DriveThru – Get What You Need

In case you were wondering where homosexual activism in public schools can eventually lead, Maine is giving a pretty good preview right now:

“… a boy who identifies himself as a girl is by law allowed to use girls bathrooms, locker rooms and participate on girls sports teams, or vice versa.”  That’s the summary from Maine’s Bangor Daily News, reporting on school guidelines currently under development by Maine’s Human Rights Commission.

So now we are on the cusp of allowing boys into girls restrooms based on their stated identity choice of the day. It’s hard to imagine an environment more sexually confusing for kids—or fraught with risky situations— than that.

At issue is the Maine Human Rights Commission’s efforts to adopt guidelines for schools on how to deal with gender-confused students. While they are being touted as just “guidelines,” the reality is that schools found in violation of the commission’s policies are more vulnerable to losing a lawsuit.

Meanwhile, according to the Bangor Daily News report,  gay activist groups—in particular, the local Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) chapter—have helped develop these guidelines. (GLSEN is the controversial group founded by “Safe Schools Czar” Kevin Jennings. It is devoted to promoting homosexuality and ”transgender” behavior to kids all the way down to the kindergarten level.)

The Maine School Management Association has raised concerns that the Human Rights Commission is overstepping its bounds by giving schools specific mandates. And then there’s concerns from both secondary schools and colleges about “fairness” issues in sports  and how teams are classified under NCAA guidelines.

This is just some of the chaos we will continue to see if identity politics and homosexual activism are given free rein in our public school systems.

For more about how transgender-activism is affecting schools’ and states’ policies, check out our “Transgender” Madness commentary.

On USA Today’s “Faith and Reason” blog, Betty Klinck reports on a campaign backed by numerous powerful and high profile homosexual and “transgender” rights groups.  The goal?  To persuade Christian church leaders and laity to take action on political issues so homosexuality will be normalized and affirmed in every area of society.

According to the “Believe Out Loud” website, this propaganda push is a

“multi-year and multi-tiered social marketing campaign to influence the attitudes, beliefs, and eventually governing policies of mainline Protestant clergy to welcome LGBT individuals into their fold.”

Don’t get me wrong, it would be one thing if this campaign were merely about the well-meaning and long-overdue “welcome” of people who experience same-sex attraction and gender incongruity. Those of us who hold a biblically orthodox view of human sexuality agree that all should be welcome in Christ’s church – regardless of our struggles or background.

But that’s a far cry from what “Believe Out Loud” is pushing.  They’ve said it’s not enough to accept, or even welcome and affirm. No, they’re demanding that Christian churches honor and openly celebrate a view of human sexuality which is clearly out of line with God’s created intent.

To achieve this goal, “Believe Out Loud” offers talking points and detailed “meaningful personal actions” aimed at clergy and lay leaders so they can convince those under their spiritual care that revisionist theology is biblical.  And, so they can encourage their followers to participate in efforts to put pro-LGBT social policies into law.

Through these resources, a well-funded, well-packaged and breathtakingly deceptive revision of Scripture is being pedaled like snake oil to many who trust in the spiritual authority of their clergy and lay leaders. By casting doubt on God’s Word, these wolves in sheep’s clothing put both feet and money to what is ultimately a secular political campaign – one that would normally have liberals howling for the separation of church and state.

But the most tragic aspect of this campaign is the spiritual toll.  By invoking themes like social justice to promote gay and “transgender” equality, God’s own definition of social justice is completely ignored.

True biblical social justice results in bringing God’s righteousness and order to bear in every arena of the culture.  If we really want to see social justice implemented in our churches, we must center it around speaking God’s truth in love about His purposes for sexuality, marriage and family.

The church does no favors to those who self-identify as gay or “transgender” by capitulating to the pro-homosexual culture and altering biblical truth on a topic as fundamental as how we bear His image as male and female.

