Press Release from the Illinois Family Institute:
For Immediate Release
A national coalition of pro-family organizations is once again asking parents to call their children out of school on the Day of Silence if their school will be permitting students and/or teachers to refuse to speak during class. Parents can find out more information about the Day of Silence Walkout, which seeks to oppose the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s (GLSEN) exploitation of public education for partisan political purposes, at www.doswalkout.net.
On Friday, April 16, 2010 thousands of public schools around the country will permit students and sometimes teachers to refuse to speak during class for a political event sponsored by the GLSEN called the Day of Silence which is intended to increase society’s affirmation of homosexuality and Gender Identity Disorder.
Each year the urgency and importance of opposing the Day of Silence increases because each year the efforts to exploit anti-bullying sentiment and anti-bullying resources in public schools to normalize homosexuality and to censor and demonize conservative views increases.
GLSEN seeks to end bullying by demonizing conservative beliefs about volitional homosexual acts. GLSEN seeks to have all children come to believe that moral disapproval of homosexual acts constitutes bullying and hatred. GLSEN seeks to make it socially unacceptable to express the belief that homosexual acts are immoral and dangerous. And GLSEN seeks to use publicly funded schools to promote their unproven, controversial views about the nature and morality of homosexuality.
Anti-bullying resources have become the Trojan Horse for getting homosexuality-affirming resources into public schools. And legitimate concerns about bullying are being exploited to expose ever younger ages of children to these resources. GLSEN understands that it’s easier to capture the hearts and minds of six-year-olds than sixteen-year-olds. Parents in CA, IL, MA, and MN have had to confront the efforts of pro-homosexual activists to normalize homosexuality to their elementary school children through anti-bullying resources.
In most schools, it is the gay-straight alliances that sponsor the Day of Silence, and tragically, the number of gay-straight alliances that are forming in middle schools is increasing. This means that increasing numbers of middle schools will have to confront the Day of Silence.
On their Day of Silence website, GLSEN explains to students that “you do NOT have a right to remain silent during class time if a teacher asks you to speak.” The Day of Silence Walkout coalition expects schools to inform parents and students that they intend to enforce that legal requirement.
Parents and guardians must take a stand against the exploitation of public education in the service of controversial ideological and political purposes on the Day of Silence. The Walkout is one way to take a stand that may have an effect because every student absence costs school districts much needed money. The Walkout is an unfortunate last resort that is the result of the refusal of school administrations to listen to parental objections to the Day of Silence.
To learn more about IFI, visit www.illinoisfamily.org.
