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The following was sent out today by Gary Bauer as his “End of Day” e-mail for the Campaign for Working Families. Click HERE to sign up for Bauer’s excellent publication, which I enjoy reading every day. For a take on the Left’s reaction, here’s the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force’s press release on New York Gov. David Patterson’s imperious, pro-homosexual-“marriage” act. (What an ally for the governor: keep in mind that the loony Task Force in February gave its annual “Leather Leadership Award” to a homosexual sadistic sex activist who specializes in “consensual” sexual “slavery.”) — Peter LaBarbera
NAPERVILLE, Illinois –– Americans For Truth (AFTAH) President Peter LaBarbera today called on schools, the media and opinion-makers to “break the silence” regarding the serious health risks of homosexual behavior, and said Americans deserve an official government investigation into the matter.
“Today, thousands of schools across the country are encouraging the homosexual activist ‘Day of Silence,’ and doing it in the name of protecting students’ safety,” LaBarbera said. “While schools can and must protect every child from harassment and abuse, it is contradictory to promote homosexuality in the name of ‘safety’ because the evidence is so overwhelming that same-sex behavior is a serious health risk –– especially for males.”
AFTAH has joined a coalition of pro-family organizations encouraging parents to pull their children out of schools that endorse the “Day of Silence” or allow students not to participate in classroom activities. [For a list of DOS-participating schools, see www.missionamerica.com.]
“How many government-funded studies have there been on the dangers of smoking?” LaBarbera said. “Yet homosexual men similarly are dying prematurely due to risky, unnatural same-sex practices –– but taxpayer-funded public schools are promoting this lifestyle to students through propagandistic exercises like the ‘Day of Silence.’”
We hit you with a lot of bad news at Americans For Truth, thanks to the committed morality-phobes on the Left. So here’s some great news for a change: a wonderful Christian legislator, Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern, refused to be cowed into submission by the nation’s self-described “queer” movement. Get pumped for truth-telling by watching these rally videos (about 43 minutes total for all six videos).
The following are YouTube videos of last week’s “Rally for Sally” Kern held April 2 at the Oklahoma State Capitol, including my talk representing Americans For Truth. A huge and enthusiastic crowd of 1,500 (Daily Oklahoman estimate) or more citizens came out to support State Rep. Kern, who had been deluged with hate mail and hate phone calls after a homosexual activist group, the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, created an anti-Kern YouTube using selectively edited portions of a public speech she had given.
The quality of these videos is not that great, but it is more than made up for by the moral clarity of the speakers. Below is part one of Sally’s moving speech:
Compare this “Rally for Sally” crowd to an earlier “anti-Sally” homosexual protest rally in the same Capitol Rotunda, which drew less than 100 activists. (The Daily Oklahoman later misreported the homosexualist rally attendance at 500 people; Paul Blair of Reclaim Oklahoma observed the rally and said there were 60 people there.)
America the Decadent? Would previous generations have allowed homosexual propagandists to spread their ungodly message of male-to-male erotic love to young children — in schools — as this children’s picture book, ‘King & King,’ has been used to do?
QUESTION: How do we get back on the offensive in the Culture War battle against homosexual activism and gender confusion? Send your ideas to americansfortruth@comcast.net
Dear AFTAH Readers,
My friend Laurie Higgins below has hit on a microcosm of why our movement is on the brink of an astounding cultural defeat — the triumph of immoral same-sex behavior as a “civil right.” In the last decade, some of our leaders, and many conservatives, chose to “downplay” the very force — homosexualism — that was leading the assault on marriage, normalcy and children in our culture.
About three years ago, I sat in a roomful of evangelical leaders at a major ministry where it was taught that you should not criticize homosexual behavior in advocating against “same-sex marriage.” The “expert” speaker cited poll data and negative audience reaction to the issue being raised.