By adopting this revisionist view, the church withholds from LGBT people the opportunity to repent of this particular area of sin and place it under the lordship of Christ. In the end, this denies people we love the fullness of life that comes with walking in obedience to God.  Do we really want to deny the blessings, freedom and peace that come with His forgiveness, grace, mercy, compassion and love?

Believers beware: the message of “Believe Out Loud” is one with grave and eternal consequences. In separating the wheat from the tares, it points to the time foretold in Scripture when even the elect might be deceived – with people throwing off sound doctrine and, instead, gathering around themselves teachers who tell them what their ears want to hear.  Knowing this, let’s be those who correctly “examine the Scriptures” to make sure what we’re being taught is true.

This week, kids in public schools across the land are participating in yet another event sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). But this time the event in question—No Name-Calling Week—is aimed primarily at elementary and middle school kids.

While No Name-Calling Week does have some laudable goals, such as “eliminating harmful name-calling,” unfortunately, the event also emphasizes the usual homosexuality indoctrination that has made GLSEN infamous. 

The truth is, you don’t have to sexualize the school environment to teach kids to respect one another. One program that does an excellent job of doing that without capitulating to a political agenda is Rachel’s Challenge.

Rachel’s Challenge is a character-based program for K-12 students that teaches students to relate to one another with kindness and compassion. It is based on the life of Rachel Scott, the first victim in the Columbine school shootings. So if your public school is struggling with how to address this issue, this might be a good option.

Meanwhile, if you’ve discovered that your child’s school is celebrating GLSEN’s No Name-Calling Week, you can learn facts about the actual reading materials and lesson plans in our “Indoctrination by Any Other Name” commentary.

Yesterday, I wrote about the Safe Space Kit that GLSEN wants to send to every middle and high school in the nation. The kit tells educators to use GLSEN’s controversial book list, which promotes sexually graphic content to kids.

But wait, there’s more.

In addition to the book list, the kit gives educators further information for sexualizing the school environment and undermining parental rights.

Let’s just look at a few examples:

• The kit gives educators a “Checklist” to ensure they’ve done enough to sexualize the school environment  (in their words, make it “LGBT-inclusive,” meaning lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender, and we’re still waiting for more letters of the alphabet to be added.)

Suggestions include to implement “a gender-neutral dress code,” “gender-neutral” bathrooms, curriculum infused with homosexual, bisexual and transgender themes, Valentine’s Day celebrations with same-sex couples, in addition to prom and homecoming events that “allow for gender-neutral alternatives to ‘King’ and ‘Queen.’ ” 

• Teachers are instructed to avoid using words like “husband” and “wife” in the classroom and to “avoid gendered pronouns” like “he” and “she.” And to “Promote LGBT events throughout the school…”

So basically, if GLSEN has its way, the concept of ‘male’ and ‘female’ and traditional marriage—and even basic English language pronouns—will be rendered absolutely meaningless to the average public school student.

• GLSEN also wants to undermine parents’ role as the primary nurturers and protectors of their children. For instance, the “safe space” kit makes it clear that 1) teachers are to encourage an environment where kids can “come out” to them and discuss their sexual problems, but that 2) teachers are not to share this information with parents or authorities.

“Let the student know that the conversation is confidential and that you won’t share the information with anyone else, unless they ask for your help,” instructs the GLSEN kit. (Hmm, this sounds suspiciously similar to “Safe Schools Czar” Kevin Jennings’ reported response to a teenager who confessed risky behavior.)

Forget about the parents—but “be prepared to refer them to a sympathetic counselor, a hotline, your school’s GSA or an LGBT youth group or community center.”

In other words, teachers are supposed to send your kids, without your knowledge, to left-wing, radical gay-activist groups in the community who will most likely tell them that sexual experimentation is normal and to be expected.

What was that about a “safe space” again?

Warning: Graphic content discussed below.

Come what may, GLSEN—the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network—seems determined to promote sexually explicit content to our school children.

There’s been a public outcry in recent weeks over books GLSEN recommends for kids as young as middle-school age—which graphically describe things like teen-adult sexual interactions in parks and public restrooms.

