Exodus: Live Out Loud

New Resources on Sexual Orientation and Bullying in Schools

http://www.respectandthefacts.com

Dr. Warren Throckmorton has several new articles available to those who deal with sexual orientation and bullying in the public education system or those interested in seeing what could be done in the classroom to educate students about them in a balanced way.

Sexual Orientation & Public Schools: A Balanced Approach

A sexual orientation curriculum for schools that is ideologically balanced. The curriculum includes principles to help evaluate what is presented in schools along with two lesson plans ready for teacher use. Comments and endorsements welcome - Free download

Respect and the Facts: How to Have Both in the Sexual Orientation Debate

a 16 page, full-color glossy booklet available for 2.99 per booklet with significant discounts for volume purchases. These booklets provide an alternative perspective to "Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation and Youth," a booklet that has been distributed to many public schools.

Bullying Prevention Information Resources for Schools

an alternative viewpoint regarding bullying and how teachers and school counselors can help those who are bullied and those who bully. Dr. Throckmorton welcomes comments and endorsements.- free download

A New Assault on the Innocence of Children

http://www.earnedmedia.org/cwfa0629.htm

CWA Calls Launch of LOGO Network 'Assault on Children's Innocence' To: National Desk Contact: Rebecca S. Jones of Concerned Women for America, 202-488-7000 ext. 126 WASHINGTON, June 29 /Christian Wire Service/ -- Concerned Women for America (CWA) decried MTV's plan to launch the nation's first "gay" channel, LOGO, designed specifically to appeal to a "gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender audience." LOGO will feature the 16th Annual Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Awards, as well as series like "Queer as Folk" and new feature films like "Happy Endings." The channel will be available in about 10 million American homes. It will benefit from the popularity of MTV which for the past decade has been the #1 rated designation for teens. "This is a sad day for America's children," said Dr. Janice Crouse, senior fellow of the Beverly LaHaye Institute at Concerned Women for America. "LOGO is another assault on our children's innocence. Gay activism, solidly established in our schools, is now spreading right into the nation's living rooms." "MTV has made radical special interest programming a priority," Crouse said. "Their campaigns –– ‘Fight for your Rights,' ‘Protect Yourself' and ‘Choose or Lose' –– have targeted the nation's teens with demagoguery. Now they are taking their activism a step further to indoctrinate our children through a special gay network that will portray homosexuality in a positive, appealing way, legitimizing the homosexual lifestyle for children in millions of American homes." MTV's LOGO will be sponsored by Miller Lite, Motorola, Tylenol PM, Orbitz, Subaru, Lions Gate Films and Showtime Networks, among others. "Once again Corporate America is giving its stamp of approval on a lifestyle that is not only immoral, but devastates lives by the diseases it inflicts, when the message we all need to hear is that there is hope for homosexuals to break free from that destructive way of life," said Crouse. "Last year, Motorola and Tylenol PM donated $50,000 and $25,000 respectively to underwrite an event sponsored by GLAAD. It is an outrage that these marketers consistently recycle their earnings to endorse causes such as LOGO, which will only be detrimental to children and families." Concerned Women for America is the nation's largest public policy women's organization.

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Marriage Now Just a Sexual Relationship

http://www.christianity.ca/news/social-issues/2005/06.004.html

"civil marriage in Canada is simply the conferring of legal recognition and benefits upon a conjugal relationship, with no reference in principle to permanence, progeny or public benefit. We have achieved, with the redefinition of marriage to include homosexual partners, the reduction of marriage to a mere sexual relationship....When civil marriage is thus stripped of its permanence and its commitment, what is left to distinguish a married relationship from any friendship? Sex. Hetero or homo, it doesn't matter." - Father Raymond J. de Souza

Spain Legalizes Same Sex Marriage

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/06/30/world/main705315.shtml?cmp=EM8705

The Spanish Parliament, in a 187-147 vote passed a bill making gay marriage, gay adoption and inheritance of property the law on Thursday. The Senate, where conservatives hold the largest number of seats, rejected the bill last week. But it is an advisory body and final say on legislation rests with the Congress of Deputies.

Church Leader Endorses Gay Marriage

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050629/ap_on_re_us/church_gay_marriage_5

The United Church of Christ's General Synod "should affirm the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender persons" to have marriages "equal in name, privileges and responsibilities to married heterosexual couples. I believe our local churches, as they are able, should move toward the development of marriage equality policies." - The Rev. John H. Thomas said Tuesday during a speech at Emory University. If this resolution is confirmed in this weekend's meeting of the general synod the UCC would be the first mainstream Christian denomination to officially support gay marriage.

