Or so the radical Right would have you believe. Specifically, “Focus On The Family” and the “American Family Association” would like you to think that part of the gay agenda, in addition to marriage equality (or, “homosexual marriage,” as the hate-mongers like to call it,) is instituting anti-bullying policies in schools. And they are outraged because they “think” that LGBT advocacy groups are now the schoolyard bully.
“Focus On The Family” and the “American Family Association” exist to inject their particular breed of religious bigotry and hate into the American mainstream. Focus On The Family’s latest endeavor, a website called “True Tolerance,” claims to offer “New Resources on Bullying Issues,” yet right up front asks, “Concerned about homosexual advocacy in your child’s school?”
Evidently, “New Resources on Bullying Issues” means, “Here’s how to help your kids bully other kids and get away with it.”
Now, I don’t know any parent who woke up today and said, “Gosh, I wonder if the reason Johnny can’t read is because of homosexual advocacy?” Do you? When did “homosexual advocacy” become a problem in our schools? I think hate and hate-mongering is the problem, don’t you?
Of course “True Tolerance,” offers “tips on communicating with your school officials.” Because I’m sure there are a ton of principals who — amidst budget cuts, a renewed focus on education (thanks to the Obama administration) and a brand new school year — are dying to hear from parents who just woke up and imagined a “homosexual agenda” that is creeping into their children’s classrooms.
Talk about creating fear and hysteria where none should exist.
What Focus on the Family should be concerned about is tolerance of bullies, instead of lying to parents by asking, “Why is one-sided promotion of homosexuality happening in your child’s school?”
Take this little tidbit from FOF’s “True Tolerance” agenda of hate:
“Our nation’s K-12 public schools are coming under increasing amounts of political pressure from national homosexual-advocacy groups. This pressure often comes in the form of demands to create a “safe environment†for gay and lesbian students. Schools are told that if they do not ban “homophobic†and “anti- LGBT†(lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) messages—as well as include positive statements about homosexuality in their policies, curriculum, books and during special events like the Day of Silence—they will face legal liability.”
The obvious question is this: Does FOF want more children to be bullied for possibly being different? Does FOF want more children who are merely perceived as gay, or lesbian, or just a little less “stereotypical,” to be beaten, or killed in school, or to come home and commit suicide?
Here’s a reminder for FOF, via The Trevor Project:
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among 15 to 24-year-olds, accounting for over 12% of deaths in this age group; only accidents and homicide occur more frequently.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death on college campuses.
For every completed suicide by a young person, it is estimated that 100 to 200 attempts are made.
Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers.
More than 1/3 of LGB youth report having made a suicide attempt.
Nearly half of young transgender people have seriously thought about taking their lives and one quarter report having made a suicide attempt.
Questioning youth who are less certain of their sexual orientation report even higher levels of substance abuse and depressed thoughts than their heterosexual or openly LGBT-identified peers.
LGB youth who come from highly rejecting families are more than 8 times as likely to have attempted suicide than LGB peers who reported no or low levels of family rejection.
Focus on the Family, by creating “True Tolerance,” — a disgustingly bigoted idea, that “true tolerance” is allowing bullying, which leads to increased child deaths — is saying “Bullying is A- OK!”
Blogger Joe.My.God. quotes the “True Tolerance” site, which says, “The emphasis should be on the wrong actions of the bully — not on the bully’s perceived thoughts or motivations.” Then he says, “They should ask Carl Walker-Hoover‘s mother what she thinks about that.”
Michael A. Jones at Change.org asks a related question in, “Why Is the Anoka-Hennepin School Board Doing Nothing About LGBT Suicide?”
He writes,
“[T]hree gay students in the span of one year who have taken their lives, all the while the school district has done nothing to open discussions about LGBT bullying or creating safe spaces for LGBT students in Anoka-Hennepin schools.
“Why would the school district do nothing amidst three suicides by LGBT youth? Because they’re worried about offending some socially conservative religious leaders in the area, who want to keep any mention of homosexuality, even if it relates to anti-bullying, verboten on high school campuses.”
Pam’s House Blend examines another facet of this latest right-wing religious hate-mongering. In “AFA Highlights/Recycles FOTF Campaign Against Perceived Gay Public School Agenda,” Autumn Sandeen dissects an American Family Association/OneNewsNow piece (of garbage) titled, “Combating Homosexual Promotion In Schools.”
Like I said, I don’t know any parent who woke up today and said, “Gosh, I wonder if the reason Johnny can’t read is because of homosexual advocacy?” Or, “homosexual promotion,” (whatever that is!) for that matter.
Karoli at Crooks And Liars, in “A Perfect Example of Focus on the Family’s Evil,” adds this:
“This is what happens when the fires of homophobia are stirred. Children are assassinated in cold blood by classmates, threatened by the sexuality and the messages they get from organizations like Focus on the Family. When those fires are stoked up too high, 14-year old boys take guns to school, walk up to classmates, and put two bullets in the back of their heads.
“Tell me again. Who is the bully here?”
I don’t care your political or religious affiliation. If you think it’s OK to bully a child, if you think it’s OK for other children to bully kids, there is something wrong with you.
(Remember, “Anti-Gay Bullying Leads To Suicide, Murder, Hate Crimes, Violence.“)
As I wrote last year, “I’ve written about child suicides here, here, and here. Half of all school bullying is anti-gay, and ‘schools are ignoring it.’ It’s a national emergency, and not enough is being done.”
Focus on the Family is the icon of the Religious Right.
When will they ever learn?
When will we stop them from teaching hate and putting our children in danger?
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