Americans for Truth

From our good friends at Culture Campaign and North Shore Student Advocacy (Illinois), originally published Feb 24, 2007:

Deerfield High School: Required Class for Freshmen Advocates Liberal and Pro-Gay Propaganda

As Culture Campaign reported last week, a letter to the editor in the Thursday, Feb. 15, issue of Deerfield Review has prompted some scrutiny of the curriculum being used in a freshman class called Freshman Advisory in District 113 (Deerfield and Highland Park High Schools).

According to Lora Sue Hauser, School Issues Advisor from Illinois Family Institute and parent in the Deerfield High School District, Freshman Advisory is a required class for freshmen in which a vast amount of time is devoted to exposing students to pro-homosexual propaganda:

This is a whole class designed for the “gay” agenda during the second semester as well as other liberal causes. In addition to the “gay” panel, last year’s curricula included movies (Common Threads, Bloodlines, Philadelphia), displaying the AIDS quilt, promoting Day of Silence, etc.

And even worse, this year parents cannot get even this much information. We have no idea what is actually being taught about sexual orientation. The teachers are not required to give full disclosure as to the content in their lesson plans.

How does this happen? It’s a simple formula: “gay” activist teachers = liberal curricula. In Deerfield, and other schools around the country, “gay” activists are in a position to choose curricula and they have no intention of staying neutral on these highly debated topics. They do not present alternative viewpoints even though they claim to welcome diverse views. We have repeatedly asked for a panel to speak on the subject of homosexuality from a moral and medical view but have been denied.

We are trying to get a copy of the 2007 Freshman Advisory Diversity curriculum, with specifics as to what is being taught but we’re hitting a brick wall.

Last year, there was a whole Diversity Packet including a Heterosexism Unit that was ghastly. It included playing a card game with all the sexually deviant terms (Genderqueer, Intersexual, MSM, Transgender, Transsexual, Sex Reassignment Surgery, Transphobia, Down-Low, Cross Dressers, etc.) and students had to match the definitions.

It was followed by discussions asking such questions as “What questions or confusion do you have around language describing lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender people?” or “In your experience, has LGBT terminology been understood and used properly at Deerfield High School.” Of course, all this material comes from GLSEN.

The curriculum also included a Social Justice Education Unit teaching “Power Over & Power Under ” ideologies with Whites, Males, Heterosexuals, Christians/Gentiles, and the Rich being those with “Power Over.” During the lesson plan, they change the wording to be “Non-target” and “Target” stating that the “Power Over” group target people for mistreatment. This kind of teaching sets the ideological stage for anyone who tries to question the curriculum. We are the ones who “Target.”

This is nothing short of propaganda to the youngest students in a high school.

According to the North Shore Student Advocacy Group (NSSA):

1. District 113 Superintendent, George Fornero, and school board members have been unwilling to meet with parents and concerned taxpayers. Dr. Fornero, new to District 113, was acting superintendent in Ann Arbor, MI where his school district, Ann Arbor Public Schools, was sued for not allowing a student to present an alternate viewpoint on a panel of those supporting homosexual behavior. The district lost the suit.
2. Last year, adult gay author Alex Sanchez was brought in by the Straight and Gay Alliance (SAGA) to speak to students after school. He promoted his sexually graphic books and website (which links to forty-five gay bars, fetish groups and even a ‘leather’ group — ie, sado-masochism).

It is a violation of state law and school policy for teachers to promote sexual behavior. It is also a violation of the Equal Access Act for SAGA advisors to be in anything other than a custodial role for non-curriculum extracurricular groups.

Deerfield High School has some explaining to do…

TAKE ACTION — Do you know whether your child’s teachers, school counselors, and principal are normalizing homosexual behavior in your local school? Find out! (You can use the Risk Audit PDF from Mission America.) Then react to what you learn — for example, if your school has a “GSA” make it known in writing that your children are not permitted to participate in their presentations, meetings, or activities.

Excerpted from Gay Teens Coming Out Earlier to Peers and Family, by Marilyn Elias, published Feb 8, 2007, by USA Today:

…Gay teenagers are “coming out” earlier than ever, and many feel better about themselves than earlier generations of gays, youth leaders and researchers say. The change is happening in the wake of opinion polls that show growing acceptance of gays, more supportive adults and positive gay role models in popular media.