Vicious activists even falsely accused her son of being homosexual
Pro-homosexual activists have targeted Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern (R) with a hate campaign because she spoke out strongly against the homosexual activist agenda. Above, a Facebook post paints Kern as the devil. A “Queerty” blog went so far as to accuse her son “Jesse” of being a homosexual with a sex criminal past — but the Jesse Kern in question was not her son, who would have been only 12 at the time of the crime.
TAKE ACTION: Support Rep. Sally Kern by writing sallykern@okhouse.gov or calling (405) 557-7348; write St. Representative Chris Benge, Speaker of the House (chrisbenge@okhouse.gov) or call (405) 557-7340 to defend her against the nasty hate campaign against her orchestrated by homosexual activists. Also, e-mail her fellow lawmakers to voice support for her by going to www.okhouse.gov: there is a list of Representatives with e-mails and phone numbers to the left of screen under House Membership. Share this story with your network of family and friends, and please pray for Sally and her family.
NAPERVILLE, Ill. — Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth, today condemned the unprecedented campaign of vilification against Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern (R), which forced her to have a bodyguard and endure vicious smears against her –– and even her son’s –– character based on an edited version of a speech that was put online by a homosexual activist group.
“The homosexual activist movement engages in hatred and mean-spirited attacks –– in the name of tolerance,” LaBarbera said. “In the name of fighting discrimination, they are trying to destroy a good woman who voiced her Christian belief that activism based on immoral sexual conduct is destructive to America, and harmful to children. Homosexual militants have even sunk so low as to falsely accuse Kern’s son, Jesse, of being a homosexual to embarrass her.”
Whatever happened to “heartland” values? Concerned parents and citizens across the nation are aghast at the news that a teacher in Deerfield High School (north of Chicago) would assign a homosexual activist-authored play, “Angels in America,” with graphic depictions of sodomy, etc., to students in AP English class. District 213 Superintendent George Fornero (gfornero@dist113.org) — who apparently is a homosexual, based on his participation on “gay” websites — defends the use of the play. (AFTAH received information from several sources about Fornero’s postings on a “gay sports” website and another related to the homosexual group Dignity, which purports to serve homosexual “Catholics” but which defies Vatican teachings on homosexuality.)
Laurie Higgins has written before for Americans For Truth, including this review of “Angels in America.” She is a writing instructor at Deerfield High, where she is also a bold and eloquent critic of politically correct nonsense at the school. Below is Higgins’ take on Deerfield’s and Fornero’s folly in defending the use of Tony Kushner’s homo-pornographic and anti-religious play in a senior AP English class — Peter LaBarbera:
The administration of District 113 has sent out what they call a “Fact Sheet” regarding the obscene play Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes that is being taught at Deerfield High School. Below is the “fact sheet” with my responses in blue:
Dear ——-,
Here are the facts pertaining to the selection of this play:
Angels in America Facts
Students studying the play are second semester seniors in Advanced Placement English.(Translation: “We save the most offensive tripe for the most intelligent.”)
This play has been taught to similar classes in other high schools.(Translation: “Everyone else is doing it, and we’re lemmings and conformists who cannot think for ourselves.”)
The College Board oversees all Advanced Placement testing; the class syllabus, including all readings was approved through the Board’s audit process.(Translation: “Of all the readings offered through the College Board, we’re including the most offensive.”)
