Posted on 09/06/2002 4:38:31 AM PDT by kattracks
CNSNews.com) - Two California parental-rights groups say schools that address homosexuality in their curriculum or in after-school programs face an increasing risk of being sued by parents.
The Pro-Family Law Center (PFLC) and the United States Justice Foundation released a report Wednesday that will be distributed to parents, school districts and the state education department. The 15-page document cites court decisions, which the groups claim could be used in lawsuits to challenge schools that seek to "normalize homosexuality."
"We're in the early stages of a national campaign to homosexualize American schools," PFLC attorney Scott Lively said. "Ten years ago this was not happening. We have a generation of school kids who are the official guinea pigs in a social experiment that we believe is going to have dramatically harmful effects."
Lively, who called the report "groundbreaking," said it gives parents an avenue to challenge schools. Once parents have the document in their hands, he wants them to distribute it to teachers and administrators.
The report highlights what it claims are liabilities associated with incorporating homosexuality into a student's education. It encourages schools to abandon any discussion of homosexuality.
Lively said lawsuits could arise from any number of factors, but overlooking parental concern is chief among the risks that schools take.
"Parental rights are some of the most fundamental of all rights recognized under the Constitution," he said. "Using the general principles of law and looking at the facts as we see them unfold, it's very easy to predict what's happening here. We are going to see some of these things being decided over the next few years."
But requiring parental permission for all discussions about sexuality, as the report suggests, carries parents' rights too far, especially when it involves after-school programs, said Wayne Besen, spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, a homosexual advocacy organization.
"Parents don't have the right to stop young men and women from receiving the help they need," Besen said. "The parents themselves are often the threat. These [homosexual student] groups are there to help vulnerable people who are subject to humiliation and harassment get the services they need."
The Human Rights Campaign was mentioned in the report as an organization that promotes such practices in schools along with the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gays (PFLAG).
Officials at GLSEN declined to comment on the report and calls to PFLAG were not returned.
Besen said the report is the latest attempt by anti-homosexual groups to advance their political agenda. Besides, he said schools are not doing nearly enough to protect students from classmates who harass them.
"[Schools] should have a zero-tolerance policy," he said. "Any student who gets caught harassing a gay or lesbian student should be punished appropriately. [Schools] need to teach people they are entitled to their beliefs, but they should be tolerant to all minorities, including gay and lesbian students."
Lively countered Besen's arguments by claiming homosexuals exaggerate concerns about school safety to advance their own political cause.
"There is no problem with school safety," Lively said. "Schools have the authority to stop harassment by students, but you don't solve that problem by dividing them up into groups."
He suggested the best way to address the liability problems would be for schools to stop addressing homosexuality in the classroom and in after-school activities and instead to concentrate on the more traditional subjects of reading, writing and arithmetic.
E-mail a news tip to Robert B. Bluey.
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Somewhere around 1/3 of the priests in the Church are homosexual - and most of them actively so. The Church has indeed been homosexualized. You don't have to believe that if you don't want. The test? A priest wants to take your sons out for a while. See what you say. The parents of literally thousands of homosexually molested boys made a bad mistake. And the number of priests actually removed is likely to be a small number of the offenders, given the reluctance of many molestees to come forward. And our Church, led by a very able (and heterosexual) priest, has attendance down by over 20%.
Who the hell has any right to teach my children anything about sexuality?
Most students are quite aware of indoctrination efforts, and scorn them. In my sons' Boy Scout troop, kids are respectful of homosexuals, disgusted by homosexuality, and completely scornful of their indoctrination sessions in school. Just about right, in my book.
I have made this comment before, and think I'll repeat it again: What would you do as a parent if a neighbor a few houses down decided to talk about sex with your 13-year old daughter, and give her condoms and birth control, and tell her if she ever has a "problem" come see him? I don't think I have to mention what most parents would do. Now, why should a parent treat a "teacher" who does the same thing any differently?
And student have a right to say what they actually think about homosexuality. That's not harrassment, whether a homosexual dislikes it or not.
These deviants' pressure groups are diluting the whole concept of what a minority group is. Suddenly we have behavioral minorities, which are supposed to equate to being black, or Asian. Homosexuals are a minority only by virtue of the fact that the vast majority of people do not engage in that evil behavior. It's really ludicrous, and dangerous for legitimate minorities to be associated or equated with evildoers.
Bravo. You put it in terms that most can't miss. But you know, parents trust schools and the educational elites - much more than their neighbors. Bad mistake, of course, bad mistake...
Right. So if people who like to pick their nose (rather than, say, engage in anal intercourse) organize and raise a stink, we'll have to recognize them as a protected minority as well.
You bet. The quickest solution for anyone's kids is to pull them out of publikk schools. But the fight should be joined. Teaching kids to think approvingly of homosexual behavior is a form of child abuse.
In general, it's quite clear that homosexual activists will use any smear tactic, name-calling tactic, any distortion of the truth, any intimidatory tactic to get their way. They take advantage of good and decent folk every day.
Surely I'm not the only person who sees the keen irony in this paragraph?
Filled with 1984-ish gaydocratic, gaydeological and intolerant doublespeak.
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Excuse me? I had to rub my eyes and read that quote a second time. Oh, horrors! We certainly wouldn't want a parents' rights to be taken too far... /heavy sarcasm
The Downs case revolved around a teacher whose free speech rights were violated when the school district refused to allow him to put up a bulletin board with a dissenting view of the pro-homosexuality message of the LAUSD's gay pride indoctrination. Downs lost his case.
The Parks case was brought by a group of students against the LAUSD. I couldn't find out what the status of that case is.
The school district was going so far as to give students information on how to contact adults for sex, pornographically obscene material, etc., some of which promoted adult/child sex. It is quite shocking.
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