…Still, many continue to have a tough time. The worst off, experts say, are young people in conservative rural regions and children whose parents cannot abide having gay offspring. Taunting at school is still common…

…Schools are more likely than in the past to have openly gay staff members who can help young people, says Anthony D’Augelli, an associate dean at Pennsylvania State University. In a recent national survey, one-third of school psychologists said they had counseled students or parents about sexual orientation.

In the mid-1990s, a few dozen Gay-Straight Alliance clubs were in U.S. high schools; now 3,200 are registered with the education network, Jennings says.

The Internet also has eased isolation for gay teens, offering a place for socializing and support, says Stephanie Sanders of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction in Bloomington, Ind.

Cultural diversity is prevalent

Teens are coming out in an era when more Americans than ever consider homosexuality acceptable. In 2006, 54% found homosexuality acceptable, compared with 38% in 1992, Gallup polls show.

Youths also swim in a cultural sea that’s far more pro-gay than ever, says Ritch Savin-Williams, a psychologist at Cornell University and author of The New Gay Teenager. From MTV’s The Real World to Will & Grace and Ellen DeGeneres hosting the Oscars, “kids can see gays in a positive light,” he says…

…Not everyone applauds the soaring number of school-based gay/straight alliances and adult-led programs for gay teens. “Homosexuality is harmful to society, and young people have no business committing to a sexual identity until they’re adults,” says Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council, a conservative policy group. The council backs a new Georgia law, first in the nation, that requires schools to tell parents about clubs and allows them to forbid their children to participate in gay/straight alliances.

Read the rest of this article »

Our good friend Linda Harvey of Mission America (please support her wonderful work!) noted in a Dec 2006 e-mail that the State of Maine has published “Maine’s Best Practices in Bullying and Harassment Prevention” which are essentially recommendations for all state school districts. Here are a few excerpts (emphasis ours):

• “Discuss ways of involving students in planning efforts for Bullying Prevention activities such as through a Gay Straight Alliance, Civil Rights Teams, Peer Leadership, etc.” [pages 8-9]

• “Students at risk for bullying include those who ‘don’t fit in’, such as those who are or are perceived to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, or questioning, those who differ from the majority of their classmates with regard to race, ethnicity, or religion, those who have differing social or physical abilities, and those who are economically disadvantaged.” [page 10]

• “Have an explicit commitment to social justice and teach, both formally and informally, about the dynamics of power, privilege, and oppression that impact all students. Such a commitment is reflected in an inclusive curriculum that teaches critical thinking, and a school environment that encourages and supports the development of active and effective student groups that reflect this commitment, such as Civil Rights teams and Gay/Straight Alliances.” [page 10, recommended again on page 18]

• “For boys: interventions challenging homophobia and narrow gender roles and the use of ‘gay/lesbian’ as an insult.” [page 35]

On Feb 12, 2007, the Desert Dispatch reported that Barstow High School now has a “GSA” (”gay”-straight alliance). The article notes that initially no teacher was willing to sponsor the group until English teacher Rebekah Michelson unfortunately agreed to serve. Richard Reeb, former Barstow College professor and blogger for The Claremont Institute, penned the following response to the story…

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Excerpted from Barstow High School Needs to Think Twice About Gay Club, by Richard Reeb, published Wed Feb 14, 2007, in Desert Dispatch:

…This week we learn that advocates of homosexuality, under the guise of protecting students with real or imagined inclinations in that direction against school yard bullies and “intolerance” generally, are forming a gay club at Barstow High.

Notwithstanding the purported popularity of these groups on California’s high school campuses, it is a mistake to permit those pushing sexual perversion on our state to exploit the innocence of high school students and the misguided “tolerance” of Barstow High School teachers and administrators.

…The new club’s prospective faculty advisor made a remarkable statement that captures the ambiguity - and the dangers - of introducing young persons in the throes of raging hormones to an unnatural way of life.

“They’re unformed clay, and they’re trying to figure out who they are and how they want to live,” she said. “My goal is to provide a safe environment where kids can be social.”

