Make It a SAFER Halloween For Everyone!

Yes, readers, it's that time again: the streets will be filled with little demons...and fairies, and Freddies and Sarah Palins. No doubt, you've thought about taking the kids to a "Hell House" tonight to entertain them and keep them off the streets. After all, Halloween has gotten scarier. Just ask people in San Francisco's Castro district, who have had to give up Halloween festivities because of violence.

It's just possible, however, that the greatest threat to safety (future safety that is) is the church-run "Hell House" in your neighborhood. You see, while the usual Halloween Haunted House/Hell House tries to scare kids with the fantasies of the superstitious and the supernatural, church-sponsored Hell Houses try to scare kids with a form of REALITY.

Albeit a very skewed, very gruesome form of reality.

At a Hell House, a demon may escort you through scenes too gory for small children and too disturbing for young adults: a botched abortion of a cheerleader who dies and is headed to hell; the wedding of a gay couple, (the ceremony presided by a demon) the scene then shifting to one of the men dying of AIDS; a young girl goes to a rave, is given a "pill" then  gang raped (she also goes to hell). These and other scenes are graphically depicted before the end, when a moral is intoned and forgiveness of "sins" is offered. 

It's Scary ... and It Kills

We've already seen the fate of some kids who are bullied for being "different" or unpopular. And needless to say, the suicides of gay teens have been focused on by the media. What most people don't know, however, is that religious attempts to steer kids away from "sin" stigmatize as much as they warn: boys and girls have killed themselves over unwanted pregnancies, abortions, abusing drugs or alcohol, or a myriad of other perceived faults. Hells Houses also enable bullies and impound guilt. 

In a recent poll taken by the Public Religion Research Institute, almost two thirds of the American public blame religion in having a direct causal relationship to the latest spate of gay teen suicides:

Bottom line: Hell Houses are not as emotionally healthy as they think they are.

For the rest of this blogs articles on Hell Houses and demonizing:

Demonizing America, Part I: The UPDATES TELL THE STORY

Demonizing America, Part II: "Kill Them All! God Will Take Care Of His Kind!"

Demonizing America, Part III: SPECIAL REPORT - HELL HOUSES

Also:

Obama: It Gets Better...Hell House Ideology: IT GETS WORSE!

You're Right, Mr. Obama ...

Demonizing America - Part III: SPECIAL REPORT - HELL HOUSES - Causing Teen Suicides Or Rescuing Souls?

DEMONIZING AMERICA, Part 3: Prologue


The following two paragraphs are excerpted from the 2005 edition Hell House Outreach Kit by Pastor Keenan Roberts of New Destiny Church of Arvada, Colorado. While this kit may have been updated, the basic scenes are being played in Hell Houses across the country. 

* Gay Wedding ($45) — This energetic scene will give you another powerful weapon in your arsenal against the homosexual stronghold and the born-gay deception. The demon tour guide conducts the ceremony that actually involves a young married couple. (The wife dons masculine make-up for the necessary male look.) The tour guide pronounces them “husband and husband”. Then the scene utilizes a time warp to move several years into the future with one of the partners dying of AIDS as demon imps swarm into a hospital room. This package comes with the originally produced rock-n-roll wedding march CD, the air of evil background music CD and the death drum track also on compact disc.

* Gay/Lesbian Suicide ($45) — This scene creatively combines two cutting-edge issues into one script. The drama for the scene calls for a spiritual battle between the angel of the Lord and the demon tour guide. They wrestle for Jamie's intellect as she struggles with whether or not God has made her this way. This script captures an incredibly compelling exposé that unmasks the “born-gay” lie.

DEMONIZING THE DEMONIZERS

For once, I'm at a loss for cynical words. I can't demonize someone - simply because to do so would be pointless. People who are caught demonizing are already demonizing themselves. Hypocrisy is like that. 

