Posted on 11/28/2004 12:21:56 AM PST by JohnHuang2
Sunday, November 28, 2004
If administrators of Kentucky's Boyd County school district can't find a way to force all students to attend sexual orientation and gender identity "tolerance training," the American Civil Liberties Union is threatening to take them to court – again.
Ten months ago, the district settled a lawsuit with the ACLU over the right of a student group, the Gay-Straight Alliance, to meet on campus. The year-long litigation strained relations in the conservative northeast portion of the state. In addition to allowing the group to meet on campus after school, district officials agreed that all students, staff and teachers would be required to receive "tolerance training."
The agreement stipulated all would attend "mandatory anti-harassment workshops," including the viewing of an hour-long "training" video covering sexual orientation and gender identity issues for middle and high school students.
But ten months on, one-third of Boyd County students have failed to see the video, and that has the ACLU threatening court action.
"It sounds like the training can't possibly be done," James Esseks, litigation director for the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, tells the Louisville Courier-Journal.
District figures show 105 of 730 middle school students opted out of the training video and 145 of 971 high school students did likewise. On the day scheduled for training, 324 students didn't show up for school.
The current legal snag arises from the fact the original consent decree had no provision for parents exempting their children.
"The schools have great latitude in what they want to teach, including what's in training programs, and the training is now part of the school curriculum," Esseks says. "Parents don't get to say I don't want you to teach evolution or this, that or whatever else. If parents don't like it they can homeschool, they can go to a private school, they can go to a religious school."
"Where are the parental rights in this whole thing?" asks Rev. Tim York, president of the Boyd County Ministerial Alliance and head of Defenders Voice, a community group formed to contest the decree.
According to the group's website, Defenders Voice "incorporated due to the need for protection of both the physical and mental health of our students and citizens." Its members place blame for their current distress squarely on the ACLU:
"We have seen an onslaught of aggressive homosexual activism sweep across our country. In many cases, these activists are supported by the ACLU in their attempts. ... Defenders Voice believes that an organization like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) should not be allowed to tell parents what their children must learn."
The Alliance Defense Fund, a religious-liberties public-interest legal group, has signed on to help Defenders Voice, pledging to sue the school district unless it adopts an opt-out policy for parents this week. Alliance was formed in 1993 with the guidance of several well-known Christian conservatives, including the late Dr. Bill Bright, the late Larry Burkett, Dr. James Dobson, Dr. D. James Kennedy, and the late Marlin Maddoux.
Joe Platt, a Cincinnati attorney representing Alliance, says mandatory training on tolerance for homosexuals violates the right of conscience of parents and students who believe such behavior immoral.
But school district attorney, Winter Huff, insists to the Courier-Journal the decree does not violate parental rights: "Students certainly have the right to believe in what they want to believe, but they don't have the right to act out in inappropriate ways. The point is you don't treat people disrespectfully, you don't pick on people, you don't bully them, you don't make them afraid to come to school."
Meanwhile, only one of the seven plaintiffs in the 2003 lawsuit still remain in school. Six have graduated, and the teacher-adviser for the Gay-Straight Alliance club asked to transfer to another campus.
The ACLU's Esseks is now questioning whether the mandatory video meets the decree's required hour of anti-harassment training. Like one-third of the students in Boyd County schools, he has yet to view it.
If you'd like to sound off on this issue, please take part in the WorldNetDaily poll.
I agree that the root of the problem is poor parenting. We are reaping the whirlwind of sowing to the wind in the 60's and 70's. The so-called "counter-culture" of the 60's and 70's has produced that which we see now. the ones who were counter-culture in that time are now the ones pursuing the Almighty Dollar, the very thing they decried back then. As Pogo said in the cartoon strip, "We have met the enemy, and he is us!". What goes around, comes around.
"Simply because an organization calls itself a "civil liberties" group does not mean it actually is for them."
Exactly.
I haven't seen them rushing in to defend the Second Amendment lately.
And what about the children's right not be be sexually molested in the public school? As one can notice in the news, pedophiles like to show dirty movies to the children.
None!
Will someone please tell me why the ACLU is permitted to operate in this country? Why doesn't someone do something about this Communist fronted operation which seems to be calling ALL the shots these days? Kill the ACLU!!!!!
NOW!!!!!