Now if these Barstow teenagers are “unformed clay,” what sense does it make to encourage them to reject the example and the precepts of their parents and their society, and to experiment with ideas and (inevitably) practices which can confuse them pretty thoroughly? We are constantly told that our teenaged children are “sexually active,” whether their parents know or approve or not, so steering them toward same-sex intimacy in theory means encouraging it in practice.

Also noteworthy is the guiding hand of Carolyn Laub, founder and executive director of the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, a California-based nonprofit umbrella group for GSAs around the state. This puts the lie to the claim that the students themselves were somehow the instigators of club formation. Ms. Laub says she has formed 600 clubs at more than 40 percent of California high schools. Barstow finally got “discovered.”

We know that advocates or enablers of sexual perversion, which they euphemistically refer to as “diversity,” mean for their fellow citizens not merely to “tolerate” it but to “celebrate” it. After all, from their point of view, they have nothing to apologize for. Indeed, critics of their “lifestyle” are the ones who have some explaining to do. Nothing but bigotry or religious fanaticism could possibly explain opposition to our public schools sanctioning “gayness.”

It is amazing that Laud and other professional advocates cite the federal Equal Access Act in support of their right to form gay clubs on high school campuses. But we should remind ourselves that the actual origin of that act, signed by President Clinton, was to protect the rights of religious organizations to meet on campus after gay clubs had already formed.

…In plain words, gay clubs are part of a movement which is not only pushing homosexuality on vulnerable teenagers but openly hostile to Christian groups that still follow the Biblical teaching that homosexuality is an “abomination.” Their object is not to strike a blow for free speech but to eradicate from public discourse the viewpoint that homosexuality is morally wrong.

That is the “ball game.” …Today’s “uncloseted” homosexual advocates and practitioners will not rest until all of us agree that denying the distinctive sexual wellsprings of our nature is right and maintenance of traditional marriage and family is wrong.

It is too bad that Barstow Unified School District trustees have given sanction to this “gay” club. Parents should register their protests and take advantage of what moral virtue still remains in this community to stop the club in its tracks.

Dr. Richard Reeb taught political science, philosophy and journalism at Barstow College from 1970 to 2003. He is the author of “Taking Journalism Seriously: ‘Objectivity’ as a Partisan Cause” (University Press of America, 1999).

From our good friends at Culture Campaign and North Shore Student Advocacy, originally published Feb 19, 2007:

A recent letter to the editor [.PDF] in the Thursday, Feb. 15 issue of Deerfield Review reveals a troubling agenda at Deerfield High School. A parent was denied permission for a one-time visit to observe a class called Freshman Advisory. She had become concerned about the content of the class after her daughter was mocked, called ‘anti-semitic’ and ‘homophobic’ for openly disagreeing with the pro-homosexual message presented. Student members of the Straight and Gay Alliance (SAGA) drew pictures of her with devil horns on her head…

Here is the letter in its entirety:

Parent Denied Class Visit

I have seven children who have either attended or are currently attending Deerfield High School. As a parent, I have the right to know what they are teaching my kids, how they are teaching my kids, and why they are teaching my kids certain information. I recently asked for the first time to visit a class to hear what they are teaching in Freshman Advisory.

I was surprised to receive a letter informing me that I would not be allowed to visit. They told me that they would send me a taped copy of the class.

First, how would I know if the tape had been edited? Second, I am an adult, I pay taxes for my kids to attend this school, and I should be able to sit in on one class to see what they are teaching my fourteen-year-old.

I have instilled morals and values in my kids, and I believe that some at DHS are trying to change my child’s beliefs to conform to theirs.

Tolerance is one of the values that I have instilled in my kids, but it is clear that tolerance is not a value shared by the Straight and Gay Alliance (SAGA) at DHS. I was shocked to learn that when one of my children openly disagreed with SAGA’s position on homosexuality, she was called anti-Semitic and homophobic. In addition, certain individuals in SAGA drew pictures of my daughter with devil horns on her head.

