HOW TO PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN FROM PRO-HOMOSEXUALITY PROPAGANDA IN SCHOOLS


There are many actions parents and pro-family activists can take to protect children from pro-homosexuality propaganda in schools. [For information on how homosexuality is being promoted in schools, see “Top 10 Strategies Used by Homosexual Activists in Schools,” an FRC Insight paper by Peter LaBarbera, 11/23/99, IS99F4HS.]

  1. REALIZE THAT YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Pro-homosexuality school administrators may seek to persuade you that “gay”-affirming programs in your child’s school have not caused any controversy. If this is true, it is most likely because few parents are aware of the program. Don’t accept the blandishments of school administrators and teachers who may already be teaching your children wrong lessons about homosexuality.

  2. INFORM A NETWORK OF PARENTS ABOUT THE PROBLEM; DON’T SPEND TOO MUCH INITIAL ENERGY LOBBYING EDUCATORS. When pro-“gay” policies are instituted in schools, the last thing educators want is publicity. They often assume they know better than you what is right for your child. Occasionally parents waste valuable time and energy attempting to persuade educators that it is wrong to promote homosexuality as normal. Meanwhile, the offending lesson plan or program goes on. Teachers and school administrators have been trained in liberal academic circles to believe that “tolerance” and “diversity,” including embracing homosexuality, are among the most important values for society. You may never win them over, but many parents will be shocked to learn that their moral and religious beliefs are being undermined by the schools to which they entrust their children. Your first goal must be to inform as many parents as you can about the problem. Later you can all work together on lobbying the school decision-makers.

  3. STICK TO WELL-DOCUMENTED FACTS. To inform your parents coalition, you must do your best to convey the problem as accurately as you can. If you exaggerate it, you will lose credibility and hurt your chances of getting rid of the program. Get actual documents used to support the program (e.g., teacher’s manuals for pro-homosexuality lesson plans). If a “gay” activist is scheduled to speak to your child’s school, arrange to have the speech taped. Pro-homosexuality educators can mischaracterize a presentation — after all, it is in their interest to portray it as innocuous — but they cannot dispute firsthand information. If educators seek to keep you as a parent from attending a school event (say, a “diversity” conference for teachers), fight for your right to attend. You hold the responsibility for what your son or daughter is taught. Do not let administrators intimidate you by denying you access to full information, but always treat them with courtesy and respect.

  4. HOLD A PARENTS MEETING. An effective way to build your parents’ network is to educate other concerned parents in home meetings. Many will be shocked to see how strongly the education movement has embraced pro-homosexuality programs. Make copies of your documentation of the offending program and pass them out at the initial meeting. Some parents will be less committed than others. It is your job to build a core of parents devoted to eliminating the pro-homosexuality policy. You can educate this group about the tactics of the “gay” education movement. Obtain a copy of American Family Association’s video “Suffer the Children” (www.afa.net; 1 (800) FAMILIES), a critical response to the lesbian-produced film It’s Elementary: Talking about Gay Issues in School. It’s Elementary shows teachers giving pro-homosexuality lessons to young schoolchildren — including first-graders — in six “progressive” elementary and middle schools in San Francisco; New York City; Madison, Wis.; and Cambridge, Mass. You can show AFA’s counter film at a home meeting to demonstrate to your pro-family network that homosexual activists are so serious about making schools pro-homosexuality that they are already propagandizing first- and second-graders. You can also show The Children of Table 34, an FRC-produced video about how the discredited Kinsey studies involving children are the animating principle behind most of today’s sex education (www.frc.org; 1 (800) 225-4008). Realizing the depth of the problem will help motivate your core group of activists and inoculate them against claims by educators that the questionable programs do not “promote homosexuality” but just teach “tolerance.” Of course these programs promote homosexuality: When you take a behavior that has been considered immoral and unhealthy for centuries and start teaching children — even kindergartners — that it is morally acceptable and the basis for a healthy “identity,” that is promotion!

  5. USE THE MEDIA TO BUILD OPPOSITION TO THE PROGRAM. When the time is right, you can take your concerns to the media. But be careful! There are many journalists these days who are firmly committed to affirming homosexuality and who regard those who oppose “gay rights” as bigots — the moral equivalent of racists. It is always safer to start with friendly media such as Christian radio, but ultimately you will have to reach the secular journalists, too. Appoint a competent spokesman from your core group of parent-activists, preferably someone experienced in dealing with the media who can articulate your position with clarity and compassion. Don’t allow anyone to “speak for your side” who does not address this issue with a Christlike attitude of love for sinners. Humility will be rewarded. After all, we all have problems to overcome; the “gay” activists are just seeking to have theirs validated by the rest of society and declared normal and good. You must also be vigilant against those in the pro-family movement who overplay the “compassion card.” It is wrong to affirm homosexual behavior or “identity” in any way, especially in the name of Christianity, as some Christian leaders have.1 Jesus Christ told the adulteress, “Go and sin no more,” not “Go and defend your rights.” Homosexual behavior can be changed, as proven by the many former homosexuals in our society. (Isn’t it telling that you rarely hear of former homosexuals being asked to speak at schools?)

  6. HIGHLIGHT THE WORST ABUSES. Even though acceptance of homosexuality has grown in our culture, most people don’t think it should be taught to children and most have no idea how far the homosexual movement has advanced. In Massachusetts, “gay” advocates in the schools are now pushing the “transgendered” cause, taking class time to subject students to discussions by transsexual activists.2 Such abuses will mobilize the public and parents to action, and will embarrass school administrators who claim that “gay” school programs are harmless.