>How is the ACKU funded?<
GOOD QUESTION!!!
It's not just a one-hour video -- homosexual tolerance and exposure is permeating the whole curriculum, especially in places such as Massachusetts.
Parents could also check out required reading book lists. In many schools, there are plenty of books with a homosexual theme running through them. Kids are getting hit over the head with it. Students are told to "read the trash" or they won't graduate, or at least that's what one parent wrote on another website, this after parents complained about the choice of books offered to their kids and got absolutely nowhere.
How many parents are willing to go down to the school and actually threaten the board that if they don't go along with the majority of parents, they will pull their kids out en masse? It's very effective (I've seen it done)if enough parents have the guts to do it and the school wakes up to the realization that they truly will do it.
But apparently the parents of 250 students do, and if 250 students leave the district's schools, that could be a real problem for the schools. 324 students didn't show up for school that day -- one-third of students in the district have not seen the video.
Parents just might decide to send their kids to private school or homeschool them. Harlen County, KY, saw a big drain on their public school system when parents pulled their kids for Christian schools and homeschooling. School officials were very upset over that.
"Perhaps you might want to look up the two words yourself and explain the difference to us all between TOLERANCE and IMPOSITION."
OK, here goes...
Tolerance n. readiness to allow others to believe or act as they judge best.
Imposition n. an imposing or being imposed // a tax or duty // the taking of an unfair advantage //
The difference is clear but I can't explain it to you, sorry. It's easier to tolerate an imposition than it is to impose a tolerance.
Your post was clear and concise. I thought mine was too. Going back to what started the whole lawsuit, literally, it was a lack of tolerance to an imposition.
I'm not part of the gay "crusade against society", I'm just alot less concerned about them than you are.
Very interesting idea. A couple of questions - have you done it yet? And if they ask questions (at any time during this infiltration process) about one's political and social views, should one lie, avoid the topic, or tell the truth? As filled with vice as I may be, I am a very bad liar - mix my stories, my eyes shift, I just can't do it well, so I avoid the practice.
;-)
They are probably unarmed and defenseless. ;-)
Very well spoken comments. You should save them for future use. Like a letter to the editor!
I will add my (humble) two cents: The reason the homosexual activists have gotten where they are now is because conservatives have been wimpy Mr. Nice Guy far, far too long. Allowing agressors to take over is not being nice, not "turning the other cheek", it is suicidal to oneself and society, and cruelty to those under our care, such as children.
If a rapist came into our houses, would we be Mr. Nice Guy and show him where our childrens' rooms are?
Enough is enough. Time to call for viewing of The Passion of the Christ DVD to aid in tolerance training toward Christians.
What a nice definition for tolerance.
I hope you are tolerant of terrorists attempts to blow you to smithereens. The terrorists judge that killing you and anyone else who disagrees with them is "best".
Have a nice day. BOOOOOOOOM
Part of this is the feminist wimpy Christian movement.
All gay /straight aliance clubs are part of GLSEN. GLSEN is the infamouse group which produces materials FOR ChILDREN to experiment with sexual behavior. The GSA was set up as recruiting arms for homosexuals to recruit children. This must be exposed. I think GLSEN has gone stealth to hide from news clipping services that are programed to pick up on GLSEN stories.
I would suggest the school board do something to screen this for mothers and fathers.
The ACLU will have a hissy fit if children are kept home and away from these perverts.
Let's see if I have this right. The Boy Scouts are not allowed to meet in government funded schools because they use the word GOD in their oath. However, a movie endorsing homosexuality is not only allowed, but is required viewing. No wonder Republicans are winning elections.
I share your outrage and we must confront these events. But also take heart that we are indeed doing something...at the ballot box. And we're winning.
Don't underestimate the power of advertising. If ads didn't have any effect, billions of dollars would not be spent by advertising companies.
And pro-homosexual "training" does not just include a video. You think there isn't or won't be any followup on this? Assemblies? Special guests to teach the kids more stuff? Come on. Ove the last 15 years I've been keeping my eye on the homosexual agenda, schools have been a target for the homosexual activists. Assemblies, special Queer day, transvestites and transsexuals in the classroom, here in CA it's Planned Parenthood in the classroom glorifying the "gay" life and condemning the kids who don't agree, and on and on.
It's indoctrination, it's not just one hour.
ping
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