Shockingly, none of this was solved, and no one was punished for these intolerant and distasteful acts. I feel certain that if the tables were turned, my daughter would have been punished. Intolerance is clearly an issue at DHS. Unfortunately it is those with a non-traditional agenda who are the intolerant ones. Some students and certain staff members make it uncomfortable for more conservative students to disagree with the belief that homosexual behavior is moral.

I will do whatever I can to ensure that my children and their beliefs are tolerated. Furthermore, I do not want my children taught anything at school that should be taught only at home. Teachers should teach English, math social studies, science, and foreign languages.

The class I asked to observe is a Freshman Advisory class in which gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender DHS students discuss their sexual orientation with all freshmen. If they are allowed to share this information with freshmen, parents should be allowed to hear their presentation also.

If they are uncomfortable with a parent sitting quietly in the back of the class, then perhaps the presentation is not appropriate for the public school.

I do not want teachers having some students announce their sexual orientation to my children as part of a classroom presentation, and I do not want teachers even suggesting that my children accept the view that homosexual behavior is right behavior. This is not what I send my kids to school to learn. Something needs to change.

Ellen Waltz
Deerfield

Deerfield High School has some explaining to do…

By Sonja Dalton

Parents and church leaders, to understand what is at stake with the “gay” political/cultural agenda, you really must watch this pro-homosexuality program online — it’s most enlightening:

February 2007 — The Principles of Youth

This Febuary, In the Life, America’s gay and lesbian newsmagazine, presents “THE PRINCIPLES OF YOUTH,” an episode dedicated entirely to stories about LGBT youth. Hosted by Grammy® Award-winning songwriter and performer Ani DiFranco, this month’s In the Life, gives voice to an often unheard and overlooked population.

Program segments include:

I’m Still Emily — In the Life asserts that an Iowa teenager that considers herself lesbian is also a devout Christian. Of course, God clearly says otherwise. Jesus did indeed die for Emily’s sins, as well as those of all mankind, but He demands repentance — change.

Hebrews 11:26-27 teaches “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.”

Emily’s pastor at New Hope Evangelical Church provided excellent counsel to her: God made Eve for Adam and He blessed that heterosexual union. The Bible addresses homosexual behavior and calls it sin. There are two good options for a Christian struggling with same-sex attraction: either honor God’s word and live in celibacy or develop greater faith to battle and overcome homosexuality to achieve greater joy. Let us pray that she will listen to him.

Good As You — Profiles the blog of Jeremy Hooper, 26, who, at least according to the narrator, “attacks ‘bigotry’ with humor and wit.” Jeremy claims in this program: “I don’t throw bombs; I take the bombs that are thrown at us and I just sort of casually toss them aside, I don’t really throw them back” in his effort to create a “new sort” of homosexual activism.

(Check out Hooper’s blog and judge for yourself whether he throws bombs or not…or simply listen to his ITL segment where he shares his view of the “professionally anti-gay” as “almost like cartoon characters in their nuttiness” and sees them as “little men with pitchforks and torches who are like “ARRR, I’m going to get you, you faggot.” You might note that AFTAH has never and will never call anyone a “faggot.”)

Jeremy’s Tennessee family opposes his behavior, but his “partner” Andrew’s parents approve.

Miss Elizabeth Latex — (Remember that this segment is purportedly for/about YOUTH…) Madonna introduced “vogueing,” a form of dancing that originated in the underground homosexual club scene. “Elizabeth Latex” is a Puerto Rican male that dresses as a woman, survived as a prostitute and now lives as a vogue-dancing “female” and works for House of Latex — his brother also cross-dresses. Sadly, both spent much of their childhood in foster care.

Coming Out Stories — Heartbreaking.

TAKE ACTION — Pray for all these young people.

Listen Online

Monday, January 22, 2007 — MBN’s Jon Gauger interviews Laurie Higgins, a staff member at an affluent suburban Chicago area high school, regarding normalization and celebration of homosexuality in public schools. Mrs. Higgins offers cogent reasoning that you can employ with your local school administrators and your church leaders. This radio programs presents a rare opportunity to hear from a professional who has really made a difference in one of the most politically and morally liberal communities in Illinois.