Parents received information about Angels in America that specifically addressed the mature content and potential for offense. (Translation: “We’re using the inaccurate euphemism ‘mature’ for the more accurate term “obscene.” Reality: The use of obscene language represents the very antithesis of maturity. It is intemperate, puerile language. In addition, the information given parents did not adequately convey exactly how obscene and perverted the material is. Moreover, there are different kinds of maturity that are being deliberately conflated. If by “mature,” one is referring to intellectual maturity, then it is irrelevant. No one objects to this play because the material is intellectually inaccessible. If educators are referring to emotional maturity, meaning that students are emotionally stable enough to discuss emotionally challenging material without being traumatized, then that too is irrelevant in that most people who object to Angels are not concerned about students being too immature to handle it, although some students will likely be deeply troubled by the language, images, and ideas.The concern many have is with moral maturity. Many people recognize that adolescents, including even bright, mature high school seniors, are not yet adults. They are still constructing a moral compass. They are impressionable, malleable, and much more vulnerable to external influences than are adults whose moral compasses are likely fixed and stable. For a teacher to contend that there are any eighteen-year-olds whose moral compass is fully developed and fixed represents an ignorant and hubristic assertion. Activist ideologues recognize this developmental fact and seek to influence the moral development of other people’s children using other people’s money to do it.)
Parents were asked to make an informed decision about the text their child would read. Two viable choices were presented: Angels in America and Albert Camus’ The Plague. They were also given the option of having their students read both texts. Letter to parents requested that they provide permission for their student to read the selected text(s). (Reality: Many parents have neither the time nor interest in reading the entirety of Angels in America; This teacher is much beloved by students, and teens are rebellious, therefore, even parents who don’t want their children to read Angels may feel the force of social pressure, compelling them to allow their children to read the provocative, controversial text. The school has potentially set parents up for conflicts with their own children.”)
The Pulitzer Prize-winning play is set in the 1980s at the beginning of the AIDS crisis in this country. It deals with social and political themes around that issue. In addition, the play won Tony and Emmy Awards(Translation: “Be impressed by prizes that are awarded by arrogant, elitist organizations that hold in disdain the traditional values of provincial, philistines regarding sexuality and language.” Reality: This is a common fallacy called “argument from authority” which relies on the word of an expert or authority rather than on evidence.)
Excerpts taken out of context from the play by NSSA are being used to diminish the work’s social and political themes. (Reality: There is no context that can justify or render acceptable the teaching of the most extreme violations of decency and truth that occur in this play. Put another way, can the administration or school board imagine any text in which the sexual vulgarity, obscenity, profanity or sacrilege is so extreme or offensive that its very presence would render a text unsuitable for teaching, no matter what positive elements may also be present? Or will positive literary elements always trump issues of obscenity, profanity, and sacrilege? Are administrators saying they will never, under any circumstances take into account the nature and extent of obscenity, profanity, and sacrilege?)
Although there is strong language and obscenity, the teacher raises questions for student discussion that include: How do we respond to the illness of a loved one? What does it mean to abandon that loved one? How do our personal beliefs clash or coincide with our politics? To what extent do we truly know ourselves? To what extent are we blind? What does it mean to be willfully blind? What is the role of forgiveness? (Translation: “We are able, in the midst of this odious miasma of a text, to extract something of value.” Reality: Another text could easily be found that explores these or other important questions, and does so without the features that assault religion, goodness, truth, and beauty, including the virtue of modesty.)
This gifted teacher was recently named a Teacher of Distinction from Golden Apple.(Translation: “Once again, be impressed by prizes.” Reality: Once again, this represents the fallacy of appealing to authority. In essence the fallacy goes something like this: This teacher made the decision to teach this odious text, and he is a “Teacher of Distinction.” His intelligence or gifts as a teacher, however, do not serve as justifications for the decision to include this text. Really smart people can make really chuckleheaded decisions.)
According to Lake County State’s Attorney Mike Waller, the reading and discussion of the material is not a violation of the obscenity laws, or any other laws, of the State of Illinois.(Reality: The fact that it may not technically violate obscenity laws does not mean it is not obscene. I guarantee that if I start using Kushner’s language in the writing center where I work, or if students start using it in their classrooms, faculty members and administrators will curtail it due to its obscene nature. And if I or students refuse to cease and desist, we will be disciplined.)