Despite all this, the organization is stubbornly continuing efforts to push this material into public schools.

Consider GLSEN’s current plea to help it win $1 million from Chase Bank’s Community Giving charity competition. (The bank is allowing social networkers to vote for their favorite charity to win the money.)

GLSEN has announced that if it wins the money, it will use it to send a “Safe Space Kit” to “to every middle and high school in the country.” 

So, just what is in this “Safe Space Kit”? Among other things, instructions to educators to “use GLSEN’s BookLink …  to find appropriate books for your curriculum. … to find grade-appropriate literature for your school library.”

Yup, you got it. The same exact book list that has such “grade-appropriate” offerings as Queer 13. This book, which GLSEN thinks is appropriate for 7^th graders, includes a detailed and extremely disturbing description of a boy being raped by an older man. Afterward the boy exults about how “The whole world of rest-room sex had opened itself up to me.” And that’s just one of the many graphically lewd anecdotes in this book and others on the list.

GLSEN may deem this “grade-appropriate” for 7^th graders. But the majority of U.S. citizens and responsibly thinking parents don’t. And they are outraged. But sadly, GLSEN and its founder—the Obama administration’s “Safe Schools Czar” Kevin Jennings—remain deaf to the outcry.

In the nonsensical and unrelenting international push by gay and “transgender” activists to convince the world that somehow biological sex can be “changed” but sexual orientation can’t, we learn that the national Congress of Argentina has named a male-to-female “transsexual” as their Woman of the Year.

And to think that out of the approximately 15.6 million Argentine women over the age of fifteen, not a single female could be found spanning 23 provinces and a distance of 2,400 miles from north to south who deserves national recognition as “Woman of the Year.”  Instead, a biological male is chosen.

What a slap in the face this must be for the real women of that great South American country.

While it’s increasingly easy to fool individuals, GLBT activists, mental health professionals, and now, national legislatures that biological sex can be changed, it’s never nice to fool Mother Nature. 

The fact of the matter is that no matter how many ongoing hormone treatments and mutilating surgeries one undergoes, biological sex simply can not be changed, reassigned or “transitioned.” And barring the extremely remote possibility that “Marcela” suffers from a Disorder of Sexual Development – intersexuality – this gentleman was, is, and always will be male.

While one can readily sympathize with the decades of pain, confusion and social isolation that “Marcela” has no doubt experienced in his gender identity struggle, as Christians we are called to speak the truth in love and compassion.

In this case, the truth is that gay and “transgender” activists are asking society to jettison the objective reality of biological sex in favor of the subjective feelings and self-identification of individuals who are in the throes of what is arguably a recognizable and treatable mental condition – Gender Identity Disorder.

Indeed, one of the leading experts in sex reassignment surgery from Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Paul McHugh, notes that “to provide a surgical alteration to the body of these unfortunate people was to collaborate with a mental disorder rather than to treat it.”

In short, we do gender-confused individuals no favors when we indulge their confusion and make ways through hormone treatments and unnecessary surgeries to irreversibly cement them in their condition, which, according to McHugh leaves them no happier than they were before.

The movement promoting the normalization of “transgenderism” radically redefines the clearly articulated vision for the sexes found in the Bible. Significantly, the image we humans bear of God on this planet as male and female mysteriously and gloriously reflects who God is.

Just as Jesus went out of His way to minister to the outcasts of society, we are called to speak God’s truth on sex and sexuality in grace and compassion – sharing the love of God embodied in the Gospel message of Christ in humility and service. And we are called to lift up those who struggle with their gender identity in prayer – beseeching the Holy Spirit to bring about conviction, healing and transformation.

We’re crying for you, Argentina.

Some of you may recall hearing about the plight of parents in Alameda, California, who were told their elementary-age kids have to receive pro-gay lessons provided by the public school district—even if those lessons violate their families’ most deeply held religious convictions.

The parents fought back with a lawsuit, asking the court to make the school district honor their requests to opt children out of the controversial teaching.

