Legitimizing Homosexual Behavior in Schools at the Federal Level
Gina Miller with husband Keith
Although it’s hard to keep up with them all, the latest outrage in Congress is a bill introduced on January 27th by openly homosexual Congressman Jared Polis of Colorado [the founder of Proflowers.com]. The bill, H.R. 4530, is the so-called, “Student Nondiscrimination Act of 2010.” Here we go again. The assault on our school kids continues with this bill which is laced with falsehoods and stipulations that are arguably unconstitutional.
The stated purpose of the bill is, “To end discrimination based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity in public schools, and for other purposes.” The bill cites “pervasive discrimination” of homosexual or sexually confused students to the point that those students, “have been deprived of equal educational opportunities, in schools in every part of our Nation,” and further states that, “…actions that target students based on sexual orientation or gender identity represent a distinct and especially severe problem.”
Neither of these statements is true. Once again the left is creating a crisis that does not exist. There are already in place strict rules against harassment, bullying and violence in our schools. As with the “hate crimes” law, this bill creates a specially protected class of student. It also claims, “…students and parents have often had limited legal recourse to redress for discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity,” another patently false statement.
The proposed legislation also ties federal money to enforcement of the bill by requiring any program that receives federal money to implement the tenets of H.R. 4530. The bill treads deeper into unconstitutional territory by trampling on states’ rights in declaring, “A State shall not be immune under the 11th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States from suit in Federal court for a violation of this Act.”
In addition, Bob Unruh, writing for WorldNetDaily states that critics of this law say it would, “…give controversial federal school safety czar Kevin Jennings – a longtime homosexual-rights advocate – almost unlimited authority to mandate indoctrination in public schools at taxpayer expense.”
The march continues to force the legitimization of homosexual behavior on our country, the majority of whose citizens reject the acceptance of such behavior. We still have “Employment Non-Discrimination Act” bills pending in the House and Senate, plus the “hate crimes” legislation that was recently signed into law, all giving special protected status to homosexual and other sexually confused people. The purpose of this latest assault by legislation is not to protect school kids from the phantom epidemic of harassment and violence targeting kids who think they’re homosexuals, it is to open another avenue to force the mainstreaming of homosexuality in our schools.
Knowing that many will be alarmed by this legislation, near the end of the bill is the token free speech clause, “Nothing in this Act shall be construed to alter legal standards regarding, or affect the rights available to individuals or groups under, other Federal laws that establish protections for freedom of speech and expression, such as legal standards and rights available to religious and other student groups under the 1st Amendment to the Constitution and the Equal Access Act.”
This would seem to indicate that it is protecting the rights of freedom of speech, expression and religion of non-homosexuals, but we’re already seeing cases where courts are ruling against Christians who have been sued by homosexuals for simply practicing their beliefs. Recall the Christian couple with a photography business in New Mexico who, because of their belief that homosexuality is wrong, turned down the job of photographing a pair of homosexual women having a “wedding” ceremony–the women sued and won a six-thousand-dollar judgment against the Christians.
Make no mistake, this latest bad bill does not bode well for our schools and our country.
Gina Miller, originally from Texas, is a former radio disc jockey and graduate of William Carey College in Gulfport, MS, with a bachelor of fine arts, and an emphasis on English, writing and literature. Gina, along with her husband Keith Breland now work for themselves installing residential irrigation systems and landscaping on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
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Well done, Gina. I look forward to reading more of your thoughts and insights on Dakota Voice.
The assault on American values and public morality by the homosexual activists is relentless. They are bold and determined, but why shouldn't they be? They have had the government, the media, the educrats, the military leaders and major corporations bending to their will for decades, advancing their agenda almost unchallenged. When the question is brought to the people, however, the response has been the same in every state and municipality. Prop 8 is but one highly publicized example. This gives me some hope for the future of our country, but we mustn't rest or capitulate. There is too much at stake. Thanks for your efforts.
Extremely well organized , thought out, and clearly written. But again we are a nation of laws and law says that homosexuality is legal and therefore in the eyes of the law, legitimate from a legal standpoint. If one maintains that homosexuality is illegitimate, to make that hold true in our legal country, wouldn't you then have to advocate passing a law making it illegal ?
You can't just claim 'quit trying to legitimate homosexual behavior in schools' when our law says it is legitimate legally . Our schools should always be advocates of the law and what it legitimizes. Seems like your only solution would be to make make homosexual behavior illegal.
Thank you, Dr. Theo. Your words mean so much to me. You're quite right – we must not rest. We must stay wide awake, for the enemies of America and freedom never sleep.
I know Bob is out of town, and I imagine the queue of “anti” comments is waiting. Dr. Brian likely has some remarks.
Thank you, Brian.
Actually, sodomy was illegal for a long time in states in our country. But, regardless of that point, smoking and drinking alcohol are also legal. Should we encourage smoking and drinking for our school kids? The immorality of homosexual behavior aside, the health risks of it alone would include it in an unhealthy category like smoking or heavy drinking. Healthwise alone, this proposed legislation is counterintuitive.
The health argument is an interesting one. Smoking, drinking, and eating too many Big Macs to excess are all clearly unhealthy as are unsafe sexual practices and none of these should be legitimized in schools. but neither should they be legally discriminated against.
To me the whole question is are homosexual students being actively discriminated against in schools by heterosexuals, like blacks were once discriminated against by whites. Or is this truly some agenda by homosexual activists who simple want to push their agenda.
My kids are grown and I don't know what is actually going on the ground level at the schools. If rampant discrimination is happening, then that discrimination is wrong according to law and should be inforced. If it is not happening and this is simply some agenda to push homosexuality, then that is wrong.
My point is I honestly don't know how much of each is each. My question would be is do you know as a fact that homosexuals are not aggressively being discriminated against in the school yard. If you know that to be a fact, then I would say such laws are unnecessary. But if homosexual discrimination is active and aggressive, then like the discrimination against blacks, it must be brought to the forefront because it is illegal.
Brian, like you, I'm not “on the ground” in the public schools. But, I do know that there are even stricter rules in place against bullying and harassment of any kind than when I was in school. That is “equal protection under the law” – All students are to be protected against bullying. It's just like the “hate crimes” laws being unnecessary; we already have laws that punish murder and assault against anyone.
Did you read Bob Unruh's WorldNetDaily article which was linked in my piece? In it, he quotes Linda Harvey of Mission America refuting the bill's claim that harassment against kids who think they're homosexual is an epidemic problem. She said there's simply an absence of data to back up such sweeping statements.
You should read Bob Unruh's article if you have a few minutes to spare. In it, he pinpoints what I believe is the true reason for this bad bill.