Family Advocate Warns Schools Against Legitimizing Homosexuality
by Jim Brown
June 24, 2004
(AgapePress) - A Pennsylvania pro-family activist is warning that homosexual public school teachers in Pittsburgh are growing more bold in their efforts to legitimize their lifestyle.
Several homosexual teachers in Pittsburgh recently "came out of the closet" in hopes of being role models for students who are questioning their gender identity or sexual orientation. Addressing the annual meeting of the Pittsburgh Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), these teachers urged more legal protections for homosexual students and school employees.
Diane Gramley, who heads the American Family Association of Pennsylvania, says students need to be protected from the homosexual agenda, rather than having to listen to their teachers promote it.
"They are encouraging these students -- if they have homosexual tendencies -- to follow through with these tendencies," Gramley says, "because these teachers are wanting to be role models for these students who are questioning their sexuality. So it's going to have a negative impact on the kids."
The pro-family activist believes this kind of "outing" could have a dangerous impact on young people. She contends the subject of sexuality should be off-limits for public school educators, and "the school's administration should advise their teachers as such, that it is just off-limits and not to discuss it. It just opens a Pandora's box when you head in that direction."
Instead of legitimizing abnormal behavior, Gramley says, teachers and school officials need to be protecting students from the "deadly ravages" of the homosexual lifestyle. "The dangers of the homosexual lifestyle are real," she adds. "They need not be celebrated or affirmed by changing laws and policies. The compassionate society would instead warn of these dangers."
The Pittsburgh public school system currently has a non-discrimination policy that includes the term "sexual orientation." Nevertheless, at the recent annual meeting, members of GLSEN expressed concerns that Pennsylvania does not have enough laws and policies to protect homosexuals and transsexuals.
Gramley insists that there is no need to change state laws such as the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act or Fair Educational Opportunities Act to include terms like "sexual orientation" and "gender identity." To do so, she says, would send the wrong message to the children in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