But this week, the parents got bad news: Judge Frank Roesch of the Superior Court of California in Alameda County denied their request, giving schools carte blanche to indoctrinate kids against their parents’ wishes.

The logic? The judge determined that “any opt out right” is “outweighed by the policies against discrimination and harassment of students from LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender] families.” 

Translation: State laws and school provisions citing special protections for homosexual characteristics automatically trump parental rights and religious freedoms. (Next step for the parents is to appeal the decision with the help of Pacific Justice Institute.)

Parents, please take note. This represents the latest tactics being used by gay activist groups to undermine your rights. And this specific Alameda case offers some lessons that are worth paying attention to:

1) Gay activists are aggressively pushing so-called anti-bullying or anti-harassment policies for schools that contain specific references to things like “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” Once passed, they use these policies as legal teeth to enforce things like pro-gay curricula for six- and seven-year-olds.

2) Homosexuality teaching is being couched within “tolerance” and “bullying” lessons as a way to skirt parental rights.  Many state and local opt-out policies have wording that can be construed to only apply to subjects like health or sex education. Therefore, gay activists push schools to categorize homosexuality teaching under more general topics like “tolerance,” “bullying prevention” or “family diversity”—and then argue that opt-out provisions do not apply to these topics.

That’s exactly what happened in Alameda. The judge bought the gay-activist and liberal school-attorney arguments—and decided that opt-out provisions in the state education code only apply to subjects formally categorized as “health” instruction. And therefore, he found that parents don’t have the right to opt their kids out of so-called tolerance lessons.

3) When it comes to battles between pro-gay “nondiscrimination” laws and religious freedoms—religious freedoms are increasingly losing out. And this in turn, is creating alarming disrespect for religious viewpoints in public schools. In this case, for instance, attorneys for the Alameda school district felt free to vilify religious parents—listing as evidence against them that “they believe homosexuality is a sin” and accusing them of trying to “avoid having their children be taught respect.” 

This simply isn’t true. People of  faith consider respect for others to be a core tenet of their religious teachings.  And they believe respect  is based on the fact that all people “are created equal” by God.  Respect should not be twisted into an excuse to indoctrinate young children into homosexual  and "transgender" activism.

Yet more evidence revealing the dark side of GLSEN–the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network—has surfaced. (GLSEN is the group founded by President Obama’s “safe school’s czar,” Kevin Jennings.)

At issue this time is a GLSEN fundraiser featuring a theatrical play called Santa Claus is Coming Out!

GLSEN’s fundraiser invitation says the play depicts “Santa in his heartfelt struggle to reconcile his romantic relationship with Italian toy maker Giovanni Geppetto.” Pictures on a Web site promoting the production depict Santa in not-so-subtle sexually suggestive situations. The play also mocks those who support traditional values.

It’s sad that GLSEN, which claims that it wants to protect kids, has chosen to use a fundraising tool that perverts the innocence of Christmas and sexualizes the longtime, child-revered icon of Santa Claus.

Public comments made by the play’s writer and performer, Jeffrey Solomon,  provide more enlightening insight into the true agenda of homosexual activists and groups like GLSEN.

In recent interviews, Solomon explained that he “was inspired to write Santa Claus is Coming Out by his research into the parents’ rights movement to keep gay issues out of the classroom.”  He said the central message of his play is “a challenge to speak truthfully to children.” What is his version of “speaking truthfully?” Consider this anecdote Solomon shared:

I was dressed as Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, and I had a sign saying ‘Rudolph Supports Sexual Diversity.’ And the owner of the pharmacy on Commercial Street came out [shouting]. ‘I’ve got kids inside. Get out of here. They’re asking questions. I don’t want to see that. I don’t want to see that sign.’ … We love this lie of Santa Claus and when we mess with that ‘they’ [the anti-gay activists] get very upset. The same summer I was promoting the play, and I had the poster ‘Santa Claus is Coming Out.’ A straight couple with a very young boy about 7 asked me directions, and the kid was kind of looking at the poster. Suddenly, the mother clenched her hands over his eyes as I was giving them directions, and she held them there the whole conversation. And it’s very funny. In both these instances, the play is playing out in front of me.”  (“Santa Claus is Coming Out: An Interview with Actor-Writer Jeffrey Solomon,” by Deirdre Donovan, Nov. 29, 2009, TheaterScene.net)