It is the belief of this district that our teachers and parents, not an outside group such as NSSA [North Shore Student Advocacy], are best equipped to determine whether or not our students should read the text.(Reality: NSSA, some members of which are District 113 taxpayers, former parents or future parent, knows more about the inner workings of DHS than most parents in the community. Furthermore, the administration and faculty members, especially liberal activists, want little to no feedback from parents, unless it’s affirmation of and support for the curricular incarnations of their liberal dogmas. Liberal activists covet absolute autonomy and depend on parental ignorance and cowardice to maintain it.)
“After almost 15 years of school advocacy and reviewing many objectionable books and curricula,I have never seen anything this vulgar and harmful to students.”— Lora Sue Hauser
Kudos to my friend and extraordinary pro-family school advocate, Lora Sue Hauser, for exposing this extreme case of educational malpractice, at Deerfield High School north of Chicago. The teachers and administrators responsible for allowing this travesty — which could be “payback” for Lora Sue’s effective advocacy at DHS on behalf of students and parents over the years — should be terminated.
How did we get to the point in America where such disgusting pornographic writing could be justified as a part of a lesson plan for teenage boys and girls in school? Overly “tolerant” liberalism is corrupting our children at a rapid rate, while busy parents barely know what’s going on. Enough is enough: take action today! — Peter LaBarbera
TAKE ACTION: Read the “Angels in America” excerpts and call or write Deerfield High School Principal Sue Hebson to express — with civility — your dismay that their school, or any school, would even consider exposing impressionable youth to this vile, anti-religious, homosexual “literary” pornography: 224-632-3011; shebson@dist113.org; main office: 224-632-3000.
Write or call District 113 Superintendent George Fornero (gfornero@dist113.org) through the District 113 website, or call 224-765-1000. The District 113 Board of Education also can be reached through their website.
No matter where you live, let Principal Hebson, Superintendent Fornero and DHS hear from you regarding this incredible breach of educational trust. Send us your letter and/or any replies that you receive: americansfortruth@comcast.net.
________________________
News Release
North Shore Student Advocacy
Deerfield High School Offers Pornography To Students
March 7, 2008
Contact: Lora Sue Hauser, Executive Director, North Shore Student Advocacy
Telephone: (847) 651-8646; NSSAdvocacy@aol.com
DEERFIELD, Illinois — North Shore Student Advocacy has learned that Deerfield High School, in Deerfield, Illinois, is offering the books “Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes” (Part One & Two) —- laced with graphic sexual content, including gay sex, pervasive expletives, religious denigration and mockery —- in English classes this spring.
“After almost 15 years of school advocacy and reviewing many objectionable books and curricula, I have never seen anything this vulgar and harmful to students,” says Lora Sue Hauser, Executive Director of North Shore Student Advocacy. “Parents, taxpayers and concerned citizens must force themselves to read these excerpts, as horrific as they are, so you know what kids are being exposed to. The school justifies this egregious choice because of its themes of hope. Evidently, all great literature with themes of hope have already been exhausted so teachers need to start offering pornography. We say – enough.”
SURELY TO THE DELIGHT OF ‘GAY’ PORNOGRAPHERS EVERYWHERE, homosexual activist Tony Kushner’s pornographic, sodomy-celebrating and blaspheming play, “Angels in America,” has made it into a high school classroom (in Deerfield High School north of Chicago). You simply will not believe it after reading some crude excerpts below from the play. Take action by clicking HERE.
WARNING: Pornographic and Highly Offensive Excerpts Follow
Note to Readers: the following are sample excerpts from what surely is one of the most disturbing selections ever to be used or considered as a literary resource for use in a high school — or any — classroom. We understand that most readers will be shocked by this material and some offended that it has even found its way onto our website, but please consider that this will be made available to underage (teenage) children in a classroom setting.
Parents MUST be aware that the public schools are becoming pro-homosexual indoctrination and desensitization centers. How did America get to this point where outright perversion is introduced to students in the guise of studying literature? —Peter LaBarbera
New York Governor David Patterson (D)
