Supporting documentation for reply 408 in this thread:
An excerpt from "Gay advocates in education ponder a George Bush future" by By Peter Cassels, Bay Windows staff, Thursday, December 14, 2000
"... Cullen, 32, joined GLSEN eight months ago and just recently moved into its newly opened Office of Public Policy in the nations capital. Headquartered in New York City, the advocacy organization believed it needed a Washington presence to more effectively achieve its goals of eliminating discrimination based on sexual orientation in the nations 16,000 local school districts. Cullen and her office will identify federal, state and local public policy strategies and expand GLSENs work with Congress, the U.S. Department of Education and mainstream lobbying organizations, such as the National Education Association (NEA) and the National School Boards Association (NSBA). The move also places GLSEN in close proximity to prominent gay advocacy organizations it works with: the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, the Log Cabin Republicans and the National Stonewall Democratic Federation...
In 1965, Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which today provides seven to eight percent of local school funding. The Department of Education develops policy and administers those programs. Thats where the impact can be dramatic, Cullen notes. The department produces a raft of resources, such as printed materials and teacher and staff training programs and seminars on a variety of subjects affecting education, from improving the quality of schools to implementing federal anti-discrimination policies for students.
According to GLSEN spokesperson Jim Anderson, any time the federal government can include sexual orientation in resource materials is extremely helpful to us when we go into local communities to make our case for expanding policies to include it. Even though federal statutes do not currently protect sexual orientation, the department does sometimes include reference to it in materials and trainings. Its Office of Civil Rights has comprehensive inclusive policies, Cullen notes. It did some work around hate crimes in the past few years and its language did include sexual orientation...
She emphasizes that GLSEN doesnt plan on developing and implementing its national strategies alone. Theres a wealth of like-minded organizations that have offices here, she points out. The HRC has the lobbying force and a reputation on Capitol Hill. Theres the National Youth Advocacy Coalition, which represents community-based organizations working with GLBT youth. The American Psychological Association works with school counselors and psychologists.
Then theres the NEA, a powerful lobbying force: Bob Chase, its president, spoke at our national conference in Chicago this year. He took a lot of heat, including hate mail from NEA members, for doing so. And, well work with local school boards to promote our goals. From what I can tell, the NSBA has good folks and forward-thinking proposals. The 2001 conference will be held in D.C., enhancing GLSENs visibility..."
"... Bob has been a very strong asset for this caucus and for glbt issues in NEA, reported Connections, the newsletter of the NEA Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgender Caucus, in its September 2002 edition.
On October 7, 2000, Chase gave a plenary address to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Networks annual conference in Arlington, Illinois, in which he lambasted conservatives. The NEA does not have what the right wing has branded a radical pro-homosexual agenda, we have a radical pro-civil rights agenda, a radical human rights agenda the agenda of promoting equal respect, dignity and educational opportunities for all, he said. GLSEN advocates pro-homosexual messages in public schools, beginning in kindergarten.
Under Bob Chases leadership, the NEA effectively became a driving engine for promoting homosexuality to schoolchildren. When we are told that someones sexual orientation is of no consequence, we need to remind them of this, said Robert Knight, director of CWAs Culture & Family Institute. There are jobs in which someones sexual propensities probably dont impact the work environment much, unless they engage in activism or inappropriate behavior. But Bob Chases tenure at NEA is living proof that homosexual activists are taking direct aim at our children, and that so-called sexual orientation is crucial when it comes to school leadership.
In July 2001, Chase denounced as demagoguery a pro-family rally and press conference in Los Angeles outside the NEA convention. Hundreds of parents and teachers had gathered to urge the NEA delegates not to pass a resolution that would have urged teachers to integrate pro-homosexual materials into every subject, beginning with kindergarten and extending through senior year in high school. In the face of the protest and media coverage, delegates decided to table the measure and form a task force to study it.
