The statement below is a position statement written to the State Board of Education members in West Virginia on the controversial adapting of the Civil Rights Team Project. The adoption of this pro-gay curriculum was defeated.
“Focus on the Family supports a safe learning environment for all students. Respect is the right of every student. We also believe that school representatives should assure the safety and protection of every student. Unfortunately, that is not what anti-bullying and safe-schools legislation is about.
We do not support special “safe school” and anti-bullying legislation because of the way it opens the door to advance an aggressive, pro-homosexual agenda in public school classrooms.
Homosexual groups are taking advantage of the legislation and district policies to introduce pro-gay curricula into all public schools, even down to the kindergarten level.
In the past two years, we have witnessed a sobering display of aggressive tactics used by GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Educational Network) and PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) to infiltrate the public school system across the nation with a pro-gay agenda. But this strategy is one that has been in motion from at least 1994, when executive director Kevin Jennings laid out this plan:
Our successful victim-based formula has had [pro-family critics] backpedaling from day one. We immediately seized upon the opponents’ calling card—safety—and explained how homophobia represents a threat to students’ safety by creating a climate where violence, name calling, health problems, and suicide are common…We knew that, confronted with real life stories of youth who had suffered from homophobia, our opponents would automatically be on the defensive: they would have to attack people who had already been victimized once, which put them in a bully position from which it would be hard to emerge looking good. …This allowed us to set the terms of the debate.
Since 1994, their calculated “victim strategy” emphasis has mobilized strong proponents of the gay agenda, and unfortunately, others who are drawn to the attractive political position of “standing up for the victim.” In fact, the banner tag on GLSEN’s web site is “creating safe schools for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.”
GLSEN has garnered support from the National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the American Psychological Association (APA), the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), and numerous other professional organizations. Some recent examples of this aggressive agenda include the following:
1. Recent anti-bullying legislation has been used to usher in the gay agenda in California’s public schools. Here are three specific ways this kind of legislation has impacted California students and families.
AB537, California Student Safety & Violence Prevention Act of 2000, opens the door for religious discrimination.
In March 2002, Hayward School District denies the religious expression rights of four teachers who request to be excused from a teacher training specifically on the topic of gay students’ and teachers’ rights in the classroom.
The Hayward Daily Review says this: “…We are very concerned about [the teachers] using religion to defend [their] right to insensitivity.” Again, “…we suggest that such reactions [the teachers’ request to be excused on the basis of religious beliefs] demonstrate the need for the training.
In a front page headline in the same paper, dated April 26, 2002, it is reported the teachers may now discuss their homosexuality with students in class “at their discretion.” One teacher assigned a play featuring two women falling in love.
2. Even victories in this arena are hollow because now only the worst examples of gay rights curriculum is being kept out of school classrooms.
Novato School District Board of Trustees decide that fourth graders are too young to view That’s a Family, a 35-minute video that depicts a variety of “family systems,” including a segment on same-sex parenting.
The good news: the Board was inundated with parents’ objections to the material. The bad news: even though it will not be seen to fourth graders, it will continue to be a part of the 5th grade “Family Life Curriculum.”
3. The gay rights agenda in public schools increasingly is creating a hostile environment for religious students.
On April 4, 2002 a freshman at Arcata High School, as part of her required Health class, was subjected to a presentation by a Planned Parenthood representative. The topic was sexual education, but more accurately, “homophobia.” When asked, “Does your religion believe against or think homosexuality is a sin or something wrong?” Students who answered ”yes” were singled out and made to feel humiliated (reported by The Pacific Justice Institute).
The author of AB537, Senator Sheila Kuehl, recently said of religious Californians who take exception to her political agenda in public schools:
This kind of homophobic drivel is not new. These same groups have been promoting their hate-filled agenda for at least 20 years. They felt very safe so long as no gay people ever spoke of their gayness…Fortunately, most normal Americans reject that kind of hate-mongering, and the fact that we only hear it from a few towns and school districts in California actually gives me great hope that there are only certain pockets where these bigots have retreated, and their fight gets more desperate as they perceive it to be a losing battle. What is normal in America is equality.
Senator Kuehl's comments betray a chilling intolerance for anyone who holds a differing view. It is this calculated and militant approach which alarms the parents of many public school children. Focus on the Family stands to defend the right of these families to educate their children in ways that are consistent with their deeply help religious and moral beliefs.
