Arguably, the most tyrannical, divisive, hateful, destructive political movement in the country will once again urge children and teens to disrupt government schools for an entire day on Friday April 12, 2019. And for the 23rd year in row, spineless Christians will take it on the chin. They tolerate the intolerable—not for principled reasons—but out of cowardice.
Since Christians are sending their children to government schools—often out of necessity—where they will be taught that soul-destroying homoerotic activity is good and that disapproval of it is hateful, parents should be aware of what many liberal teachers think of them and their beliefs.
Rich Robinson, homosexual high school English teacher from Freeport High School in Freeport, Maine sends email messages to IFI in which he expresses views that many “progressive” teachers hold but are too cagey to admit publicly. Here are two that he sent to IFI recently:
Yes, nothing says “responsible inclusion” (or tolerance or respect for diversity) quite like the protests against religious liberty that took place in Indiana last week—or the email messages Robinson sends to IFI.
Unfortunately, the government is paying people like this to shape the hearts and minds of other people’s children. The government is paying people like Robinson who think the embrace of homoeroticism is evidence of learnedness and compassion to train up our children in the way they should go.
Robinson waxes indignant that I often use the term “homoeroticism” in addition to “homosexuality.” A few years ago, a homosexual activist in California became similarly enraged because in an email exchange with him I would not kowtow to his demand that I use “gay” rather than “homosexual.” Their rage illuminates the strategic and epistemic importance of language in this culture war.
A note of explanation about my choice of “homoerotic” seems in order.
The term “sexual” denotes both sexual complementarity (or sexual differentiation) and sexual reproduction:
“occurring between or involving the two sexes; reproducing by processes involving both sexes” (Random House Dictionary of the English Language),
“of, pertaining to, or designating reproduction involving the union of male and female gametes” (The American Heritage Dictionary),
“pertaining to sex as concerned in generation or in the processes connected in this” (Oxford English Dictionary)
Another definition of “sexual” pertains to “erotic activity,” but so as to avoid any confusion when discussing same-sex hanky-panky—which is inherently sterile—“homoerotic” seems a more precise and fitting linguistic choice.
The redefinition of terms by homosexual activists and their petulant demands that their terms and theirs alone be used should illuminate why we must resist their demands for linguistic conformity. Like Rumpelstiltskin, homosexuals stamp their angry little feet when their words are found out. Then, trembling with fear, thin-skinned conservatives capitulate, choosing to use the Left’s white-washing diction rather than be called names by no-name-calling, anti-bullying Rumpelstiltskins.
On Friday, April 12, a homosexuality-affirming socio-political protest is taking place at most highs schools and increasing numbers of middle schools. This protest is called the Day of Silence, and it’s sponsored by the partisan, Leftist organization, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), whose raison d’être is to exploit public schools, captive minor audiences, and legitimate anti-bullying sentiment to advance their ultimate goal of eradicating conservative moral beliefs. Many schools even permit teachers to participate by wearing Day of Silence t-shirts or other paraphernalia.
For example, the “gay”-straight alliance at Glenbard East High School in Lombard, Illinois, PRISM, has been selling Day of Silence t-shirts to students and faculty, many of whom will be wearing them according to a school administrator. Although an announcement was made to students and teachers were invited to participate, parents were not notified, nor is the Day of Silence identified on the school website or school calendar.
Parents should be demanding that school administrations notify all parents that the Day of Silence is taking place, that GLSEN is the sponsoring organization, that both students may be refusing to speak in class, and that teachers may be participating by wearing Day of Silence paraphernalia.
For a better sense of what is taking place within schools, click here to see a snapshot of what took place in a New York middle school four years ago:
Conservative students and teachers know full well that the Day of Silence is aimed at silencing the expression of conservative moral beliefs, which makes this annual event a day of discomfort for those who don’t affirm GLSEN’s beliefs about homosexuality.
In a recent Huffington Post article titled “I Have Come To Indoctrinate Your Children Into the LGBTQ Agenda (And I’m Not a Bit Sorry),” homosexual activist S. Bear Bergman makes clear the ultimate intent of homosexual activism—which is not to end bullying:
I am here to tell you: All that time I said I wasn’t indoctrinating anyone with my beliefs about gay and lesbian and bi and trans and queer people? That was a lie. All 25 years of my career as an LGBTQ activist, since the very first time as a 16-year-old I went and stood shaking and breathless in front of eleven people to talk about My Story, I have been on a consistent campaign of trying to change people’s minds about us…. That is absolutely my goal. I want to make your children like people like me and my family, even if that goes against the way you have interpreted the teachings of your religion. I want to be present in their emotional landscapes as a perfectly nice dad and writer who is married to another guy. Who used to be a girl (kind of)….
….That is our job: to encourage people, especially children, to think differently about a subject than they do now. To…allow the light of truth and fairness to shine in.…
At the moment, I am helping to put the finishing touches on a series of children’s books that all feature lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer kids or families. There are six books…filled with girls and women doing cool things, page upon page of kids enacting their own identities in joyous and peaceful ways…. hey have lesbian mums and gay dads and big extended queer chosen families; some are gender-independent.
…
If that makes me an indoctrinator, I accept it. Let me be honest — I am not even a little bit sorry.
A national coalition of pro-family organizations is urging parents to keep their children home from school on the Day of Silence if their school will be permitting students to refuse to speak in class or if faculty, staff, or administrators will be wearing Day of Silence paraphernalia, including t-shirts. Click here and scroll down to see all coalition partners.
