Well, they're not calling it that. They're calling it the Day of Dialogue. But we know all too well what kind of "dialogue" on sexual minorities to expect from James Dobson's Focus on the Family.
This morning, Steven D posted a diary about his daughter's participation in today's Day of Silence. The Day of Silence is an event, held annually since 1996, to acknowledge and make silent protest of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools. It has been sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) the since 2001.
The right wing has long been desperate to stamp out the gay in the public school system, and used the threat of the radical homosexual activists spreading homosexuality in schools to fight legal reforms for sexual minorities. So it should come as no surprised that the Day of Silence has long been on their radar. In 2005, the Alliance Defense Fund began to sponsor a counter event called the "Day of Truth," held annually the day after GLSEN's Day of Silence.
The Day of Truth was established to counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda and express an opposing viewpoint from a Christian perspective.
ADF Website
In 2007, Exodus Interational, an organization of repressed, self-loathing LGB Christians "ex-gays," took sponsorship of the event. You'd think that "Christians" who "were" gay/bisexual would have some compassion for sexual minority youth, but you'd be wrong. Still, the spate of spate of suicides by sexual minority youth in fall of 2010 must have stirred their conscience. Last fall, after four years of sponsorship, the "ex-gays" relinquished sponsorship of the event to the ADF.
"All the recent attention to bullying helped us realize that we need to equip kids to live out biblical tolerance and grace while treating their neighbors as they'd like to be treated, whether they agree with them or not," said Alan Chambers, President of Exodus International, the group that sponsored the event this year.
cnn.com
Unfortunately, when one bigot closes a door, another opens a window. And Focus on the Family, the organization that loves families so much it opposes anti-bullying programs to protect sexual minority children, climbed through it.
Focus on the Family said that the Day of Dialogue "will boast a new name while maintaining the same goal it's had since its 2005 inception: encouraging honest and respectful conversation among students about God's design for sexuality," in a press release that is scheduled to go out Thursday.
SNIP
"We're trying to raise awareness that more than one side needs to be heard on the issue of homosexuality, and we're helping to ensure Christian students have the chance to express their viewpoint," said Candi Cushman, a Focus on the Family education analyst, in the release. "What is freedom of speech, after all, but a guarantee of the right to have dialogue?"
cnn.com
Focus on the Family renamed the event Day of Dialogue, which fall on Monday, April 18. The campaign website seems pretty innocuous. Students are encouraged to wear t-shirts and hang posters with this logo....
...hand out these conversation cards to their classmates.
I am giving you this card as a reminder that God cares about every single student in this school, including you—and to invite you to have a conversation about this concept. He knows your name, and He cares about your sexuality, your relationships and your soul. I believe Jesus Christ came to this earth to give his life for people like you and me. I believe He loves every person regardless of how they identify. That’s why as a Christian—someone who follows Jesus—I will stand up for students around me being teased, bullied or harmed for any reason. Because God cares so much about us, I also believe that He designed the best plan for our sexuality and relationships. And that He created every one of us, male and female, so that we could enjoy an intimate relationship with Him. Let’s talk about it!
This may seem somewhat innocent, but it really isn't. They might talk about love and compassion, but there is nothing loving or compassionate about compounding--and celebrating--the marginalization of minority group that already faces great hurdles to prejudice and discrimination. LGBT youth are already bombarded with messages that they are different, that their feelings are abnormal and immoral, that they don't belong. According to the Trevor Project:
Nine out of 10 LGBT students (86.2%) experienced harassment at school; three-fifths (60.8%) felt unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation; and about one-third (32.7%) skipped a day of school in the past month because of feeling unsafe (GLSEN National School Climate Survey 2009).
LGBT students are three times as likely as non-LGBT students to say that they do not feel safe at school (22% vs. 7%) and 90% of LGBT students (vs. 62% of non-LGBT teens) have been harassed or assaulted during the past year. (GLSEN From Teasing to Torment 2006).
Sexual minority youth, or teens that identify themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual, are bullied two to three times more than heterosexuals. (Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH 2010).
Almost all transgender students had been verbally harassed (e.g., called names or threatened in the past year at school because of their sexual orientation (89%) and gender expression (89%) (GLSEN: Harsh Realities, The Experiences of Transgender Youth In Our Nation’s Schools 2009).
It should be no surprise, then, that sexual minorities make up 20%-40% of homeless youth. It should be no surprise that sexual minority youth are four times as likely to attempt suicide as heterosexual, cisexual youth. It should be no surprise that at least 50% of transgendered youth have contemplated suicide and 25% have actually attempted.
Now in walks Focus on the Family to compound that agony, to remind these children that they are different and to reinforce prevailing social norms that they are immoral and inferior.
Have they no shame?