Once when I was a kid, my dad took me and my cousin Pat to a "Haunted House", put on by the local Chicagoland flower-grower, Otto Amling. It had real actors in skeleton costumes who said "boo" a lot, and had a mechanical "Frankenstein" who lunged at you when you tried to go out the back door. I took it in stride as fun. Pat, however, did not. He held my father's hand so tight my father mumbled something about circulation. When we left, he was as white as a sheet. Pat was three years older than I was. I was nine.

With the spate of teen suicides caused by bullying, it is impossible for some people to see today's Hell Houses as anything but the worst demonizing force ever devised by man. Based on the morality plays of the Middle Ages, they take young people through vignettes as horrific as any Halloween film or venue. And even though they've been parodied and laughed at by others*, their purpose, they insist, is not to scare, but to save. And they are very, very specific about who and what they want today's youth to be saved from. 

I spoke to Pastor Keenan Roberts of New Destiny Church in Arvada, Colorado last week. Pastor Roberts has been selling "Hell House Outreach" kits to churches across the country for the past 19 years. His "Hell House" kits provide a full working script complete with suggestions on props, costumes sound effects. As a cottage industry, in fact, it has been very successful. 

To be fair, I won't quote Pastor Roberts extensively because as every good writer knows, quotes can be edited in such a way as to be very, well... demonizing. Instead I will cite a few key phrases and paraphrase what he believes about Hell House and the current situation.

Pastor Roberts' primary points were:

1. He does not have connections with churches who purchased hell house "kits" and scripts. Therefore, he does not know if any have edited their scripts considering the present situation of teen suicides.

2. People don't really understand Hell House and its purposes. He asked me to define "demonizing". "Our calling is to help people understand what the Bible says. We have choices - and choices that are outside of God's plan are sins."

3. A Hell House simply states that it does not condone homosexual behavior.

4. Media is unfair because it uses "filters of convenience," meaning that it uses one set of criteria and applies it to the whole concept of Hell House. He noted that media criticism was not pointed quite as much to the issues of pre-marital sex and abortion as to the issue of homosexuality.

5. Hell House should be considered a "rescue operation." "You can't point at us and say 'you're part of the problem.'"

6. "Don't shoot the messenger"

Pastor Keenan, I should relate, seemed very sincere in his efforts to impress upon me that what he was doing was right.

But if you look at the text above and the video below, you will now find out how difficult it is not to demonize Pastor Roberts.** A Hell House states more than "we don't condone homosexual behavior"; it states in big, bold letters BECAUSE YOU ARE IN SATAN'S GRASP, YOU ARE A SINNER AND WILL BE PUNISHED BY EVERLASTING HELL. Quite overshadows any message of love, doesn't it?

The most salient point in the entire Hell House script is the depiction of homosexuality as a bad (read: sinful and unhealthy) choice that is spread because activist homosexuals need to recruit young people as part of their "agenda." The immutability of this point cannot be stressed enough: anyone believing otherwise is an un-Christian liberal. Criticism about other aspects of the script are also met with scorn. (e.g.: parents across the country have voiced criticism concerning Hell Houses' violence. They are brushed aside as not knowing the true meaning of Hell Houses.) But the tenacity by which Hell Houses cling to the original script may be more indicative of the respect/power churches demand: alter the script in any way, and that power deflates.

HOW FAR WILL THEY GO?

The legends that sprung up from Columbine were tenuous as actual facts about the shootings began to trickle in. One legend, however, did not die - at least in the minds of Hell House producers: the legend of the martyrdom of Cassie Bernall. 


The legend was simple:  one of the gunmen supposedly asked Cassie if she believed in God, and when she replied "yes" he shot her. The media and Cassie's parents focused on that last moment extensively. The problem was, that's not what happened: 


wikipedia:

Most examinations of witness testimony state that Cassie was not asked anything before she was shot. According to witness Emily Wyant, who was hiding under a wood table with Cassie, Eric Harris said "peekaboo" before shooting Cassie, while Cassie continued to pray silently.It is believed the famous exchange actually took place between Klebold and Valeen Schnurr, and was mistakenly attributed to Bernall.

The Bernall's website still carries the legend and makes no attempt at hiding the fact that it is still up for sales of the book, She Said "Yes."


