Reasearcher Says Children's Tolerance Video Promotes Homosexuality

The Agape Press, WeAreFamilyFoundation.org ^ | Jim Brown and Jody Brown

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

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		Researcher Says Children's 'Tolerance' Video Promotes Homosexuality Latest Version Going Out to Public and Private Schools Nationwide By Jim Brown and Jody Brown January 4, 2005 (AgapePress) - A pro-family group is accusing homosexual activists of using popular children's TV characters to indoctrinate young children into their lifestyle. Specifically, the group is questioning the intention of a new children's video featuring those characters. SpongeBob SquarePants, Barney the Dinosaur, Arthur, Dora the Explorer, JoJo, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Big Bird, Bob the Builder -- those and many others are among the characters starring in a music video remake of the 1970s song "We Are Family" that is designed to promote diversity and tolerance in the classroom. A special DVD version will be distributed to 61,000 public and private elementary schools nationwide, along with lesson plans for teachers. Distribution of the DVD is being donated by FedEx. Ed Vitagliano, a researcher for the American Family Association, questions the motives behind the project. The problem, he says, is that it is an "open door" to a secondary discussion of homosexuality. "When you go to the We Are Family Foundation website, there is a 'tolerance pledge' that children and others are encouraged to sign, which includes sexual orientation," he explains. That, he says, is the crux of the problem. "While we want everyone to respect other people's beliefs, we do not consider it appropriate for children's television to be used in an effort to indoctrinate children to accept homosexuality." The pro-family researcher sees an age-old tactic being employed by those behind the project. "This is a bait-and-switch approach. It's been used for years," he says, "and homosexuals are now using well-known and beloved children's television characters in an effort to use [them] as bait and switch." Vitagliano says the objective behind the video is to get children to the Foundation's website -- "and there they're given the full pitch about homosexuality," he adds. In addition, the researcher says he has been told by numerous homosexual activists that teaching tolerance for all people while excluding discussion of homosexuality is not an appropriate approach. The new video, recorded in November 2004, is scheduled to air simultaneously on Nickelodeon, PBS, and the Disney Channel in March 2005. Earlier versions of the video aired in March 2002 and September 2002 via those same networks. © 2005 AgapePress all rights reserved. Printer-Friendly Version Read all of our current headlines
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[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

CHECK OUT WHAT THEY RECOMMENDED AS TEACHER RESOURCES

American Psychological Association. "Answers to Your Questions About Sexual Orientation and Homosexuality." Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1998.

American Psychological Association. Publication Handbook of the American Psychological Association. 4th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1994.

Bettelheim, Bruno. Surviving and Other Essays. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1979.

DiZerega, Gus. Pagans and Christians: The Personal Spiritual Experience. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 2001.

Frank, Francine W., and Paula A. Treichler. Language, Gender, and Professional Writing: Theoretical Approaches and Guidelines for Nonsexist Usage. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1989.

Gandhi, Mahatma. The Words of Gandhi. Read by Ben Kingsley. Audiotape. New York: Caedmon, 1984.

Jackson, Donna. How to Make the World a Better Place for Women in Five Minutes a Day. New York: Hyperion, 1992.

Maggio, Rosalie. The Nonsexist Word Finder: A Dictionary of Gender-Free Usage. Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1987.

Maggio, Rosalie. Talking About People: A Guide to Fair and Accurate Language. Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1997.

McClintock, Mary. "Lesbian Baiting and Gay Baiting: How Homophobia is a Tool of Sexism." 1991.

McIntosh, Peggy. "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." Peace and Freedom July-Aug. 1989: 10-12.

Millett, Kate. The Politics of Cruelty: An Essay on the Literature of Political Imprisonment. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1994.

Miller, Casey, and Kate Swift. The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing for Writers, Editors and Speakers. 1st ed. New York: Lippincott and Crowell, Publishers, 1980.

Moulton, Janice. "The Myth of the Neutral 'Man'." Feminism and Philosophy. Ed. Frederick A. Elliston and Jane English. Totowa, NJ: Littlefield, Adams, and Co., 1971. 124-153.

