Anti-Gay Forces Attack Rolling Stone for Telling the Truth

Not long ago I wrote about the rampant anti-gay atmosphere that continues to exist in the Anoka-Hennepin school district despite an epidemic of teen suicides. Rolling Stone did a lengthy story that put the blame on Christian extremists and cowardly school administrators who put kissing the asses of bigots ahead of the safety of children in their charge. Not surprisingly, both the hate merchants and their cowardly puppets are none to pleased to have been exposed for what they truly are and are predictably having a fit and claiming that they have been wrongfully maligned. I'm sorry, but if your a bigot and/or a coward, you need to be willing to have the world see you as you as you really are. Ask Tammy Aaberg shown in the picture how little was done to protect her son who was bullied to suicide. The Twin Cities Pioneer Press has coverage on the disingenuous outrage and crocodile tears:

Rolling Stone magazine has the Anoka-Hennepin school district in a rage.
The day after a story about the district's handling of anti-gay student bullying appeared Friday, Superintendent Dennis Carlson denounced it as a "brutal and distorted attack." "This is a vicious insult to all of you who have worked so hard to make this district and this community a better place," the head of Minnesota's largest school district said in a voicemail fired off to his staff.

The district comes off in the piece as being unresponsive. At one point, Erdely writes that it is, in a sense, "in step" with the Parents Action League, a conservative parent group focused on fighting the "homosexual agenda." The article zeroes in on the group, describing it as small but influential.

Some in the community said the piece fairly accurately reflects the situation; others said it unfairly made most of the school district seem anti-gay. "From everything I know and have seen, it's an accurate article," said Tammy Aaberg, an Anoka-Hennepin parent who lost her son Justin, a gay teenager, to suicide in 2010.

Besides interviewing Johnson and Aaberg, Erdely said, she spent four months talking to dozens of community members, including other parents, teachers and students. "Between all of them, they gave me a very full sense of what was going on in the district," Erdely said. "If (Carlson) thinks this was a distorted version of the truth, maybe he is too far removed."

Although she said the article's title unfairly suggests the whole community is against gay students, Aaberg said much of the story is accurate. "I have had so many kids come up to me since reading it, past and current students who are gay, who tell me they feel the same way as the kids in that article," Aaberg said.

Laurie Thompson, president of the Parents Action League, said Erdely offered no proof that evangelicals or the district's policy had anything to do with the student suicides or bullying. Thompson said Erdely "repeated and amplified the most biased and unverifiable rumors regarding bullying" to reflect "another agenda altogether - attacking evangelical Christians and portraying them as unreasonable bigots."

My comment to Ms. Thompson is that perhaps she needs to take a good look at herself in the mirror. The same holds true for Michele Bachmann and her husband "Marcia." truth is that evangelical Christians are increasingly one of the most hate-filled and ugly elements in our society. Would that more of the public saw their true face.