4/24/2006

Pro-Family Groups Unveil Homosexuality School Risk Audit as Response to 'Day of Silence'
In the wake of the SBC’s passage of Education Resolution at its 2005 Annual Meeting, American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council and a pro-family coalition encourage investigation of local school districts

COLUMBIA, SC, April 24 /Christian Newswire/ -- Last June the Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention approved a version of a resolution submitted by Dr. Voddie Baucham and Bruce Shortt that, among other things, warned parents of collaboration by public school districts with homosexual activists and urged parents and churches to investigate their local school districts. The Baucham-Shortt resolution was endorsed by over 60 conservative grassroots organizations, including many state chapters of the American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, Eagle Forum, and Focus on the Family.

Following the adoption of the resolution by the SBC, Linda Harvey of Mission America developed a survey instrument known as the “Risk Audit” to assist Christian organizations, churches and parents in determining whether their local school districts are placing children at risk by having clubs, programs, policies, or curricula that could influence children to regard homosexual behavior as an acceptable lifestyle.

Today, the American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, the Family Research Council and state chapters of pro-family groups such as Eagle Forum have announced that they are following up on their effort with respect to the 2005 SBC Education Resolution by encouraging their state and local affiliates to undertake risk audits in local school districts, especially in the wake of homosexual activist events involving students, such as the “Day of Silence” scheduled for Wednesday, April 26.

According to Concerned Women for America’s Robert Knight, “Far too few pastors and parents are aware of the extent to which many school districts are collaborating with homosexual activists and the risks that poses for our children and our culture. As the recent incidents involving the sex education curriculum in Montgomery County, Maryland, and the ‘Little Black Book’ in Massachusetts clearly demonstrate, homosexual activists are becoming much more aggressive. CWA strongly recommends that concerned citizens consider undertaking a risk audit project.”

Tony Perkins of Family Research Council said, “The insidious alliance between some school administrations and homosexual activists has been hidden from parents for far too long. Recent events in Lexington, Massachusetts and similar instances across the country demonstrate the next phase in the campaign to normalize homosexual behavior - the capturing of America's youth. American families need to know about the homosexual indoctrination being forced upon young impressionable minds. Conducting a risk audit in local school districts will help do just that.”

Steve Crampton of AFA Center for Law and Policy said, “Promotion of the homosexual agenda to our children may be the single greatest threat to public schools in America today, but most parents don’t even know it is happening. This risk audit is the right response at the right time.”

Linda Harvey, founder of Mission America notes, "Based on my ten years of tracking and researching the growth of homosexual activism in public schools, I know that very few parents are aware that the majority of public school districts are selling our children the dangerous and false notion that homosexuality is a normal and acceptable lifestyle.”

Eunie Smith, president of Eagle Forum of Alabama, said: "For too long, parents have endured substandard education in our schools, with social engineering dominating the curriculum in many districts. This Risk Audit puts a valuable tool in the hands of communities, enabling them to hold schools accountable for politically-correct agendas."

Dr. Bruce N. Shortt of Exodus Mandate, and author of The Harsh Truth About Public Schools, applauds the American Family Association, Concerned Women For America, and the Family Research Council for their effort to protect children and better inform parents: “The leadership shown by these organizations in connection with the passage of the education resolution by the SBC’s 2005 Annual Meeting was courageous and timely. Today, by encouraging their affiliates and other organizations to undertake risk audits of local school districts, these pro-family groups are taking an important step to protect our children from a lifestyle that is profoundly dangerous and that far too many school districts are promoting as acceptable.”

Diane Gramley, president of AFA of PA, said, “This Risk Audit will be an excellent tool for parents to use to discover if their school is promoting the homosexual lifestyle and to what extent it is being promoted. Those who promote this deadly lifestyle in our nation's public schools have advanced their agenda unimpeded for too many years and too many children are paying the price. I encourage all parents with children in public and private schools to use this Risk Audit to discover just what their children are being exposed to behind the schoolhouse door."

Dr. Voddie Baucham, Bible teacher and author of The Ever-Loving Truth, “I have believed all along that if parents knew just how bad things were, we wouldn’t have to ask them to find other educational alternatives; they would come asking us. However, until now, parents have lacked either the will or the tools to discover the truth. This risk audit is the right tool at the right time. I just pray that the results bring about the right response.”

Gary Glenn of AFA Michigan, says, "Many parents have no idea that homosexual activists are allowed to use our public schools as a propaganda forum to indoctrinate and recruit young children and adolescents. Here in Michigan, the homosexual Triangle Foundation boasts that it has been allowed to use public school classrooms as early as first grade to promote their high-risk agenda. Parents need to be informed that the behavior and lifestyle homosexual activists are promoting leads to dramatically higher risk of domestic violence, mental illness, substance abuse, eating disorders, serious life-threatening disease, and even premature death."

Cathie Adams of Texas Eagle Forum said, "Parents are responsible for the education and upbringing of their children. That is why it is imperative that parents have full knowledge of what their children are taught in public school classrooms, especially concerning lifestyles that are contrary to societal norms. It is most unfortunate that homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality are embraced by America's largest teachers' unions forcing even unwilling teachers to become conduits for the union's radical agenda in classrooms. Parents do not want their children held captive to that radical agenda, which is why I am grateful that Mission America has designed a Risk Audit to protect parents and their children."

Phil Burress of Citizens for Community Values said, “Most parents do not want their children to be taught that homosexuality is a beneficial and positive option, nor that homosexual marriage is a civil right. We need to find out which schools are promoting these ideas, and the Risk Audit provides grass roots citizens with a valuable tool for doing this.”

Additional information, including the Risk Audit, can be found at www.missionamerica.com, and www.exodusmandate.org.