Salon. com, Sept. 30, 1999:

The belated media outing of the truth about Cassie Bernall raises questions about why the story took so long to find its way into print. Misty Bernall's book landed on the Publishers Weekly bestseller list at No. 14 this week, with 350,000 copies in print and more than 250,000 already sold, according to the publisher. In the past three weeks, the Bernalls have appeared on Today, 20/20 and Larry King Live, among others. The story has inspired a massive surge in Christian youth groups' recruitment around the country and overseas.

Hell Houses also play fast and loose with other issues: e.g., the abortion scene ends with the young girl DYING because of the abortion. Medical journals have consistently stated that about one girl in one MILLION ever expire from an abortion. Another point: prepared scripts have been edited to suit the ideas of each church. While some churches may prefer to tone down the violence and demonizing, some even ratchet it up, even including Muslims or other religious or ethnic groups they deem headed for eternal damnation. Pictures from the Freres  Corbusier performance show the abortionist wearing a yarmulke (Jewish skull cap).

LOVE THE SINNER



Some scholars believe that the proper exegesis of Christ's philosophy of love was that it took more courage to love your enemy than to hate him. He also knew that the concept of loving your enemy would be a hard sell - in fact, downright unpopular. 


It still is. In days of war, intrigue, terrorism and distrust, loving your enemy - or even those who are "different" - has never been harder. This brings about the question of culpability and its admission in regards to Hell Houses. You see, one small piece of demonization can make it nearly impossible to love the person at whom it is directed. And any extreme demonization can entirely cancel out all of the commands to love someone, particularly if those commands are voiced afterwards. In other words, no matter how many times someone tells you that God wants you to love someone, that plea has been rendered moot and senseless by the first disparaging word about them.


Telling the public that Hell Houses do not demonize and instead demonstrate love is almost ridiculous. I say "almost" because there are people who believe Hell Houses preach the "love-the-sinner" meme effectively. They must believe - if they are to support their church. And we must accept the fact that they exist, because to think otherwise would be dangerous:

A 2001 study published in the Journal of Psychology found that “the belief in an active Satan [is] directly related to intolerance toward gay men and lesbians.” Given that all of the gay and lesbian characters in Hell House scenes are condemned to hell by Satan and his demons, this research raises serious questions about the impact of Hell Houses on impressionable youth.

One upset parent wrote that Judgment Houses (aka Hell Houses) are just another form of child abuse:

It has been said that “hell serves the holy purpose of cradle to grave intimidation,” and this is exactly what that church is attempting to do. But for civilized people, including most Christian people, what they did can be considered child abuse. They can only be thankful that with the separation of church and state, child protective service agencies cannot do anything about it. 

A review from Newsweek of the Les Freres Corbusier New York production:

"It was a grotesque and shocking imagining of contemporary secular culture, an extreme version of the way some very conservative Christians may think the unsaved live."

 CBS Texas affiliate 2008:

"One skit is a girl on Facebook," says Houghteling. "She meets a friend and gets raped and the demon says she deserved it."...[Reporter] Houghteling tells CBS 11 News that the message Trinity Church is sending to the young members is that if you struggle with certain issues then God has no place for you."

BULLY ENABLERS

One of the most frequent taunts that are used against gay teens is, of course, "you're going to HELL!"  I should stop at this point, because the correlation to Hell Houses is so obvious. But it doesn't seem obvious to the producers and supporters of Hell Houses. The denial of Christian Right stalwarts like Pat Robertson and Tony Perkins of the increasingly strident Family Research Council has demonstrated that the rhetoric of any debate will be contentious. To them, demonization does not exist. Neither does the possibility of enabling bullies to torment students.

Fortunately, there are Christian groups across the country that have taken a stand against vehicles such as Hell Houses:

With clear implications for the Hell House message, the Council of Bishops, Elders and Christian Leaders, which represents organizations and congregations that reach 98 million Americans, has publicly stated that they are “united“united in [their] rejection of all forms of fear-based religion” and refuse to “cooperate with or support political or religious leaders who caricature and condemn the lives of gays and lesbians.”

