NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Months after a national directive to local Big Brothers Big Sisters affiliates not to discriminate against homosexuals when pairing them with children, some local leaders are protesting the order.
At least a dozen executive directors of BBBS’ 490 local affiliates are defying the edict, saying they are putting the interests of the children ahead of the goals of the homosexual lobby, according to World magazine’s Oct. 26 issue.
Local BBBS affiliates are independently funded and managed, paying about $5,500 in annual dues for the privilege of using the Big Brothers Big Sisters name, fundraising machinery and administrative support, World noted.
One Midwestern agency sent letters to the parents of 65 children on its waiting list and only “four or five” said they wouldn’t mind homosexual mentors for their children, World reported. Another director reported to the magazine that nearly 100 percent of the people who called the local affiliate about the policy said, “We don’t want this.”
Local directors have been questioning the logic of a policy allowing homosexual men to be matched with boys but will not allow girls to be matched with men because of the potential for sexual attraction that could lead to molestation.
The national office’s stance that homosexuals are no more likely to molest children than heterosexuals does not hold up in light of a study by the Journal of Sex Research, which found that homosexual pedophiles commit about one-third of the total number of child sex offenses in the United States, even though homosexuals make up less than 5 percent of the population, World reported.
Directors, in addition to following their senses and moral convictions, are attempting to respond to their donors. One director reported that donations at his affiliate are down 10 percent since the national office announced its directive in February.
One local affiliate disagreed with the order so sternly that it resigned its affiliation with the national office and changed its name to “Quest for Kids,” World reported. The Owensboro, Ky., program has a new stated mission of matching kids with Christian adults who could not only model biblical gender roles, but also, with parental permission, teach kids about Christ. The new program has not lost any BBBS donors and has gained the support of churches.
Southern Baptist pastor Terry Fox of Immanuel Baptist Church in Wichita, Kan., has been a leading voice in the opposition to the national BBSA directive to allow homosexuals access to children.
In his Aug. 18 sermon on the controversy, Fox said, “I do not believe it is ever in the best interests of a child to allow someone who has a perverse lifestyle according to the Word of God to work with children. [E]ven if you took the Scriptures out of the debate, you would think common sense would tell you this is about the most foolish thing anybody could allow to happen.”
Fox noted that not all homosexuals are pedophiles, but the BBBS policy is tragic because it “gives the opportunity for pedophilia to take place,” he said.
After leading a public protest against the policy, e-mail support for his stance was received from 42 states, World reported. Fox also succeeded in Wichita’s United Way allowing donors to opt out of giving to the local BBBS affiliate.
–30–
