEN. Other projects, such as the controversial videos It's Elementary and That's a Family!, have been instrumental in instructing public school administrators and faculty how to teach children of all ages about homosexuality. It's Elementary, for example, has been acquired by nearly two thousand educational institutions across the country. As sympathy for the homosexual agenda becomes embedded in the nation's public school systems, the changes promise to be dramatic. Linda Harvey of Mission America, a pro-family group, predicts that: "School literature will be adapted to reflect a positive view of the homosexual family as a future option for every child. Josh will learn that he can grow up and marry a girl or a boy. And since at age six he probably hasn't yet discovered his sexual 'identity,' the fair thing will be to present all angles to him in language, health, music and social studies." Opposition Will Be Squelched For example, at Arcata High School in Arcata, California, Christian students in that public school were ridiculed for their beliefs about homosexuality in a sex education lesson. Led by a representative of Planned Parenthood, students were told to stand in a circle and were asked, "Do you have a religious belief about homosexuality that considers it a sin and wrong?" Those who did were told they had to remain alone in the circle. The representative admitted that "the children who answered 'yes' had to stay in the circle. This caused them to feel very demeaned, put down." In St. Paul, Minnesota, 16-year-old Elliott Chambers was ordered by his principal to stop wearing a sweatshirt that simply said "Straight Pride" on the front, and contained the image of a man and woman holding hands on the back. And during a planned, day-long protest by homosexual students in Boone, North Carolina, three Christian high school students were suspended by the principal because they refused to change their "offensive" T-shirts. The objectionable message? The trio's shirts bore Biblical messages about homosexuality and salvation. In some schools, where students have been steadily fed homosexual propaganda for years, it is sometimes classmates, and not school officials, who assume the role of persecutors. One woman, whose family had moved from the South to New Hampshire, said her boys were shocked at how they were received. "My 16-year-old son had to deal with unwanted advances from other male students," she said. When she approached school officials to try to put a stop to the harassment by homosexuals, they refused. "[W]hat happened was the students found out that my 16- and 17-year-old boys were against homosexuality so they were taunted constantly and treated as if they were gay." Homosexual Techniques Will Be Taught to Students In 2000, the Boston affiliate of GLSEN co-sponsored a conference which gave explicit "gay" sex lessons to kids as young as 14, and then tried to keep that information from reaching parents. The event, held at Tufts University, was funded by the Massachusetts Department of Education. Lecturers explained to participants about different homosexual practices, including "fisting," the homosexual practice of inserting one's fist and forearm into the anus of another man. [See related article -- CAUTION: LINKED ARTICLE CONTAINS GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS] In Vermont another "gay" group, called Outright Vermont, has been pushing the homosexual agenda in schools -- also at taxpayer expense. According to its own documents, Outright Vermont has used taxpayer money to provide "safer sex activities" and "parties" for teens, including "demonstrations, guided practice and skill evaluation" for the use of prophylactics, and the distribution of free condoms, lubricants for sexual intercourse between males, "dental dams" for oral sex between lesbians, and latex gloves for mutual masturbation between homosexual teenagers. In 2000 alone, the number of such items requested by Outright Vermont for distribution to teens was scandalous: 5,000 condoms, 750 dental dams, 750 latex gloves, and 2,000 packets of lubricant. [See related article -- CAUTION: LINKED ARTICLE CONTAINS GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS] Sometimes the legitimization of homosexual activity is done in a roundabout way. Harvey says that "both GLSEN and PFLAG advocate book selections for youth that include positive portrayals of homosexual sex between boys, pornography use, cheating on a spouse with a homosexual lover, homosexual sex between underage youth and adults, and straight and 'gay' experimentation by 'uncertain' youth." Acceptance of 'Transgenders' This latter group consists of "trans-gendered" individuals -- men and women who believe that their biological sex does not accurately reflect what they perceive their gender to be. Some, called transsexuals, have sex-change operations, while others maintain their biological sex and merely "cross-dress." Such gender-bending concepts are already causing chaos in some public schools. In Missouri last year, the Francis Howell Board of Education rejected complaints from parents when the cross-dressing parent of a fourth-grade student chaperoned school field trips. In Brockton, Massachusetts, a 15-year-old male student demanded the right to come to school dressed like a girl, and school officials capitulated. Meanwhile, in 1998 students at Southwest High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, were forced to accept librarian David Nielsen's transition into "Debra Davis," after he began wearing woman's clothes to school and identified himself as a woman. Alarmingly, in that case the school sent a letter home with students that defended its decision to embrace Nielsen's cross-dressing. "We believe [students] will be more enriched and have a better understanding of diversity by knowing and working with this employee," the letter said. According to the Evangelical News Service, Southwest High School even presented to students "educational sessions" on trans-genderism. Nielsen also upset some teachers when he began using the women's faculty restroom. Both the school administration and, eventually, a federal court, rebuffed the complaints of female teachers. Groups like GLSEN, PFLAG and the largest homosexual lobby group, the Human Rights Campaign, all support changes in law which would include the full acceptance of trans-gendered students right along with those who define themselves as "gay," lesbian or bisexual. If these demands are fully embraced, the prospect of gender chaos in schools will be assured. Conclusion Harvey's prediction is of a grotesque culture that includes: "Lesbian bride dolls. Fourth grade 'gay' clubs. A king and king at the high school prom. Dating tips for same-sex teens. Bathroom ogling -- and sometimes quick encounters -- in the middle school boys' restroom." Fortunately, while the groundwork for these changes has been laid, it is not yet a done deal. But Americans who believe there is something inherently abnormal, unnatural and immoral about homosexuality had better stand up right now. If the public schools are lost to homosexual activists, our children and grandchildren will be thrown into a queer new world. And there's nothing gay about that. Ed Vitagliano, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is news editor of AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association. This article appeared in the October 2004 issue. © 2004 AgapePress all rights reserved. |
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