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Moulton, Janice, George M. Robinson, and Cherin Elias. "Sex bias in language use: 'Neutral' pronouns that aren't." American Psychologist 33 (1978): 1032-1036.

Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. "Faith in Our Families: Parents, Families and Friends Talk About Religion and Homosexuality." Washington, DC: Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, 1999.

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Storti, Craig. Cross-Cultural Dialogues: 74 Brief Encounters with Cultural Difference. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press, Inc., 1994.

Venolia, Jan. Rewrite Right! How to Revise Your Way to Better Writing. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press, 1987.

[VRWCisme]

I'm not surprised. "Tolerance" is a code word. It doesn't mean that you have to merely tolerate "alternative lifestyles," it is part of the left's agenda to get people to actually accept it. The left can be as closeminded and intolerant as it wants to be, all in the name of tolerance.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Here are some of the questions in their teaching resource called I Spy Sexism:

How many of the elected officials in your city are openly gay? State? Federal?

In your favorite general-interest magazines, how many articles are written by women? How many are about women/people of color/lesbian and gay people?

Do gay teenagers socialize openly and safely at local school-wide events?

Does your local newsstand carry lesbian and gay magazines?

Check out section for teachers

[DTogo]

Sexuality discussions of any sort, homo or hetero, are not appropriate for young children. IMHO.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Guess who they suckered into supporting their cause? Bob Dole and Orrin Hatch. Now, I don't know if they thoroughly checked it out or not, but shame on them either way.

[cspackler]

I constantly try to ensure that my daughter knows the difference between tolerance and acceptance. See the South Park Lemmiwinks episode for a good take on it. (No, my daughter does not watch South Park...)

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

I don't want my kid taught to tolerate perversion anyway. He should be kindly intolerant. Sometimes the kind is impossible and you have to settle for calmly intolerant. Standing up for what is right is a vital character quality. These people are teaching kids to be victims. They have a right to stand up for their own values.

[CaliGirlGodHelpMe]

Homophobia, schmomophobia...The problem isn't homophobics, it's HETEROPHOBICS and their refusal to acknowledge their problem. When I read an intelligent discussion of THAT quandry, I'll pay attention, and I will encourage all of the young people in my influence to do the same.

[frog_jerk_2004]

PING! It is an absolute atrocity that we must fight tooth and nail to keep our kids innocent. But it is a fight I am more than willing to fight!

[stainlessbanner]

'tolerance pledge' that children and others are encouraged to sign, which includes sexual orientation,"

It's ok to say the tolerance pledge but not the Pledge of Allegiance.

[VRWCmember]

I'm not surprised. "Tolerance" is a code word. It doesn't mean that you have to merely tolerate "alternative lifestyles," it is part of the left's agenda to get people to actually accept it.

When these people say "tolerance" what they really mean is advocacy.

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." - Indigo Montoya, The Princess Bride

[HamiltonJay]

Yet another reason I am glad I dumped cable.....

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

It's ok to say the tolerance pledge but not the Pledge of Allegiance.

Go figure! Good observation.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Yet another reason I am glad I dumped cable.....

Me too.

[VRWCisme]

If you look at the word "tolerance" it just means to put up with, not to accept or agree. I tolerate homosexuals by not being hateful or harmful, but I do not accept or agree. If you think that "tolerance" requires respect for homosexuality itself then I'm not tolerant. The left uses tolerance to mean acceptance though.

[The Teen Conservative]

Ay-yi-yi. Their now masking homosexuality as apart of a civil-rights movement. Meaning, they treat it like racism to be againt homosexuals.

[stainlessbanner]

They are airing this trash on PBS (not just cable).

Tolerance now means indoctrination.

[odoso]

Indoctrination of any kind is WRONG!

MoFo'n Fagot and Lesbian activists; they have no souls, no conscience, they're just plain evil.

[VRWCisme]

You're absolutely right. By adopting the language and lumping "sexuality" in with race, religion, etc. in a "tolerance pledge," the left is continuing its agenda of treating homosexuality like any other characteristic and as though it's the same as skin color.

[odoso]

What problem are you referring to?