CAROL STREAM, Ill. — The anti-gay Christian group Illinois Family Institute has launched another campaign against LGBT Americans, telling parents to remove their children from classrooms led by any teacher who is gay or lesbian, or is a faculty sponsor of a gay-straight alliance, or who has utilized LGBT-inclusive textbooks, or offers a “safe” haven for LGBT students in their classrooms.
illustration by Cartoonist Chris Britt, Springfield Journal-Register
The organization, designated as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, published the advisory Monday in a guidebook for parents Monday entitled: “Challenge Teachers, Not Books.”
A portion of the publication reads:
If parents have children who have already gone through the school or have already completed a year or more, they should ask those children and/or their friends or friends’ parents which teachers are known for bringing their politics into the classroom or who displays a “Safe Space” sticker, the inverted pink triangle, the rainbow flag, or the lower case Greek letter “lambda” on their desk, classroom door, or wall.
Students usually know who the liberal, activist teachers are. Liberal teachers develop reputations, often as the “cool” teachers.
Then parents should call or email the appropriate department chair and/or their child’s counselor, and politely insist on a schedule change, explaining that they will not permit their child to be in the classroom or under the tutelage of any teacher who has made their liberal politics known in school.
Former IFI Executive Director Peter LaBarbera, whose anti-gay tirades earned him the moniker “Porno Pete” by LGBTQ bloggers for his penchant for publishing hard core examples of gay themed pornography on his “Americans For Truth About Homosexuality” blog, has repeatedly called for the repeal of all legislation that prohibits discrimination against gays.
LaBarbera, whose Americans for Truth group has also been labeled a hate group by the SPLC, continues to publicly label homosexuality “disgusting,” and on numerous occasions has expressed the “need to find ways to bring back shame to those practicing homosexual behavior.”
Research conducted by the U. S. Department of Education shows that both Educators and students nationwide tackle challenges surrounding LGBT issues in schools, in many instances in the form of bullying brought about by negative messaging such as that put forth by groups like IFI and individuals like LaBarbera.
A rash of adolescent suicides in the past year in part brought about by incidents of bullying in American schools led Seattle based blogger and columnist Dan Savage to launch the “It Gets Better” video campaign to persuade at risk youth that life does in fact improve and that in which he told his story and encouraged other bullied gay and lesbian teenagers.
A spokesperson for IFI declined to comment when contacted about this story other than to say that the guidelines in the booklet “speak for themselves.”
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just putting outthere tht ppl who are anti gay are the ones with serious issues. :/
Gay teachers have families to raise too. They’re sick.
Negative!
Whatz next paramedics, and health care workers…? Well you’ll have stupid sick and dead people on your hands………….
The expression live and let live is no in their vocabulary apparently. They are the thralls that set the road to dividing free expression to particular groups. We’re all American. We all deserve the same rights. These hate-mongers are the reason we – the human race – can’t progress and grow.
Or ya know, they could remove them from public education, which is separated from the church, and put them in a private christian school. Theyll still come out as gay if they are. I did!
At this rate, the Human race will be in a Bad Economicle state (as if it wasn’t bad enough), Mostly Dead and just plain Stupid
How about removing children from homes where hate is taught.
i agree beth and nissen. and this is just so dumb. everytime i hear of such a story its sooo disappointing!!!
Good grief!
What a crock of shit!!
None of my energy will be spent on Haters!
Let us live our life’s gosh !! You say we try to control y’all, like with the chick fil a crap but wat about y’all bothering is with home depot and now this and everything else. GIVE IT A BREAK!
Absolutely ridiculous!!!
fear mongers strikes again.
Some people are just stuck on stupid. These are the same parents that would have no idea that their own child might might be gay or transgendered. So this could be one of the best teachers in the school and they would deny that education to their child. Open your eyes people, LGBT children and adults have been around since the beginning of time, it’s not something that’s going away. Why can’t everyone just accept people for who they are, human.
so what about the LGBT ally teachers, remove the kids from those classrooms too?
