Mom Protests Middle School's Orlando Outing During 'Gay' Pride Week
by Jim Brown and Jenni Parker
April 30, 2004
(AgapePress) - A Florida parent is outraged that her son's public school has planned its sixth- and seventh-grade trip to Orlando during the city's "Gay Days Celebration."
Joanne Williams was alarmed to learn that her son's school trip, scheduled for June 4, would fall during Orlando's weeklong and citywide homosexual pride event, Orlando Gay Days 2004, which is slated to occur from June 1 through June 7.
Traditionally Lyons Creek Middle School students travel to various theme parks for end-of-year trips, and this year the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders have plans to attend, respectively, Orlando's Sea World, Universal Studios, and Islands of Adventure. But during that same week in June, multiple "Gay Days" events will be staged all over the city for the express purpose of "creating a gay and lesbian atmosphere" at Orlando's greatest theme parks, parties, and popular venues.
But when Williams objected to sending her son on the June 4 trip, officials at Lyons Creek Middle School told her it was too late to change the date to accommodate her concerns. However, she has reason to suspect that the school is being disingenuous.
"Actually," the Florida mom says, "I know for a fact that it is [being disingenuous], because I did pull up what our county school policy is on field trips, and it turns out all they need to do is get clearance from the principal of that school and the area superintendent. So it's really something that could be done in a matter of a couple of phone calls."
But Williams says the school unfortunately has no problem with exposing children to an environment where same-sex couples often grope and make out with each other in public. "Because our society is so lenient with the gay lifestyle, they just feel like it's not that big a deal to put our kids into that situation," she says.
The concerned mother feels the least Lyons Creek officials could do would be to notify parents that the school trip coincides with "Gay Days" and offer them an opportunity to receive a refund. But so far, the school officials refuse to take these measures.
Instead, Williams says the school has simply told the adult chaperones to keep an eye out for "anything unusual" -- a precaution that she considers fairly useless. "My concern with that was that the kids are not chaperoned while they're at the park," she says.
According to her information, the children are to be dropped off at 10:00 in the morning and told to check in at 2:30 to the checkpoint, and then be back on the bus at 6:00 p.m. "So letting the chaperones know to keep their eyes open for anything, to me, is a waste of time," Williams says, "because if something is happening with one of the children, [the chaperones are] not with them at all."
Williams contends that it is irresponsible to bring children into an environment that is the equivalent of New Orleans during Mardi Gras, and she says if this trip was discovered to be coinciding with something like "God Week" instead of "Gay Days," she wonders whether the children would still be going.
And Williams is not alone in her fears about the atmosphere to which the children will be exposed during the homosexual festival. An Associated Press report notes that at least one Christian group is calling on local police to do a better job of enforcing Florida's public indecency laws during the upcoming "Gay Days at Walt Disney World."
Just outside the State Capitol in Tallahassee, the Christian Action Network (CAN) has set up an exhibit of photos taken during previous "Gay Days" celebrations at the Disney theme park. Martin Mawyer, a spokesman for CAN, says many of these poster-sized photos show men exposing themselves or committing indecent acts with other men in public. He says CAN wants Florida lawmakers to put pressure on the state attorney general and Orlando police to enforce public indecency laws during the pro-homosexual celebration.
