Marcia Segelstein - Guest Columnist - 6/2/2009 7:30:00 AM

WARNING:  This article contains graphic material which many will find distasteful.  It is included because it is an essential part of the story.
 
Last night, Jill Biden appeared as a special guest speaker for the activist homosexual organization called GLSEN.  Just so everyone's clear about the group getting a de facto stamp of approval from the Vice President's wife, here's a brief primer on GLSEN.

GLSEN, which stands for Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, proudly claims that its goal is to promote safe schools for people of all sexual orientations.  Many of its programs are billed as "anti-bullying."  GLSEN presents itself as a benign organization devoted to tolerance and understanding.
 
In fact, GLSEN is anything but benign or tolerant.  What GLSEN actually opposes is "heterosexism."  In other words, GLSEN wants schools to rid children of the outrageous notion that heterosexuality is the norm, and make sure they're clear that gender is merely a man-made construct.  They're not really about stopping bullies.  They're about bullying schools into adopting their radical pro-homosexual agenda.  Not only do they want to teach your kindergartener that it's okay to be gay, they want to teach your middle-schooler how to be gay.
 
Like the broader homosexual rights movement, GLSEN has worked skillfully for years to position itself as an organization dedicated to civil rights.  In fact, they are about promoting homosexuality to children, starting in preschool.  In 2002 GLSEN held a conference in Boston which included a seminar called "Gender in the Early Childhood Classroom."  GLSEN's founder, Kevin Jennings, wrote the foreword for a book called Queering Elementary Education.  It includes essays called "Locating a Place for Gay and Lesbian Themes in Elementary Reading, Writing and Talking," and "How to Make 'Boys' and 'Girls' in the Classroom."  Note the quotes around boys and girls.
 
GLSEN's website includes links to recommended book titles for various grade levels.  The kindergarten through sixth-grade section includes Daddy's Roommate, Heather Has Two Mommies, and Hello, Sailor -- the latter described on Amazon as a book that "makes the love between two men as natural as any other."
 
In 2000, GLSEN sponsored a daylong conference in Massachusetts funded by taxpayers purportedly to find ways to make schools safe and inclusive.  In a now infamous session for 14- to 21-year-olds, gay and lesbian state employees promoted and described a sexual practice called "fisting."  One of the presenters explained that it is "an experience of letting somebody into your body that you want to be close and intimate with."  The following year GLSEN sponsored a similar event, called "Creating Safety - Teaching Respect."  The teenagers who attended received not only instruction, but kits containing latex gloves and lubricants, for "safe" fisting, courtesy of Planned Parenthood.
 
So you get the idea.  GLSEN is about using schools to promote homosexuality to children under the who-could-argue-with-this banner of tolerance and inclusivity.  Among the many reasonable questions that could (and should) be asked about such programs is why sexuality of any sort is being promoted and described to children by educators. 

Read Marcia Segelstein's earlier column: Obama's connection to GLSEN 

One can only assume that the Vice President's wife supports their agenda.  Sadly, we already know that the administration does, too.  Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently appointed GLSEN's founder as assistant deputy secretary of the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools.  The announcement of Jennings' appointment included a description of GLSEN as "an organization that works to make schools safe for all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity."  Jennings also served as candidate Obama's campaign fundraising co-chair for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community.
 
Just for fun, let's imagine that an organization is formed ostensibly to protect the safety of Christian students who might be subject to bullying and stereotyping by their classmates.  After all, many Christians were targets of hate speech – and worse – after Proposition 8 passed in California.  Surely it could be argued that it's time to use public schools and public money to promote and protect those who practice Christianity.  Imagine taxpayer dollars spent to host day-long events with seminars describing what Christianity is all about.  Now imagine such an organization moving beyond the goal of safety for Christians, and instead, finding ways to work Christian tenets into every facet of school curricula. 
 
Setting aside the unlikely prospect – to say nothing of the impropriety – of public schools actively promoting Christianity (or any religion), let's get back to GLSEN.  What about giving equal time to heterosexuality?  Consider the story of a student at Woodbury High School outside Saint Paul, Minnesota, a few years ago. Perhaps tired of the myriad of pink triangles displayed all over the school (denoting "safe zones" for LGBT students), one day he wore a sweatshirt with the words "Straight Pride" on the front and a picture of a man and woman holding hands on the back.  Not only did the principal ban him from wearing the sweatshirt again, he called the parents "homophobic."  To their credit, the parents filed a federal lawsuit claiming their son's First Amendment rights had been violated.  They also opted to home-school.
 
Like a wolf in sheep's clothing, GLSEN is not about keeping children safe.  It's not about protection from bullies.  It's about promoting behavior which is antithetical to traditional Christian and Jewish teachings.
 
Maybe it really is time for an organization to protect students with traditional Judeo-Christian values.  Can we count on your support, Mrs. Biden?

The Christian Life