Clearly homosexual activists like Solomon have no qualms about using shock tactics to expose children to homosexuality.  And it’s sad that GLSEN promotes these tactics.  Apparently, GLSEN wants to have it both ways: On one hand, it wants to be perceived as a mainstream group for public schools that’s worthy of parents’ trust. On the other, it wants the freedom to desensitize kids and attack parents’ God-given rights to protect their innocence.

Here’s more disturbing evidence that—when it comes to conservative religious groups—national, gay activist organizations have none of the so-called tolerance they love to promote.

GLSEN—the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network—held a Hollywood star-studded event this month called the “Respect Awards.” HBO and ABC/Disney TV heavyweights were in attendance, as well as stars from popular TV shows.

Ironically, while accepting GLSEN’s “Respect” award, technology entrepreneur David Bohnett slammed some of the nation’s largest religious groups, and basically issued a manifesto calling for people to fight them.

Below, I’ve highlighted a few excerpts. You can read the whole thing yourself here.

• “… it is the evangelical and fundamentalist groups that teach homosexuality is a sin, who stand in the way of fairness and equality.”

• “It’s time to combat head-on religious organizations that are funding the opposition to marriage equality and safe school legislation.”

• “Among our greatest adversaries who actively work against us are the leaders of the Catholic, Mormon, and evangelical churches who seek to deny equal protection…”  

• “…  the children taught at an early age that the bible condemns homosexuality may become the school bullies, and then later the adults who vote to deny marriage equality…”

This is a disturbing example of vilifying faith-based groups who dare to disagree with homosexual advocacy groups’ agenda, including the legalization of gay marriage—and even more disturbing is the not-so-subtle insinuation that parents should not be allowed to teach their kids religious beliefs that are opposed to gay activist goals. Does this represent GLSEN’s vision for “safe schools”? And the vision of GLSEN’s founder, Kevin Jennings?

As I pointed out before, this same intolerance was clearly on display in the vehement attacks against those who were brave enough to support Prop. 8 (a traditional marriage law recently upheld by California’s Supreme Court). But nothing is said about promoting “safety” or “respect” for those individuals and churches.

Apparently, GLSEN and its supporters believe in “safety” for everyone except those who disagree with them.

That’s why it’s so essential that we act now to defeat measures like the “employment nondiscrimination act” that give political ammunition to those who would destroy religious liberties.

It’s also extremely important to protest the appointment of people like Kevin Jennings, GLSEN’s founder, who has now been given control of the federal “Safe Schools” office. Jennings and his group have repeatedly displayed the same bias, and even outright anger, against conservative faiths that was so vividly on display at GLSEN’s “Respect” awards. For more examples, click here.  You can also listen to a Focus on the Family broadcast highlighting some of these issues.

Disappointing news this week: After vetoing the same bill last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger caved to political pressure and signed the “Harvey Milk Day” measure into law. On May 22, Harvey Milk’s birthday, schools are now asked to “conduct suitable commemorative exercises.”

Does California really need yet another conduit for homosexual activism in the classrooms? According to a San Francisco Chronicle article, the homosexual advocacy group Equality California was a major backer of the law—and is now planning to “develop curriculum for schools and teachers to use on Milk’s birthday.”

Equality California describes itself as the “largest statewide lesbian, bisexual, transgender-rights advocacy organization in California.” This is concerning: Taxpayer-funded classrooms should not be hijacked by adult, special-interest groups.

As we’ve covered in previous blogs, this law is disturbing on many levels: Not only does it represent an irresponsible use of government resources, but it also puts the state in the position of honoring someone whose behavior does not provide the healthiest role model for school kids.