Confronting Gay-Straight Alliances in the Public Schools

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/6/282005d.asp

David Williams, a mid-Oklahoma representative of the Christian Educators Association International (CEAI), decided to fight the establishment of a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) in his home town, Lawton, Oklahoma. He had been told told that the school could not legally stop the formation of a GSA. He began publicizing the GSA via the local newspaper, television, and  radio station in Lawton. Mr. Williams also gathered as many people as possible for the battle: school officials, school board members and church people. No matter how many people he got to back him, he could not get past the court ordered "equal access" requirement that schools must allow equal access for all student groups. (This may be why an many schools feel pressured to allow GSAs on campus.) So, he argued that, if homosexual students were free to establish a club that normalizes their lifestyle, then students who believe that homosexuals can change their sexual orientation must also be allowed to start a club as well. "I approached it from an equal access [perspective]," Williams said. "If they were going to promote one view of the gay agenda and not include the ex-gay agenda -- which means that people can change their perspective -- then that would be unfair. To make a long story short, after hundreds of e-mails, phone calls, prayers, [and] actually getting some ex-gay literature through churches into the hands of students at the school ... it was voted down by the students," he said. "We have to praise the Lord for that."

Expert: Real focus in gay debate being lost

http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=38059

"To deny a same-sex couple the possibility of adopting is not discrimination against persons with homosexual tendencies," The problem is not one of sexual orientation, but of the nature and purpose of adoption itself: adoption does not mean giving a child to any couple who wants one, but rather the seeking out a family for a child who needs one. A child in need of being adopted is a child who is an extraordinary and abnormal situation: he or she is a child without parents. From a juridical and social point of view, the purpose of adoption is to 'create' a family relationship similar to one that is natural. Not, for example, like two fathers and one mother, or three friends, or a single person, because these do not exist as a natural biological relationship. The simple attention and affection of one, two, or five people is not sufficient. In order for a child to have a balanced development and reach full maturity as a human person, she needs the presence of father and mother. If we are going to talk about adoption as a right, the rights of the child are above other rights because children are innocent and defenseless. It is the child who should be benefited by the adoption, not the couple." -Professor Hillary Wilson, expert in family issues from the University of Arkansas 

Dissent Stirs Among National PTA Ranks Over Group's Pro-Homosexual Stance

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/6/282005e.asp

While the National Parent Teachers Associate (NPTA), the Gay, Lesbian Straight Educational Network (GLSEN), and Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)may be satisfied with the national conference's take on homosexuality apparently some of it's members are not. "I had several PTA state officials come to me and say that if this continues in the PTA, they expect membership to continue to drop. One [PTA] state president even said if PFLAG comes back next year with the same kind of program and there's no balance provided, they will consider not sending their delegation to the convention next year," -Dr. Warren Throckmorton, a mental health counselor who has done extensive research on sexual orientation and youth.

The Reality of the "Safe Schools Programs"

http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20050628-111848-6114r

We are constantly told by GLSEN and the PTA that the goal of the "safe schools" program is to ensure that the bullying of same-sex attracted students will stop not to promote homosexuality or indoctrinate students. However, at the recent PTA convention pro-gay workshop presenters told delegates that "the goal of safe-schools programs on behalf of children with same-sex attraction should be to "encourage them in their identity."  Encouraging someone in their identity has nothing to do with stopping bullying.. it has to do with promoting that identity.

Florida County Ending Official Support of Gay Events

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/national/26pride.html?ei=5090&en=1d4534d8eea5535e&ex=1277438400&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

Meagan Albright, a graduate student at the University of South Florida, created a public library exhibit on gay authors and literature to fulfill a requirement for a course on diversity. As part of the exhibit, Ms. Albright made available pamphlets that listed counseling resources for teenagers who have questions about their sexuality. This exhibit resulted in a vote by county commissioners establishing a policy that directs the county government to "abstain from acknowledging, promoting or participating" in gay pride recognition or events. "One of the things that occurred was that pamphlets were being distributed to children by librarians who are county employees, and they referred children to youth groups outside Hillsborough County to explore their sexuality." -Commissioner Ronda Storms, author of the policy.