WASHINGTON (BP)–Homosexual activism in schools now includes efforts to re-educate schoolchildren into accepting, advocating and experimenting in homosexual behavior, a coalition of family groups at a Capitol Hill seminar May 6.
Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute, which sponsored “From Tolerance to Forced Acceptance,” cited the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) — a national organization of more than 1,200 educators — as seeking to promote homosexuality in schools “under any guise that works,” CNSNews.com reported May 7.
Knight also criticized the National Education Association, a teachers’ union of 2 million members, for adopting “an openly pro-homosexual stance.”
Much of the current sex education in public schools is based on discredited studies by sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, who said confining sex to marriage is an old-fashioned taboo that society had best do without if people were to enjoy mental health, Knight said.
“Homosexual activists have seized upon the Kinsey view of sex and they realize that it would be a hard sell to the American public, so instead they began a ‘Safe Schools Campaign,'” he added.
Under this program, teachers identify children who are abused in schools because they are perceived to be homosexual, affirm these children in their homosexuality so as to raise their self-esteem, and teach the other children that homosexuality is okay, Knight said.
“Of course we know you can teach manners and civility without teaching that homosexuality is normal and healthy. But most of the ‘safe schools’ programs are aimed at changing the very way we look at sex,” he said.
The programs seek to undo what parents and churches and synagogues teach, which is that sex is a gift from God that should be confined to marriage, Knight said.
Linda Harvey, a Christian activist and former advertising executive, called the “Safe Schools Campaign” the Trojan horse of the homosexual education movement.
Parents are seeing an entire new norm being presented to their children, she said.
“Boyfriend and girlfriend, husband and wife — that kind of language is no longer going to be acceptable in the materials that our children [receive],” Harvey said. “Valentine’s Day is going to be celebrated in a new way. Mother’s Day may not be celebrated at all, unless you have two mothers.
“The dark and the weird is now showing up on our kids’ recommended reading lists,” she said.
In response to reporters’ questions, Knight voiced disappointment with the Bush administration’s record to date on homosexual activism.
“I think the party seems to feel they can take religious conservatives for granted and still flirt with homosexual activists, perhaps not realizing that the agendas are so diametrically opposed that this cannot hold for long. I would advise them to rethink that strategy,” he said.
Peter LaBarbera, a senior policy analyst with the Culture and Family Institute, denounced the Republican Unity Coalition, a “gay-straight alliance” within the Republican Party that seeks to make homosexuality a “non-issue” in the GOP.
“I believe we cannot favor a Republican brand of homosexual activism over a Democratic one,” LaBarbera said. “The homosexual activist Republican groups actively support a lot of the same things that Democratic-oriented groups did.”
The Republican Unity Coalition just announced that it will be working with the Human Rights Campaign, the largest and most powerful homosexual activist group.
Knight also criticized Attorney General John Ashcroft for meeting with Log Cabin Republicans as soon as he was sworn into office, and for refusing to meet Regina Griggs, president of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays, a group that helps families deal with this issue.
“We were among the people who worked hardest to make sure the attorney general got seated,” Knight said.
Kevin Ivers, communications director of the Log Cabin Republicans, said the meeting with the attorney general was positive for the party, however.
“Everybody has a role to play,” Ivers said. “We’re doing our part in giving strong support to the president’s judicial nominees, just like we gave very strong support to John Ashcroft as the attorney general nominee. We think it’s important for all wings of the party to be united in support of the president and we hope [Knight] agrees.”
Calls to GLSEN for comment were not returned at press time.
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Morahan is a staff writer with www.CNSNews.com. Used by permission.
