COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (BP)–Focus on the Family is urging United Way donors nationwide to exclude Big Brothers Big Sisters from their charitable contributions in light of the organization’s move to allow homosexuals as mentors to children.
The announcement was made by Bill Maier, vice president and psychologist in residence at Focus on the Family, during the organization’s daily radio broadcast Feb. 20.
“The national leadership of Big Brothers has received a landslide of criticism from parents, pro-family groups, members of Congress and even now its own local directors,” Maier said. “But they stubbornly refuse to reconsider this ill-advised policy, choosing instead to appease homosexual pressure groups at the expense of the well-being of the children they serve.”
In July, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, a national youth mentoring organization, implemented a policy that bans discrimination against open homosexuals as volunteers and mentors of children at its 490 affiliates in the United States.
“Millions of United Way donors would be shocked to learn that their money is being used to match fatherless boys with homosexual men,” Maier said in the broadcast. “We believe these donors have a right to know, and that United Way has an obligation to respect their wishes. We are suggesting that United Way donors who are concerned … ask their local United Way chapter to exclude BBBSA from that portion of their donation.”
James Dobson, founder and president of Focus on the Family, encouraged United Way contributors to request that no part of their donation be used to support Big Brothers Big Sisters.
“Many United Way chapters continue to withhold funding from the Boy Scouts in order to punish them for their policy on homosexual scoutmasters,” Dobson said. “United Way donors who object to Big Brothers’ gay mentor program should have that same right. If United Way refuses to accommodate their request, they ought to direct their charitable contributions elsewhere.”
Dobson added, “I have supported Big Brothers Big Sisters for years, but the well-being of children is too important to ignore. It is unfortunate that such a reputable organization has resorted to playing political games with America’s children caught in the crosshairs. I hope that even now Big Brothers Big Sisters will reassess their dangerous policy.”
Terry Fox, pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Wichita, Kan., a leading voice in the opposition to the BBBS directive to allow homosexuals access to children, applauded the Focus on the Family initiative.
Fox told Baptist Press Feb. 24, “I would like to congratulate and affirm Focus on the Family’s decision to encourage all the United Way chapters to follow the Wichita strategy in allowing for negative giving to such organizations Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Basically I think this is positive because it allows us to continue to give to the United Way without supporting the gay and lesbian agenda, which unfortunately includes Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.”
In an 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.”
The pastor convinced United Way officials in Wichita to accommodate donors who want to exclude the local Big Brothers Big Sisters chapter from their United Way contributions, and now the local organization allows a “negative designation” option so that donors can designate where their money won’t go. Under that option, the United Way still receives donations, but the funds don’t go to Big Brothers Big Sisters if requested otherwise.
Maier, in his radio address, noted the tragic nature of the BBBSA decision, given the impact fatherlessness is having on the United States.
“Tonight, in this country, one out of four children will go to bed in a home in which their father does not live,” he said. “The research shows very clearly that fatherless boys, for instance, are more emotionally fragile, they are desperate for attention and affirmation from a man, and therefore it seems very ill-advised for Big Brothers to be pushing this policy on all 490 of their local chapters.”
Maier also said psychological research clearly shows that homosexuals are much more likely to have psychiatric illness, to suffer from alcohol and drug abuse, commit suicide and have higher incidences of sexually transmitted disease.
“In fact, one gay organization recently did a poll in which they learned that one out of five gay men report being physically or sexually abused by their partner,” Maier said. “But it appears that Big Brothers has chosen to ignore these facts in their zeal to pair impressionable children with homosexuals.”
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