  7. MEET WITH THE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION; ASK FOR A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROGRAM IN WRITING. When you have assembled the facts about the offending pro-homosexuality policy or lesson at your child’s school, you can demand a meeting with the school. If you can get several parents to attend, all the better. That will dissuade school administrators from thinking that they can easily dismiss your concerns. Ask for a description and defense of the program in writing, including all teacher manuals used to implement it. As a parent and a taxpayer, you have a right to this information. If the administration decides to stonewall or declines to provide you with the relevant documents, regroup in another home meeting and plan your response. At this point, you may need to inform the media of the school’s foot-dragging. Remember that “parent’s rights” is a powerful rallying cry that appeals even to many liberal parents who consider themselves “pro-gay.”

Preventative Actions and Novel Strategies

There is no single strategy guaranteed to stop pro-homosexuality programs in schools. Different groups employ different methods. The following are some suggestions for preventative actions and counter strategies that have been used with success:

  1. FIND OUT ABOUT FACULTY TRAINING. Before the school year even begins, write a letter to your principal asking him if he or any other school administrator, or any teacher, has attended “diversity” or “tolerance” seminars dealing with “sexual orientation.” If so, which programs did they attend? Also, ask if the school has ever in the past implemented, or plans in the future to implement, any type of “gay”-oriented program for teachers or students. (Use the terms gay-oriented or sexual orientation-related, since the educators may deny that such programs promote or affirm homosexuality.) In the letter, you can mention the two leading homosexual groups dealing with education issues: the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN: www.glsen.org) and Parents, Friends, and Families of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG: www.pflag.org). Has the school ever worked with these groups or sent teachers to their seminars?

  2. OPT OUT. Write a letter to your school principal and your child’s teacher explaining your wish that your child not be exposed to pro-homosexuality messages (obviously, this could also be part of the first letter above). If any such lessons are planned, ask that your child be “opted out” of such programs. This is also an opportunity to inquire about the teacher’s training on this issue, and his or her philosophy regarding the appropriateness of teaching children about homosexuality. Of course, it is also an opportunity to share your thinking and even your faith, if that guides your approach. You can politely assure the teacher that you do not wish to focus solely on this issue, but that you have been compelled to write due to news reports about pro-homosexuality programs in schools. (Cite the showing of the film It’s Elementary on public television in June 1999.) Be kind and courteous, but always remember that you are responsible for guiding your child’s education and moral training — not the teacher! If you develop a well-worded letter, show it to your friends, so they can write one, too. (However, it’s best that they not simply copy yours.)

  3. PROTEST PREEMPTIVELY. Ralph Ovadal, a Christian pro-family activist with a group called Wisconsin Christians United (WCU), believes parents often lose if they wait to get answers from school administrators until after the pro-homosexuality program has taken place. In 1997, WCU learned (through a letter sent home to parents) of a pro-homosexuality “Multicultural Day” workshop against “homophobia” for eighth-graders at a middle school in Oregon, Wisconsin, outside liberal Madison.3 Ovadal organized a parents picket in front of the school to protest the event. The school received much unwanted media publicity, and several parents arriving to drop their children off at the school were outraged to learn of the pro-homosexuality session.4 (Remember, children often forget to give their parents notices.)

  4. DEMAND FAIRNESS. If you cannot stop a pro-homosexuality event in your child’s school, or pro-“gay” tolerance sessions for the school’s teachers, a fallback strategy is to demand that both sides of the homosexuality issue be presented. It is hard for school administrators to say that they are not promoting homosexuality if they refuse to allow teachers or students to hear the other side of the issue. Some pro-family advocates have used this approach successfully.

  5. TEACH STUDENTS HOW TO RESPOND TO IN-SCHOOL “GAY” ACTIVISM. Unfortunately, many children these days don’t listen to parents or authority figures. In fact, many heterosexual students (even self-identified Christians) have joined “Gay-Straight Alliance” (GSA) clubs out of a sense that homosexual students are being persecuted by other students and adult decision-makers. One way around this is to work with and educate a group of student-leaders who can correctly apply Christian principles on this issue. They may be far more effective than you in reaching their peers with the truth about homosexuality, and at the very least, they can demand that school administrators not subject students to just one side of this controversial issue. Many students have never heard of former homosexuals, and their eyes are opened when they hear this message, which runs directly counter to myths about “gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender” identity.

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Peter LaBarbera


ENDNOTES

  1. Letter from Peggy Campolo, wife of noted Christian speaker Tony Campolo, to Christianity Today, Oct. 4, 1993. Mrs. Campolo, who has assisted the homosexual activist group PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), defended homosexual “relationships” in the letter.

  2. Jason Shapiro, “Transgender panel discusses identity issues,” The Newtonite, the student newspaper of Newton North High School in Newton, Massachusetts (hometown of openly homosexual U.S. Rep. Barney Frank), April 16, 1999, www.tiac.net/users/newtonit.

  3. Flier from Oregon Middle School announcing program on March 27, 1997, obtained from a parent by WCU ((608) 328-4841; e-mail: newsdigest@juno.com).

  4. Interview with Ovadal by author; Gwen Carleton, “Anti-gay protest at Oregon school,” The (Madison, Wisc.) Capital Times, March 27, 1997.


The above article from the Family Research Council (FRC) Website.