THE NUMBERS ARE OUT THERE - SOMEWHERE

The only concrete numbers I have been able to come up with are from 2007: approximately 1.6 million people visited Hell Houses. “Hell House Kits” were distributed to 800 churches across the US and 18 countries. Some churches reported that their Hell Houses received 12,000 visitors per year and utilize as much as 300 people either as professionals or volunteers. Every year since 2007, the numbers have increased.

So have the number of teen suicides and reported instances of bullying in schools. Concerned parents and educators are going over past research and teen suicide statistics. The future may hold a surprise for supporters of Hell Houses. Until then, however, culpability is the predominant issue. Some people may have already asked themselves (as I have done): do the producers and supporters of Hell Houses honestly think they aren't culpable in any way? Can they take one more look at the scenes, the scripts, the props, the acting and say that teens could not in any way be affected in such a way as to contemplate suicide? Or contemplate bullying as an accepted behavior, especially if it's bullying someone who's "going to hell" anyway? Some Hell Houses have been driven to given advance warnings that emotional distress might result - before they go on with the performance! Some attending children are under 12 years old. Are Hell House churches so bent on tormenting youth into salvation that they will risk inflicting severe emotional stress? Do they care at all?

From Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council on the subject of gay teen suicides:

Despite how threatened they are by the truth, there is nothing more compassionate than trying to rescue people from a lifestyle that is physically and emotionally destructive. GLAAD doesn't see it that way. Just as they did with Matthew Shepard, they're exploiting Tyler Clementi's tragic death as a weapon to scare Christians into retreating--or, in this case, as a way to pressure the media to muzzle any opposition.

As you can see, Perkins is a master at demonizing, especially when he's defending himself: he never talks about any gay organization without framing it  in  "battlefield" terms.

So what do we have now? At best, we have a group of dedicated Evangelicals burying their heads in the sand for God. At worst, we have ...

Tony Perkins, Bryan Fisher and Lou Engle.

EPILOGUE:

If nothing else, I hope that I have conveyed that this is an urgent issue that must be addressed NOW. Just as some evangelicals see the Halloween season as a fleeting chance to save souls, others must take this chance to save lives. If you know of a Hell House in any area in the country, please contact your local media to investigate it and contact local child welfare organizations to help organize protests. It's vitally important.

UPDATE: Another gay suicide has been reported: Corey Jackson, of Warren, MI (Detroit), hanged himself last Tuesday. Corey was a 19 year-old sophomore at Oakland University. Police and friends denied that it was a consequence of bullying. PROBLEM: The portrayal of gays as "making a wrong choice" still sends a message to gay youth: "if you keep on being the way you are, you're going to hell."

*Landover Baptist Church has the Lake of Fire Dunking Booth.

**I am biased, to be sure: my 6-year stint at the AIDS Emergency Fund in San Francisco showed me then just who were the demonized and who were demonizing. In the one photo above, I might as well have been that demon who was talking to the young man in the hospital bed, the only difference being that I wasn't telling him that he was going to hell.

To read the first two parts of DEMONIZING AMERICA click HERE and HERE or go to The Devil and Dan Vojir

Hell Houses To Gay Teens: It DOESN'T Get Better - It Gets WORSE!!

 

MUCH WORSE!!

Special Report

While Dan Savage's bid for the minds of the country's gay teens has taken America by storm, another bid for their souls is in its 19th year: the church-sponsored Hell House. Initiated by Jerry Falwell in then70s, the Halloween-themed attraction has scared thousands (some say hundreds of thousands) of teenagers into believing that what they feel about themselves is sinful. 

This site will try to keep you posted every day (if I can) about Hell Houses, their effects and their locations. Please tell your friends to contribute by telling us of locations and any experiences. 

Thanks,

Dan Vojir

Below are some scenes from actual Hell Houses. They are offensive and destructive to all teens.

This has got to stop. I don't know how we can stop it, but it must stop.

Demonizing Gays And Abusing Puppies; How the Radical Religious Right Is Killing Us With Kindness, Neglect, And One Proposition At A Time

I can demonize with the best of 'em. First, because I know when I'm demonizing something or someone. Secondly, I can sense fear and know when to use it. But most of all, I can use hyperbole and make it seem possible. For example, I can say that "the Religious Right wants gay teens to commit suicide." I didn't qualify the statement by saying "some" of the Religious Right. I played upon progressives' fears by using the word "suicide" and demonized by using "wants." Then back up the statement with something, like posting a clip of a pulpit personality ranting about the "destructive gay lifestyle." It's really rather simple, isn't it? 

Which is why "social conservatives" and Religious Right leaders demonize all the time. It has a simple formula that's quick and cheap (unless, of course, you're insecure about your ability to demonize and think you need billboards and stuff). Demonizing, of course, is not new to religion, but Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) have strong "we -are-the-only-religion" doctrines and therefore lend themselves to demonizing everyone else on a large, all-inclusive scale: It's alway "us" vs "them" and "them" is immediately demonized. In her book, The Origin Of Satan, Elaine Pagels puts the process of Christian demonizing neatly:

"Jesus' followers did not invent the practice of demonizing enemies within their own group... they drew upon  traditions they shared with other first-century Jewish sects. ..The Essenes never admitted Gentiles to their movement. But the followers of Jesus did - cautiously and provisionally at first, and against the wishes of some members. But as the Christian movement became increasingly Gentile during the second century and later, the identification of Satan primarily with the Jewish enemies of Jesus, borne along in Christian tradition over centuries, would fuel the fires of anti-Semitism."

  - Elaine Pagels, The Origin of Satan ( Vintage, 1996, p. 34)

OK, enough of Demonizing 101. Let's go on to today's primary issue: how the Radical Religious Right (RRR) will be working its demonizing "agenda" into the country's ballot boxes this November. 


This coming election day, the RRR's "agenda" will be split between Tea Baggers and Republicans. Most of the Tea Party will be focusing on less government (always good for the RRR), while the Republican Party will concentrate on the RRR's other ideals: eradicating abortion, eradicating the "gay agenda," erasing the idea of global warming, slowly promoting the ideas of Dominionism and "Christian Only" republicanism, promoting the status quo (doing nothing), repealing as much "progressive" legislation as possible and promoting capitalism. They will, of course, cover everything with a beautiful cloak they call: "for the good of the country." 


Now let's look at some of the propositions and amendments that are on state ballots. There's a great website called Ballotpedia.org that lists and parses (impartially) all propositions for Nov. as well as ones in previous years and ones that are coming up in  the  future. So, from Ballotpedia.org, here goes (my own demonizing is in red):


MISSOURI: 


Proposition B - "Puppy Mill Cruelty" legislation. RRR: We love puppies, but not to the extent that we have to expand government to protect them. (Translation: "who cares?")


OREGON: 


Measure 74 - State to license marijuana farmers who can distribute crop to medical marijuana dispensaries. RRR: More crime! Costs too much! Too much regulation!! (Plus: We wouldn't be getting any money out of it!) NOTE: There are 26 local propositions concerning legalization of marijuana nationwide.


KANSAS: 


Question 1 - Allow citizens to bear arms in the state. RRR: The U.S. Constitution isn't enough! And tear out that part in the KANSAS Constitution about " no standing armies and militias"! (Bo Gritz will love us forever)
Question 2 - (file this one in the "WTF?" category) Eliminate mental illness as a voting disqualification. RRR: "These people are our friends. They are everyday Kansans. They have jobs, pay taxes and vote." (They also shoot guns)


ARIZONA: 


Proposition 107 - Amend Civil Rights Act to effectively ban all affirmative action legislation. RRR: "We should be judging people on their character and their merit and not their skin color or their sex..."  (But ya do, Blanche, ya do). 
Proposition 203  - Legalization of Medical Marijuana. RRR: "Saying that this is for medicine for sick people is an absolute smokescreen." ("Smokescreen" - get it? How witty!) 

Proposition 302 - Repeal of Arizona's First Things First Program (state's "Head Start" program). RRR: "Unless it's helping people who truly can't help themselves, no, we shouldn't do it." (How compassionate)


COLORADO: 


Amendment 63 - Protect the individual’s right to make health care decisions. RRR: "This is not just to address the mandate in Obama-care, this is to make sure Colorado never becomes like Massachusetts where government puts a gun to your head and says you will buy a private product whether you want it or not." (But how many people won't be able to afford health care's rising costs and premiums, Hmmm?) NOTE: for a list of state attorneys general who oppose "Obamacare," click HERE.
 
CALIFORNIA: 


Proposition 23 - Suspend AB 32, the Global Warming Act of 2006.  RRR: "This has been the blind leading the blind, political correctness that has collapsed the economy in California. California already has the fifth-cleanest air in the country, so why are we doing this when no one else is?" (Gee Whiz! Fifth! Hallelujiah! We can start polluting MORE again!) 


TENNESSEE: 


Amendment: Personal right to hunt and fish within state laws and property rights. RRR: "prevent radical animal rights activists and an increasingly urban state legislature from one day shutting down the activities." ("Durn city folks wants to take away our rights to hunt possum!" - NOTE: the opposition call this bill "frivolous and unnecessary, or as one PETA activist said: "If people have a right to hunt, why not a right to shop or golf?")

Underneath it all

The cool thing about Ballotpedia.org is that it lists all the things that were proposed for state votes but didn't make it - this time. Herein lies the true treachery (demonization mine) of  the RRR: a look at what they're trying to pass and will definitely try again:


Propositions nullifying Health Care Reform: such as Washington State's Health Insurance Freedom Act. States with similar "anti-ObamaCare" measures still in the works: Idaho, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arizona, Missouri, Georgia, Maine, Florida, Louisian, Ohio, Kansas (of course).


Personhood Amendments: Would recognize the personhood of the unborn from the earliest stages of life. States in which the amendment was proposed: Colorado, Nevada 


California Free Exercise of Religion Amendment: Creates Special Constitutional Rule for Speech Based on the Bible. (Reconstructionists want this one in a bad way!)

Oklahoma "Sharia Law" Amendment: no explanation necessary.


Ohio Immigration Reform Initiative: Let's all be like Arizona.


There's also the laws they hope to stop from ever getting off the ground: In particular, the Safe Schools Improvement Act which would include anti-bullying measures protecting LGBT youth. The RRR's reasoning: we don't want homosexual "indoctrination" of our youth. Extension: "we couldn't care less about your queer kids committing suicide, just keeps your filthy hands off our kids. But of, course, we'll tell you that we care about ALL the kids."

So the homophobic, racist RRR wants gay teens to commit suicide, doesn't care about abused puppies, people who use marijuana to ease pain, or planet earth, loves racial profiling, wants anyone who spouts the Bible to be exempt from law,  wants all crazies to carry guns, and wants us all to believe that they're really spewing all this crap "for the good of the country."


OK., that's my demonizing for the day. But before you sign off, take a look at Michelangelo Signorile's take on demonizing as he finally gets enough of the RRR's "blamelessness" in last month's teen suicides:

The Suicides Of Ascher, Seth and Billy: Who's To Blame - The Bullies In the Schools Or The Bullies In The Pulpits?

My thanks to Wayne Besen for pointing out these tragedies

NEW YORK – Truth Wins Out expressed a sense of deep sorrow and loss as news of three gay teen suicides in September rocked the LGBT movement. In each case, the victim was a target of relentless harassment and bullying by school peers. Truth Wins Out blames the anti-gay industry and negligent school officials for creating a hostile climate that places lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students at risk for psychological abuse, violence and suicide.

Besen coined a phrase that stuck with me: "anti-gay industry." I never thought of homophobia as an industry. To me, it's been more of a movement to eradicate homosexuality and gays with what Rick Warren has retained as his motto:

"Whatever it takes."

Industry. Who profits? Well, take a look at thei industry's CEOs: Tony Perkins, Lou Engle, Scott Lively, Bryan Fischer, Franklin Graham, Harry Jackson, Pat Robertson, Rod Parsley, Peter LaBarbera, Matt Barber, Matt Staver, Lou Sheldon... to name a few. Each of them has a stake in the industry. If the entire nation turned around and accepted gays with open arms and equal rights would they still have jobs?

Wayne Besen is right in targeting schools in allowing bullies to flourish. Yet I think that other people have made the problem systemic: the anti-gay industry as defined by their leaders. If anyone is to be prosecuted, it's the CEOs like Engle, Perkins and Robertson. They not only abetted bullies throughout the country with their rhetoric, they 've refused to do anything about bullying, passing it off as just "kids will be kids" (kind of like Ann Coulter, when she termed waterboarding "no more than childhood hazing.").

Now, with the true scenarios being fleshed out, the fact that bullying kills is not debatable. However, Focus on the Family, differs in that IT DOES NOT CARE if gay kids commit suicide as long as other children are not affected.

Candi Cushman

Education analyst, Focus on the Family's CitizenLink:

... we’ve carefully documented how similar laws at the state level have already been used to undermine parental rights and marginalize individuals whose viewpoints are perceived as incorrect by homosexual advocacy groups

parents discovered that a “safe schools” training done at their elementary school went so far as to list “family values” and “faith systems” as “perceived obstacles.”

Here is a link to an Anderson Cooper 360 debate about the subject featuring Cushman (it's about 10 minutes long, but really worth it). Eliza Byard of GLSEN and author Rosalind Wiseman shine bright in their professional assertions concerning bullying kids who are perceived as gay, while Cushman waxes disingenuously about FOF wanting to protect "all" children, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation.  And if you watch the video below, you'll see the same fawning concern spew out "who cares if your fag kids commit suicide, just keep your fag hands off our kids."  

OK, not quite in those terms, but you get the picture.

Tony Perkins and his Family Research Council are now spearheading a campaign to stop passage of the bill Safe School Improvement Act which would aim to prevent bullying by providing sensitivity traning. They see it as a way for homosexuality to be considered a lergitimate lifestyle and a way for homosexuals to "recruit" kids. They also fear that anti-Christian sentiments will be imbued. 

They certainly don't have in mind kids like Seth, Billy and Ascher. Their deaths were mere hindrances to stopping the bill. Remember how much they campaigned against the Matthew Shepard Act. Homophobe Virginia Foxx looked the fool as she insulted Matt' s mother on the floor of the House. 

"Whatever it takes"

They will not be swayed by the accounts of bullying, either:

The bullying of [Ascher] Brown allegedly went on for over two years, and escalated the day before his suicide when he was pushed down a flight of stairs and had his book bag kicked open.

"Whatever it takes"

The two videos below will show you the results of bullying and Focus on The Family's take on the proposed bill. Let me know what you think. Candi lives up to her name - sugar-coating FOF's homophobia and glossing over the bullying that leads to teen suicides. 

I realize that it may be extreme to say that campaigning against the SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT ACT is another form of "Kill A Queer For Christ," but the fact remains that these people care nothing about the teen suicides that have occurred.

Focus on the Family has tried to discredit GLSEN's efforts to make schools safe for all students since our founding in 1990. These most recent attempts show that, once again, Focus on the Family either doesn't know what it is talking about or simply don't care about addressing bullying, or both.

...In terms of LGBT youth, we certainly hope that Focus on the Family agrees that the current environment in which nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT students experience harassment each year in school is simply unacceptable. But we won't hold our breath.

In the interest of protecting gay teens and any teens who are ostracized by kids in school who see them as "different" and therefore worthy of contempt and physical harm, I am now urging everyone to support passage of The Safe School Improvement Act. Show your support by blogging, writing, networking, calling everyone about the bill. U.S. Senator Bob Casey responsible for it. Contact him with your support. Remember:

Whatever it takes