(This interview is in hour 1, segment 2, and starts approximately 4 minutes into the audio. The segment is 4 minutes in duration.)

TAKE ACTION – Listen and then keep Laurie Higgins in your prayers.

Merry Christmas to all of our readers! Please consider making a year-end, tax-deductible gift to Americans For Truth. There’s a reason liberal-left groups like People for the American Way are monitoring AFTAH’s every move: they don’t want the radical “gay” agenda that endangers and corrupts children exposed. We need your help to keep standing for truth, as exemplified by the heartwarming story below…

The stakes of the cultural battle over homosexuality are never made clearer than when God reaches down from heaven to bring radical change in a person’s life — in the case below, a gender-confused suburban Chicago high school student who has recovered his masculine identity through Christian rebirth (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Only a sophomore in high school, “John” last year went by the name “Joanna” and was known in school for his feminine behaviors, like putting on women’s make-up. (We will not use his real name or identify his school to protect his identity as a minor.) He was headed towards living a life as a female-imitating, “transgendered” she – when God intervened and John was “born again” through faith in Jesus Christ, he told his student newspaper.

Now “transgender” Joanna is no more and John is reestablishing his true, God-given male nature at his high school. His newfound reality is precisely the sort of story that homosexual/transsexual activist groups like GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network) do not want other teenagers to hear. Because GLSEN knows that such stories undermine the “gay” myth that people are born GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered), and that such aberrant identities are mere natural and innocuous “orientations.”

In GLSEN’s “gay” activist world, “Joanna” deserved to be recognized and celebrated based on his/her “transgendered” lifestyle. GLSEN encourages teachers and school counselors to confirm highly impressionable youth in gender-confused identities: in fact, it’s quite common now to hear teachers of young students identify gender non-conforming children as future “transgendered” adults.

GLSEN’s warped ideology has become official policy at many schools across the country.

But, of course, change is possible, because God is in the business of changing repentant sinners. If the Christ of Christmas can turn around the lives of drug addicts, murderers, and drunks, He certainly can save men and women — and adolescent children — trapped in gender confusion and homosexuality.

As you read this story, say a prayer of praise and thanks to God for working in the life of this young man. Merry CHRIST-mas, John! — Peter LaBarbera

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The following is excerpted from an article that appeared in “John’s” high school newspaper in the fall of 2006; we have changed his name and omitted source identification to protect his identity as a minor for now:

Comments left on the Myspace website of [John] displayed messages such as “Why are you moving?” and “Please don’t move away!”

Despite concerns that [John] might not begin his sophomore year at [unnamed Illinois high school], he is back, armed with a new wardrobe.

“All my friends were afraid that I was moving away. I’m not moving. Joanna [his female persona’s name] is moving,” said [John].

At the end of last year, [John] was concerned with properly applying eyeliner and picking a lip gloss that matched his belt.

[John] sold his old clothes and is now clad in [male] outfits from his new favorite stores…

The decision to change his appearance wasn’t a quick transition. Losing his feminine appearance took [John] the entire summer.

He became inspired after becoming more involved with religion and his church. [John] calls himself a “born-again Christian.”

“I started reading passages from the Bible this summer and I finally understood messages that didn’t make sense to me when I was younger,” [John] said. “Now I realize I can be who I want to be. Everybody can be who they want to be.”

…He also will remain active in his church because he feels that religion helped him decide what kind of changes to make in his life.

According to [John], although the start of the school year was “exciting” for him, he is disappointed that he received negative feedback about his changes from some of his friends.

“Mostly they say things like ‘Whoa, what happened?’ I understand that they might be shocked by my new look or that they don’t necessarily like it, but it doesn’t matter what they think,” [John] said.

According to [John], he spent “too much time” allowing his [Joanna — female] persona to be teased and mistreated last year.

“People couldn’t decide if they were going to accept me then, so I’m cautious of people who are eager to meet the new me,” [John] said.

Despite mixed reactions during the first days of school, [John] feels that his family and “true friends” have been accepting and encouraging of the changes he decided to make.

“I feel that the blessings have been pouring down on me recently,” [John] said. “Now I can finally be who I’m meant to be.”

And to that we at Americans for Truth say, Amen!