In addition to promoting homosexuality among schoolchildren, the NEA discriminates against the ex-gay movement. When Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) applied for booth space at the 2002 NEA national convention in Washington, D.C., its $550 application check had already been cashed when they were suddenly told the event was sold out. PFOX has filed a discrimination complaint with the District of Columbia Office of Human Rights. This year, the NEA told PFOX directly that the organization was not welcome at the national convention, which was held the first week in July in New Orleans, Regina Griggs, PFOXs executive director, told Culture & Family Report...
According to a 1997 Eagle Forum report, Gay and lesbian activists may have become the most influential single group within the NEA convention. During the 97 convention, the activists changed their demand from tolerance to acceptance.
According to one handout distributed during the convention, Diversity is the word and acceptance is the order.
According to the NEA-GLBTC website, pro-homosexuality NEA resolutions include:
Student Sexual Orientation - calls for school districts to provide counseling for students struggling with their sexual/gender orientation.
Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Curriculum calls for the development of a curriculum that recognizes the contributions of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual persons with acknowledgement of their sexual orientation.
Salaries and Benefits calls for comprehensive health, dental and vision insurance for school employees spouses, domestic partners and dependents.
Family Life Education calls for sex education programs that include discussions regarding the diversity of sexual orientation.
Under Chases leadership, the NEA has also promoted homosexuality in the Democratic Party, Knight said. Observers at the last two party conventions reported that NEA-affiliated delegates, many of them wearing homosexual pins and hats, made up a quarter of the delegates, and threw their weight around effectively.
The nations public school system is in the grip of a powerful, politically active homosexual lobby..."
Gay Editor Questions "Sighting" About Molestation, Massachusetts News, February 25, 2004
"... In addition to the childrens pre-institute conference, the event will include another institute titled, Exploring Erotic Touch, where We will use touch, massage, imagination and self-pleasuring to awaken the connection between erotic energy and spirituality and between the feminine and masculine in ourselves.
The website description further states, Men are asked not [to] ejaculate for 48 hours before the workshop. All participants are asked to refrain from the use of alcohol or recreational drugs 72 hours before and during the workshop.
The description indicates that bodily fluids are likely to flow at the event, leading Peter LaBarbera, senior policy analyst for the Culture & Family Institute, to observe: The involvement of GLSEN and Advocates for Youth in such a perverted event should by itself disqualify them from any future involvement with schools. No taxpayer dollars should go to these organizations, which are obviously more interested in promoting radical sexual agendas than the health and safety of children...
An excerpt from "Homosexual Groups Unite to Push Agenda"
"For those who ridicule the whole notion of a homosexual "agenda," a recent press release from a new coalition of lesbian, "gay," bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) groups was unwelcome news.
In a joint statement released January 13, an alliance of 22 organizations spoke of a "shared vision," which includes the legalization of same-sex marriage, the continuation of promotional efforts throughout the nation's public school systems, the inclusion of "sexual orientation" in federal hate crimes and nondiscrimination laws, and an end to the ban on homosexuals in the military.
The coalition consists of LGBT groups such as the Human Rights Campaign; Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation; Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network; the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the American Civil Liberties Union Lesbian & Gay Rights Project.
"The speed with which our movement is advancing on all fronts is absolutely historic -- and it hasn't happened by chance or by accident," said the press release. It cited the LGBT movement's "instruments" of change: "lobbying, electoral politics, impact litigation, grassroots organizing, public education, media advocacy and more ...."
The statement also accused pro-family groups of continuing to "confuse, distort and subvert the public debate," even while homosexuality continues to become more acceptable in the hearts and minds of the American public..."
See also:
Recommended Reading for Teenagers? A Closer Look at P-FLAG
The World According to PFLAG: Why PFLAG and Children Don't Mix
GLSEN and PFLAG - Why We Must Stop These Groups from Influencing Youth
Mission America: Fighting the Gay Agenda in Schools Articles