“Tolerance”, “safety”, and “protection against bullying” are terms that are being placed into school policies and state legislation across the country. Most believe this to be prudent in view of the growing incidences of violence that are occurring in public schools. Under the guise of adding these protective measures, some local schools are instituting policy changes that not only promote respect for homosexuality, but even celebrate it. By posing as a part of the civil rights movement, homosexual activists have succeeded in attaching their agenda to the message of “human rights” and “tolerance” already incorporated into countless lessons in a typical curriculum. Homosexual advocacy takes the idea of being kind and civil and perverts it to where practitioners are alleged to be illegitimately discriminated against by the majority.
The National Education Association (NEA) uses school safety rhetoric to push the homosexual agenda. It has unveiled a new web page, http://www.nea.org/ schoolsafety/glbt.html (CAUTION: This page contains pro-homosexual material) on “gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gendered students,” stating that the educators’ union is “committed” to fighting harassment, bullying, and discrimination aimed at those students. The page cites statistics from a study published by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Network, or GLSEN, and even provides a link to an interview with that group’s founder, homosexual activist Kevin Jennings. Do teachers who belong to the NEA realize what their membership dues support?
Often, without parental knowledge, local schools and legislatures are instituting policy changes that promote normalizing homosexual behavior. Some states have inserted gender protection verbiage into laws, using such terms as “sexual orientation” and “gender preferences” which essentially lend legitimacy to the homosexual lifestyle. The influence of homosexual activists within the nation’s educational system continues to grow, altering the attitudes of children and teens toward the acceptance of a unhealthy lifestyle.
How can parents assess what is occurring in their schools? Linda Harvey, founder of the Ohio-based pro-family group, Mission America, has developed a common-sense tool. Harvey’s tool, “Risk-Audit Project” is a comprehensive survey which measures the promotion of homosexuality in a given public school district. Four areas are reviewed by the survey; school policies, government regulations and grants, curricula content, and extracurricular activities. This survey measures the extent to which public school districts are collaborating with the homosexual activists by determining whether schools have adopted pro-homosexual policies or curriculum, and whether or not the school district is sponsoring homosexual clubs, events, or activities.
Homosexual student clubs are often formed without parental notification or input. The names of such clubs vary. The most common term is “gay/straight alliance” or GSA. They may also be called a GLBT club (for “gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gendered”), a human rights club, a rainbow club, an anti-bias club, a pride club, or an anti-violence club. It’s easy to find a number of school-based clubs in nearly every state by going to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network website, and clicking on “resources” for students, student club directory information. A quick look at this website indicates there are GLSEN clubs in the following South Carolina schools: Ashley Hall (Diversity Club), Conway High School (UTS), Mauldin High School (Gay-Straight Alliance), Ridge View High School (Gay-Straight Alliance), Union Comprehensive High (Gay-Straight Alliance), Wren High School (Gay-Straight Alliance), and Colletin County High School (Student Club). Bear in mind, though, that many clubs are probably not listed.
A majority of parents would object to GSA’s in school, so what can parents do? Since most schools allow the formation of non-academic student groups, federal equal access laws often require schools to allow GSA’s (Gay-Straight Alliance clubs). A Washington, D.C. based pro-family group, Family Policy Network (FPN), is promoting a multi-state campaign to require schools to obtain parental permission before public school children can take part in non-academic clubs—including GSA’s. Lawmakers in five states, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama and Texas are being asked to introduce measures requiring parental permission for students to participate in non-academic clubs. The state of Virginia has filed HB 1727, which will require local school boards to obtain express written permission from a parent or legal guardian before any student becomes a member of, or attends the meeting of, a non-curriculum related student organization. This legislation is currently pending passage in the Virginia legislature.
The information contained within this article is meant to educate parents in South Carolina about what is occurring across the country to normalize homosexuality and what parents can do to protect their children from this influence.