Gotta keep that hate alive, otherwise people might learn to get along together, and we just can’t have that.
Fucking ridiculous…just when I thought they couldn’t get any stupider. Yeah, that’s not gonna make the kid into a social pariah or anything…’hey gang, I went to the principal and refused to be taught by the cool teacher because of Jesus!’
I feel sorry as fuck for the children of these drooling morons. Not least because of the brainwashing. I hope they all escape into the world when they reach the age of reason, as George Carlin would have put it.
I guess they want their kids not to be educated like their parents. Sad to see a group of early men still alive.
This is total bull! Also it is a hate crime starting! These people should be prosecuted! The constitution states all men created equal! I am suck of these prejudicial attacks! They are hate mongers! This needs to be outlawed! They preach religion and break God’s first rule Love All!!!
Give it up bible thumpers. We’re here, we’re queer, GET USE TO IT OR SHUT THE FUCK UP!
That’s terrible. People need to get over how life and beliefs used to be. There’s waaaay too many LGBT members to keep hating.
some one should post a list of all the hetero teachers sleeping with their students just in the past 3 years, or the last 10 years and show how many teatchers are of the same sex as the students…
all the child abuse by STR8 teachers and the yworry about gay teacher who TOTALLY would be VERY careful? sick peple with no life JUSTHATE
i personly had a lesbian teacher and i came out fine. if jesus didnt approve of the lgbtq community why in the bible did he heal a same sex partner
Don’t touch us or eat our food or you’ll be gay too. I’m glad my family surrounds ourselves with loving people that get it. They need prayers or a thump on the head.
Perverted Homophobes.
OMG!
Ya just can’t fix stupid… Not even with electroconvulsive shock therapy. Although folks like him make me VERY tempted to try anyways!
whatever, it just leaves more room for my kid and more time from a teacher who is there to TEACH! My daughters have both had multiple teachers who fall into the “LGBTQ” group. Being in a city with not so hot public schools and having gone to parochial schools, some real stinkiers that the anti-gay groups would accept. I will take a gay teacher any day, so would my wonderfully well adjusted daughters.
Is this scary or what…………..
This disgusts me. When will the hatred and discrimination come to an end?? I wish I had the power to punish these awful people for spreading their filthy hatred!
Importunately THESE ASSHOLES ARE IN ‘CONTROL’ OF THE SCHOOLS. THEY ARE SO WARPED WITH THEIR HATE THEY WILL NOT LISTEN TO REASON!!!
Like another person stated. Those who can’t tolerate the liberal mindset of public schools can just send their children to a private school. They talk about how ‘they will not permit their child to be in the classroom or under the tutelage of any teacher who has made their liberal politics known in school’
Well, we equally have the right to not permit their closed minded politics that prevent free speech and education. These bigots actually think they have national support? It’s truly sad. As much as people liking this article is sad. The only thing to like about this article is Dan Savage’s ‘It Gets Better’ clip.. the rest of it is a warning to the rest of us that bigots are at it – yet again!
WTF? Cause this world needs more hate then it already has? What a load of crap!
ignorance lives!!!!!!!!!!!!!
what a bunch of bafoons.
SERIOUSLY??????? Are, they really THAT freakin’ stupid?
does that mean we can remove our kids from the class room if its taught by a republicasn and/or christian
Hey bigots please do us all a favor and do remove your kids from the schools so normal kids dont have to hear your antigay anti Jesus Christ teachings.
WTF?!
I always thought teachers were supposed to teach our kids how to be better people not make the same mistakes their parents did
that makes me SICK!
-.-” I don’t want to live on this planet anymore
Remove those who persist on teaching your children how to hate in a democratic nation. How about that.
People are sooooo stupid. Do they think the teacher is going to teach them how to be a homosexual? They had better worry about all of the teachers who are sexually after their students. Read the paper stupid people.