Printing contributed by Washington Education Association
Posted on 02/25/2007 8:07:04 AM PST by dcnd9
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX) distributes flyers to students at area public high schools and so should you! Flyers announcing your ex-gay organization and the resources you offer to the community are a good way to communicate the message that change is possible and that diversity includes ex-gays (individuals who no longer self-identify as “gay”). You deliver your flyers to the local high schools and the school administration distributes the flyers to the student body.
PFOX has samples of its flyers and brochures at www.pfox.org under Downloads. Flyers must advertise the resources and support your ex-gay organization offers to students and their parents. PFOX also has secular student brochures for you to place in school counselor’s offices or anywhere where gay literature is publicly displayed. Equal access allows you to distribute ex-gay literature on the same basis that gay groups are permitted.
Public school guidelines released by the First Amendment Center maintain that the ex-gay viewpoint is protected by the First Amendment and should be heard. Both GLSEN and CEIA endorsed the guidelines. See http://pfox.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=158#158
1) Choose those high schools where you want your flyers to be distributed. Printing thousands of flyers is expensive, so choose only those schools that need your services – schools with GSA or other gay clubs, that celebrate Day of Silence or other gay events, etc. These are the schools that need to hear about the ex-gay message and your services. Check each school’s website under Student Clubs or Student Organizations to see if they have a GSA (Gay Straight Alliance), Tolerance, Diversity, or other such club. In addition, also check your state at http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/student/student/index.html to see if the high school has a GSA club.
2) Check the websites of the school board, local school district, and Superintendent to find out what your school district’s policy is on flyer distribution by outside community groups like yours. Sometimes the flyer distribution is called a “backpack flyer program.” See http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/info/flyers for one example. If you don’t know the website addresses, type in the name of your school district on www.google.com to find them. The school district’s website will also have the names of the high schools in your district.
3) If the policy is not posted on the website, email the school district and ask them to send you their policy on distribution of flyers by non-profit community organizations.
4) If they don’t have a policy, send the school district an email asking for the names of organizations which have had their flyers distributed in the high schools for the past three years. Tell them that you want this information under your state’s Freedom of Information Act. If the schools have allowed other organizations to distribute flyers, they should also allow yours.
5) News Article – PFOX Official: Homosexual Activists Want to Censor Ex-'Gay' Message 'Tolerance Police' Blasted for Opposing Ex-Homosexual Group's Flyer Handout at MD High School By Jim Brown (American Family Radio News)
(AgapePress) - An informational flyer distributed by an ex-"gay" group at a Maryland high school has administrators, faculty, and students who support homosexuality seething. Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) recently passed out the flyer to 3,000 students at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring.
The handout distributed by the ex-homosexual group states its belief "in unconditional love for family members with same-sex attractions" and its goal of seeking "to eliminate prejudice and discrimination against former homosexuals." PFOX executive director Regina Griggs says those who are raising angry objections to the flyer distribution are demonstrating intolerance. Also, she feels they are obstructing a legitimate effort to provide young people with certain facts about homosexuality.
"Children need to be able to have a free place where they can go and get information and not have someone promote an agenda and not provide them with accurate information," Griggs asserts. "We want kids to know that change is possible," she says.
However, the PFOX spokeswoman points out, "We didn't even put that in the flyer." The basic message that homosexual activists seem so eager to suppress was not even mentioned in this particular handout, she notes, adding that the handout "was very basic: here are some services we provide, please contact us, here's our website -- that's it."
Ironically, Griggs observes, self-proclaimed proponents of tolerance want PFOX's flyer censored and facts about the medical and psychological effects of homosexual behavior suppressed, along with the very idea that sexual orientation is not immutable. These homosexual activists "do not want people to know that change is possible," she says, and "they certainly do not want you to provide an alternative."
These pro-homosexual tolerance and diversity advocates generally "see ex-gays as nonexistent," the PFOX official contends. And when former homosexuals are introduced to society, she says, many homosexual activists become afraid that this "confuses the public and may actually be a deterrent to gay marriage and other civil rights that they believe they deserve."
Nevertheless, Griggs says PFOX will not let opposition or hostility from homosexual opponents deter the group's efforts to tell the public the truth about homosexuality or to let those struggling with unwanted homosexuality know that change is possible. The flyer distribution at Montgomery Blair High School, she suggests, was simply intended to let students know that information and help are available.
Last year, PFOX won a lawsuit challenging Montgomery County's sexual education curriculum. In that case, a federal judge ordered the school system to toss out the biased, pro-homosexuality curriculum that made derogatory comments about Christian views on homosexual behavior.
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Printing contributed by Washington Education Association
ping.
"'Gays' should be referred to as NORMALphobes from now on."
I call them "HETEROPHOBES"!
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