Keeping children home for one day to protest the exploitation of public schools does not prevent students from being salt and light, which they can do on the other 185 days of the school year.
And keeping kids home is not directed at students who experience unchosen same-sex attraction.
Rather, keeping kids home on this one day is a protest against administrations that are allowing Leftist political events into the classroom and allowing teachers to participate. If conservatives continue in their acquiescence, pro-homosexual activism will increase and further metastasize into our elementary schools.
The next time someone points out that Millennials—including even Christian Millennials—are becoming more “gay”-affirming, we should by now know why. And it’s not because they are organically “evolving” in the direction of truth and wisdom. This particular arc of the moral universe has been deliberately bent and not toward justice.
Last Call for IFI’s Worldview Conference
featuring Dr. Del Tackett
April 10-11, 2015
CLICK HERE for Details
While many conservatives call for a forfeit — I mean, truce — on the social issues, the other side gleefully forges ahead using our money to indoctrinate our kids in public schools. Conservatives used to be asleep at the wheel, but now we’re just asleep. We forfeited the wheel decades ago.
It’s true that public education is public in the sense that whatever it is that goes on in our schools is paid for by the public, but, at least on sexuality issues, there is no education going on. “Progressive” agents of change are unabashedly engaging in censorship in the service of promoting their social and political interests. Their motto: “Critical thinking and intellectual diversity be damned.”
Here is a just a sampling of the “educational” activities, events, projects, and resources that our agents of change and their ideological compeers from the world of homosexual activism have introduced to our public schools during the “truce”:
The Day of Silence, which is promoted by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, takes place in middle and high schools all around the country this Friday April 20. GLSEN asks students to refuse to speak in class on the Day of Silence, which, of course, disrupts the normal course of a school day. Imagine if multiple groups were permitted to engage in this kind of political protest during the year.
GLSEN provides cards to students to give to teachers explaining the reason for their refusal to speak. In 2002, this is what the card said:
Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence, a national youth movement protesting the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by harassment, prejudice, and discrimination. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward fighting these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today. What are you going to do to end the silence?
A few observations on this card:
The 2012 card now says this:
Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence (DOS), a national youth movement bringing attention to the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by anti-LGBT bullying, name-calling and harassment. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward building awareness and making a commitment to address these injustices.
Think about the voices you ARE NOT hearing today.
A few observations about this newer card:
It’s not just parents who should be opposing the Day of Silence. Every conservative taxpayer, every conservative teacher, and every conservative administrator should be coming alongside parents and working to restore integrity to public education.
First, it’s a stewardship issue. Our taxes are being used for illegitimate political purposes.
Second, students in school today are the culture-makers of tomorrow. We have a vested interest in the soundness of their education.
Third, this isn’t one isolated event. It’s one part of a large, ominous picture that includes curricular resources and activities in theater, English, and social studies classes; sex ed classes that promote liberal assumptions about homosexuality; anti-bullying programs; and countless activities created and promoted by homosexual activist organizations. Re-examine the list above and note the cacophonous sounds of “silence.”
Fourth, the rarely told truth is that many students and teachers on both the political right and left dislike intensely the Day of Silence. They hate the dissension that the Day of Silence brings to their school day. Not all liberal teachers use the classroom for political purposes. Many just want to teach their subject matter. Many teachers resent having to modify lesson plans or expectations to accommodate student silence but feel if they don’t, they will be viewed as bigots and bully-enablers.
Administrators:
Tell teachers they have no legal obligation to allow students to refuse to speak in class and that they should not permit political protests in the classroom. Communicate to parents and students that students have no legal right to refuse to speak in class and that classes will take place as usual.
Teachers:
Plan activities that involve student verbal participation and follow all normal disciplinary procedures that would apply to students who refuse to obey instructions.
Community members without students in the school:
Contact your local middle and high school administrators. Ask them if teachers are permitted to allow students to refuse to speak in class on the Day of Silence. If they permit this political protest, tell them you object to public school teachers who are subsidized by your taxes allowing instructional time to be used to promote controversial moral and political views in the classroom. Send a letter to your local press and read a prepared statement at the next school board meeting expressing the same ideas.
Parents:
Call your children’s middle and high schools today. Ask if the school is permitting teachers to allow students to refuse to speak in class on the Day of Silence. If the school says “no,” ask them how and when this will be communicated to parents, teachers, and students. It should be communicated at least several days before the Day of Silence.
If your administration does not communicate this expectation to parents, teachers, and students, call your child out of school, because it means the administration is ignoring the issue and tacitly permitting teachers to allow the silent protest to take place.
If your school administration says that teachers may permit students to refuse to speak during class, call your child out of school. Tell your administration and school board that since they are permitting instructional time to be exploited for a political protest, your child will not be in school. This will remove your child from an environment that fosters controversy, and your child’s absence will cost the district money.
Then go to your next school board meeting and lodge an unequivocal complaint.
While homosexual activism has infiltrated public schools in countless ways, the Day of Silence Walkout is is virtually the only organized effort available to parents to express their opposition to such activism. And it’s one that takes very little courage. If we continue to do and say nothing, the pro-homosexual activism increases and the children who are targets of such indoctrination become ever younger.
For more information, click here: Day of Silence Walkout.