The dishonesty of the Christianists and those who dress themselves up in the "family values" mantle is often stunning. For a group that ought to oppose all lying based on their alleged devotion to the Ten Commandments, they have a level of untruthfulness that would make a con artist blush. No lie is too big or too disingenuous. A case in point? Anti-bullying rules and policies. These bastards say that they oppose all bullying, but in effect want carte blanche when the targets are LGBT school children and youths. And unfortunately the main stream media eats up their lies about a "gay agenda" like there is no tomorrow. Between the hiring reporters based on their looks rather than whether they have a brain and the lousy salaries paid by journalist rags like the Virginian Pilot, the result is a news media that has the reasoning ability of the border line retarded. The New York Times has a story on the disingenuous opposition to anti-gay bullying policies that highlights the bullshit the news media so readily eats up. Here are some highlights:*
Alarmed by evidence that gay and lesbian students are common victims of schoolyard bullies, many school districts are bolstering their antiharassment rules with early lessons in tolerance, explaining that some children have “two moms” or will grow up to love members of the same sex.
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Angry parents and religious critics, while agreeing that schoolyard harassment should be stopped, charge that liberals and gay rights groups are using the antibullying banner to pursue a hidden “homosexual agenda,” implicitly endorsing, for example, same-sex marriage. Last summer, school officials here in Montana’s capital unveiled new guidelines for teaching about sexuality and tolerance.
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A local pastor, Rick DeMato, carried his shock straight to the pulpit. “We do not want the minds of our children to be polluted with the things of a carnal-minded society,” Mr. DeMato, 69, told his flock at Liberty Baptist Church.
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Barely heard was the plea of Harlan Reidmohr, 18, who graduated last spring and said he was relentlessly tormented and slammed against lockers after coming out during his freshman year. Through his years in the Helena schools, he said at another school board meeting, sexual orientation was never once discussed in the classroom, and “I believe this led to a lot of the sexual harassment I faced.”
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“Of course we’re all against bullying,” Mr. DeMato, one of numerous pastors who opposed the plan, said in an interview. “But the Bible says very clearly that homosexuality is wrong, and Christians don’t want the schools to teach subjects that are repulsive to their values.” *
The divided Helena school board, after four months of turmoil, recently adopted a revised plan for teaching about health, sex and diversity. Much of the explicit language about sexuality and gay families was removed or replaced with vague phrases, like a call for young children to “understand that family structures differ.”
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Candi Cushman, an educational analyst with Focus on the Family, a Christian group, said that early lessons about sexuality and gay parents reflected a political agenda, including legitimizing same-sex marriage. “We need to protect all children from bullying,” Ms. Cushman said. “But the advocacy groups are promoting homosexual lessons in the name of antibullying.”
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But Mr. Messinger, the superintendent, said he still hoped to achieve the original goals without using the explicit language that offended many parents. “This is not about advocating a lifestyle, but making sure our children understand it and, I hope, accept it,” he said.
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I'm sorry, but Mr. Messinger has his head up his ass - being gay is NOT a lifestyle choice. And the larger message? Religion, particularly Christianity in this country, is the enemy of LGBT rights. The Christianists care only about themselves and to Hell with religious freedom and civil rights for others.
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