Posted on 01/23/2002 8:43:27 AM PST by tdadams
(CNSNews.com) - Need money for college tuition? A group of employees from telecommunications giant AT&T will help pay the bills of students who identify themselves as homosexuals.
Grades and extra-curricular activities don't count as much as sexual orientation for this type of financial help.
The scholarship comes from the AT&T Foundation's LEAGUE, which is an acronym for Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay & Transgendered United Employees.
LEAGUE is one of seven "Business Resource Groups" at AT&T, serving as a homosexual advocacy resource for the telecommunications giant, its customers, shareholders, colleagues, families and the global community.
For the past six years, LEAGUE at AT&T Foundation has awarded a handful of $1,500 academic scholarships to self-identified homosexual youth. LEAGUE Foundation spokesperson Charles Eader noted that applications have doubled every year since the fund was launched.
And for those homosexual students who have demonstrated leadership in promoting diversity and understanding in the community, the LEAGUE Foundation offers a $2,500 scholarship dedicated to the memory of Matthew Sheppard, whom it considers a model of courage.
Sheppard, who was homosexual, was tortured and beaten to death by two men on Dec. 28, 1998 in Wyoming. He was 21 at the time.
LEAGUE Foundation said it hopes Shepherd's memory will inspire lesbian, bisexual, gay & transgendered applicants and recipients of scholarships to persevere against anti-homosexual intimidation both in and out of the classroom.
According to Eader, applicants must be high school graduates; identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered; have achieved a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale; be actively and substantially involved in community service; live in the United States; and have been accepted to attend an accredited college or university in the United States.
But conservatives are outraged by the notion that homosexuality is being rewarded by corporations such as AT&T.
"It's sad that teenagers are being deceived about sexuality and recruited into a lifestyle that is unhealthy and immoral," said the Family Research Council's Kristin Hansen. "It's definitely evidence that homosexual activists are organized at many facets of society -- in the corporate world, in schools and in the media."
Eader noted that LEAGUE Foundation is funded wholly by donations and does not receive any financial support from the AT&T corporation. AT&T allows LEAGUE Foundation to conduct its communication and planning activities -- including phone calls, faxes, and emails -- on corporate premises. However, Eader noted that LEAGUE and LEAGUE at AT&T Foundation "are 2 different and distinct, even though related, organizations."
Membership in the AT&T Business Resource Group LEAGUE is reserved solely for AT&T employees. According to Eader, any homosexual advocacy group or its members may become part of the 501(c)3 LEAGUE at AT&T Foundation charity . This charity also "welcomes financial support from the larger LGBT community and its allies," according to the group's Web site, which is hosted by AT&T.
"The level of organization is not a surprise," Hansen said of LEAGUE's wide-open membership requirements and financial practices.
Eader said homosexual scholarship recipients who have been outspoken in their communities are encouraged to continue such activism when they get to college, but he said they have no obligation to do so. Eader added that the names of scholarship recipients remain anonymous, no matter what path they choose to follow.
But scholarship recipients are not discouraged from performing acts of "community service." In fact, Eader said LEAGUE and its supporters would benefit from having a fresh voice on campus promoting the homosexual issues and diversity.
Hansen said LEAGUE's scholarship offering is just another example of incentives encouraging behavior. "And if there's money available," she added, "it legitimizes a behavior."
Why am I getting a picture of a man with his fingers in his ears, shaking his head and saying No, No, NO!!
Equal rights as you define it is leaving something out of the equation. But then, I wouldn't expect you to respect the rights of people you consider to be less than human.
No I tire of arguing with fools who perverse our society in the name of freedom.
Now can you please read the posts and make a useful point for once? A students sexual orientation shouldn't be a free ride *pardon the pun* to college. Neither should your skin color. Make sense? Maybe it makes too much sense for some.
--- John Wayne
"Or a pervert..."
---Anonymous
The point in asking the question, was to help the poster understand that sodomy is not limited to homosexuality, but in fact includes many heterosexual acts as well.
Dullard.
Powerful and impressive turn of phrase.
Usually one must go to a bowling alley, or perhaps a junior high school to see such prowess at work.
Perverse is an adjective, not a verb.
We must continue to stress moral Christian values for the sake of our children and their children. We can't let a small minority of militants change our great country. I have tried, sometimes unsuccessfully, to be a good Christian in my answers but I am human and I sin too. The difference is that I try not to, and I respect differing opinions. Rarely have these attacks on me had anything to do with granting special money to Homosexual college students...at the expense of normal, healthy college students who are trying to follow God's plan.
Have a great day my friends, God Bless.
They have a right to do what they want, but it's not legal? Clearly, in your mind no such right exists. As far as not getting "special rights" for it, what about just living according to their choices without fear of imprisonment from people such as yourself? Is that too much to ask?
Sorry wwjdn, but in this Republic the majority elects a government, which is contrained from certain actions by the Constitution. The role of this government is to protect the rights of all citizens - not just those in the majority. And the majority can never change that fact, no matter if the majority comprised 99% of the population.
Maybe they don't need to be jailed, but they shouldn't be allowed to freely display and force their ideals down others throats.
In other words, you've changed your position? In #5 you stated, "I say jail all openly homosexuals if they refuse to go back to normal moral lifestyle." Now you're saying homosexuals don't need to be jailed; I'm glad you've seen the error in your earlier thinking.
They are the most militant group alive that I am aware of. Doesn't that worry you just a little?
More militant than the Taliban? Than China's government? Than Farrakhan/Sharpton? It seems as though your fixation on homosexuals has obscured your view of the world as a whole. If homosexuals are fighting for rights equal to the rest of us, I'm not worried in the least. Even if I was, I'd realize I have "much bigger fish to fry".
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