This actually showed up on some news feeds a couple days ago, but I haven't seen anything here about it. The rhetoric of the Conservative Religious Right is getting more and more frightening as evidenced by Mr. LaBarbera's comments.
(Washington) An ultra-conservative lobby group says his month's annual Day of Silence should be extended to a decade because it is sick of hearing about gays in schools.
More on the flip-side.
The Day of Silence, a project of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and the United States Student Association (USSA), is a student-led day of action where those who support making anti-LGBT bias unacceptable in schools take a day-long vow of silence to recognize and protest the discrimination and harassment - in effect, the silencing - experienced by LGBT students and their allies.
This year's Day of Silence will be held on April 13.
Americans For Truth President Peter LaBarbera said today that the day "simply does not go far enough - and called for extending the idea to a "Decade of Silence" for pro-gay advocates in our nation's places of learning."
"Parents are sick and tired of pro-'gay' liberals using the trusted school environment to promote homosexuality and gender confusion as normal to impressionable children," LaBarbera said.
LaBarbera also said that he believes the majority of American parents support him.
"Whether it's a lesbian teacher 'coming out' to her first-grade students, or a homosexual instructor telling his class that it makes no difference if children have 'two daddies' or a mom and a dad, the answer is the same: we need more silence from the radical homosexual education lobby," LaBarbera said.
"Most parents simply have no clue as to how much pro-'gay' propaganda has found its way into our schools--to the point where GLSEN is now targeting elementary school kids and promoting the bizarre notion of 'transgender youth.'"
GLSEN called the remarks scurrilous.
"These comments not only show evidence of a complete lack of understanding of LGBT bullying in schools but also disrespect for the young people who want to make their schools safe," Eliza Byard, the deputy executive director of GLSEN told 365Gay.com.
Link for story
My only regret about this article is that the opposition remarks weren't stated in a more assertive fashion. Mr. LaBarbera's comments are not a lead-up to fascism, they are fascism. The idea that an entire class of people in our society should be systematically silenced is completely offensive to every single democratic principle upon which the country operates.
[Program Note:] Peter LaBarbera is formerly (still?) a spokesman (spokesperson?) for the Concerned Women for America. Hmmmmm ....