From U.S. Supreme Court vacates widely criticized 9th Circuit decision in Poway “T-shirt” case, published Mar 5, 2007, by Alliance Defense Fund:

Nation’s highest court grants request of ADF attorneys to consider case, then vacates 9th Circuit’s approval of censorship of Christian students

The U.S. Supreme Court today granted review of the appeal of a high school student represented by attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund who was prohibited from wearing a T-shirt at school expressing his biblical views on homosexual behavior. The court then ruled 8 to 1 to vacate a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit against the student.

“Students simply do not lose their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “Two 9th Circuit judges issued an extremely dangerous ruling last year, allowing a school to censor the Christian point of view, while permitting students to speak out in support of homosexual behavior. Today’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court summarily eliminates that ruling, giving us much firmer footing in pursuing this case.”

….ADF attorneys are representing Chase Harper, a student at Poway High School who was prohibited by school officials from wearing a T-shirt expressing his religious point of view on homosexual behavior. A school administrator told Harper to “leave his faith in the car” when his faith might offend others. Harper’s younger sister Kelsie is also represented by ADF attorneys in the case…A copy of ADF’s writ of certiori petition to the U.S. Supreme Court in Harper v. Poway Unified School District can be read at Harper Petition.

A copy of today’s order vacating the 9th Circuit’s ruling can be read at Harper Supreme Court Order.

The U.S. Supreme Court has reversed the 9th Circuit, which includes the state of California, more times than any of the other federal appellate circuits across the country.

Continue reading at Alliance Defense Fund… 

A news release from American Family Association of Pennsylvania dated Mar 6, 2007:

With Stephen Glassman’s involvement with a homosexual rights Get Busy, Get Equal Conference on Saturday, the American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA) once again questions his authority to speak in his official capacity as the Chairman of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC). The AFA of PA asks Governor Rendell to review Mr. Glassman’s involvement in not only this conference, but his meeting with those who opposed last year’s Marriage Protection Amendment and his efforts to get municipalities to add ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ to their human relations ordinances.

The PHRC has the responsibility of administering and enforcing the PA Human Relations Act (PHRA) and the PA Fair Educational Opportunities Act (PFEOA). These acts prohibit discrimination because of race, color, religion, ancestry, age (40 and above), sex, national origin, non-job related disability, known association with a disabled individual, possession of a diploma based on passing a general education development test and familial status.

“Stephen Glassman has a personal agenda and he has become more aggressive in recent years. He is continually pushing for the addition of ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ to human relations ordinances on the local level and beyond. Those terms are not part of the mission of the PHRC,” noted Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA, a statewide traditional values group.

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…

Excerpted from German Police Hunt Paedophile After Boy Killed, by Hannah Cleaver, published Feb 28, 2007, by Telegraph:Police in Germany used dogs, helicopters and heat-seeking equipment yesterday in their hunt for a convicted paedophile who they are certain sexually abused and killed a nine-year-old boy.

Authorities in the eastern city of Leipzig released chilling photographs of the last sighting of Mitja Hofmann. Captured by CCTV as he sat on a tram, the boy was smiling broadly as he made what was supposed to be his first ever journey home from school unaccompanied by his mother.

But the man sitting next to him was named by police as Uwe Kolbig, 43, a man known to police after serving two years in prison for sexually abusing children in 1998.

In an unusual step by police, they stated that they are certain that later that day, last Thursday, Kolbig sexually abused and murdered Mitja.

The boy’s body was found on Saturday evening in Kolbig’s allotment.

Police said that he had died after being strangled. Kolbig himself could not be found.

Continue reading in Telegraph… 

We received the following comment on Out & Costly on Mar 2, 2007 (sic):

“You failed to include the fact that the tax for domestic partmer benifits are paid by the employee and not the employer as the plan is a non-qualifying 125 plan.”

AFTAH’s response:

That information was included in the post:

“…Out & Equal’s ‘spousal equivalency policy’ would require the employer to compensate the homosexual employee for the absence of tax exemption on homosexual partner and children health insurance costs…. Because there is no federal recognition of ‘gay marriage,’ although a homosexual may receive domestic partner benefits, his contribution is paid with taxable dollars.”

The point of the latter section of the post, perhaps made more clearly:

• Currently, some employers do — and some employers do not — offer domestic partner benefits (DPB) to homosexuals; additionally, some offer DPB also to cohabiting heterosexuals as well.
• Most employees contribute some portion of the cost of their benefits through payroll deduction.
• Under current federal law, single employees (whose benefits may cover self only, or self and children) pay their portion with pre-tax dollars; married employees (whose benefits normally cover spouse and children) also pay their portion using pre-tax dollars.
• Federal law recognizes marriage between one man and one woman; it does not recognize “domestic partnership.” Therefore, homosexual (or cohabiting heterosexual) employees who currently have access to DPB pay their contribution for a “partner” and/or “partner’s” children using taxable dollars, but…
• A homosexual (or cohabiting heterosexual) employee still pays the contribution toward his/her own benefits and his/her own children’s benefits with pre-tax dollars, just like any other single employee.
• Out & Equal is advocating that employers pay homosexuals (or cohabiting heterosexuals) using DPB more than married heterosexuals to compensate the pre-tax/taxable difference on the partner/partner’s children portion.

AFTAH is not in favor of domestic partner benefits for homosexuals (or for cohabiting heterosexuals), nor are we in favor of the 15-step Out & Equal agenda for corporate America.

Our good friends at MassResistance have published a disturbing letter, originally sent to Mike Heath of Christian Civic League of Maine, from a young man who was active as a teenager/high school student with a group called “OUT!…As I Want to Be“ (we’ve linked to a cached website since the actual website has been taken out of service). This young man courageously discloses “negligence and abuse” by OUT staff and student leadership.

Excerpts from the letter follow (emphasis ours). Pray for Adam Flanders as he tries to pull his life together.

Jan 13, 2007

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Adam Flanders. I am 20 years old and a current resident of Belfast, Maine. I am writing to you on behalf of my own concerns, as well as the concerns of other youth members and past members (who wish to remain anonymous) of the nonprofit organization, OUT! … As I Want to Be located in Rockland, Maine. We wish to inform you of the negligence and abuse of OUT advisors and adult members…

OUT has since been mismanaged in many ways, but I (we) wish to inform you of the apparent negligence of the adult advisors and board members resulting in the emotional distress, abuse, and harm brought to youth members as young as fourteen years old. We can only speak from personal experience, and since I am the only individual willing to reveal my identity, I will begin with my personal experience of OUT and I will then summarize the complaints of those individuals who wish to remain anonymous.

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.

What’s going on at Deerfield High School — and what can parents do?

Lora Sue Hauser and LaurieHiggins will be the guests on the Sandy Rios radio program: