Bryan Fischer of the Christian
conservative American Family Association (AFA) sees a gay agenda in
Mix It Up at Lunch Day, which encourages schoolchildren to eat lunch
with someone they normally might not.
The 11-year-old program is sponsored by
the Southern Poverty Law Center and more than 2,500 schools
participate.
In comments to The New York Times,
Fischer said his group was encouraging parents to keep their children
home from school on October 30.
In an e-mail to members, the AFA called
the project “a nationwide push to promote the homosexual lifestyle
in public schools.”
Maureen Costello, director of the
Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance project, said she
was surprised by the AFA's assertions.
“I was surprised that they completely
lied about what Mix It Up Day is,” she
said. “It was a cynical, fear-mongering tactic.”
The program, Costello explained, was
about breaking up social cliques.
Fischer argued that anti-bullying
efforts punish Christians.
“Anti-bullying legislation is exactly
the same,” Fischer said. “It's just another thinly veiled
attempt to promote the homosexual agenda. No one is in favor of
anyone getting bullied for any reason, but these anti-bullying
policies become a mechanism for punishing Christian students who
believe that homosexual behavior is not something that should be
normalized.”
Costello told the paper that about 200
schools have decided to opt out of the event.
(Related: Bryan
Fischer: We cannot give one millimeter to the forces of homosexual
activism.)