Christian conservative group Focus on
the Family says anti-gay bullying programs sexualize children, media
watchdog RightWingWatch.org
reported.
On Tuesday's edition of CitizenLink
Reports, Candi Cushman of True Tolerance joined guest host Carrie
Gordon Earll, the senior director of issues analysis of CitizenLink,
the political arm of Focus on the Family, to discuss the issue.
Focus on the Family is affiliated with
True Tolerance, which organizes the annual Day of Dialogue to counter
the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network's (GLSEN) annual Day
of Silence. GLSEN's Day of Silence, held on April 20, encourages
students nationwide to take a vow of silence to bring attention to
anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in their schools.
On the program, Cushman said such
programs promote “homosexuality to kids.”
“It just seems irresponsible and
possibly even damaging for school officials just to open up their
doors to messages from homosexual activist groups, political activist
groups, that might push students to prematurely embrace a sexual
identity that they're not really equipped to handle,” Cushman said.
“If we really want students to be safe, we shouldn't be allowing
groups to come in and sexualize our children.” (The video is
embedded in the right panel of this page.)
(Related: Financial
troubles for Focus on the Family persist.)