Taking the 'bull' out of anti-bullying programs

Your sixth-grader, Zack, comes home from school. "Mom, Dad, guess what we talked about today? There are kids all over the country who are trying to kill themselves, just because they were born gay or born in the wrong-sex body!"

Now, if this doesn't make you drop the soup spoon, I don't know what would.

"Yes," he continues, quite agitated, "and I have to be really careful, so it's not my fault!"

If you are a well-informed parent, you will sit your son down and separate fact from fiction as you unburden his manipulated young conscience. This is, of course, unless your son is an actual bully. But 99 times out of a hundred, your child has done nothing more than had the "wrong" thoughts – i.e., that two boys dating is really weird. But this is no longer permissible – in order to eliminate the dreaded "climate of hate."

Consider yourself lucky: At least Zack told you. Many parents never hear about the nonsense laced into their children's latest "anti-bullying" lesson. While we all deeply empathize with any parent who has lost a child this way, our American softheartedness is being massaged for full effect. Deceit and deviance have entered the schoolyard and will bring vastly more tragedy unless we get wise.

All over the country, parents are discovering that "anti-bullying" programs are a carte blanche for sexual-deviance promotion. Kids learn that unless they nod approvingly at homosexuality and gender-bending, they are all complicit in the worst damage that can ever happen to a fellow student.

But sometimes, kids are not so easily duped. In Hartford, Conn., students were forced to attend a school play that portrayed homosexuality as the norm and heterosexuality as controversial. But when two boy actors kissed onstage, some students booed, got up and left.

It was part of an "anti-bullying" effort, and the school principal was fully behind the play, knowing it would be controversial. One school official said that because "gay students are killing themselves," they "absolutely have to intervene in order to help these kids live a happy life."

This is suicide prevention? How about if we tell them the truth, that homosexuality is unsafe, unnatural, and no one needs to go there emotionally or physically? There's a well-traveled road out of homosexuality that our kids deserve to hear. It would be a lifesaver for many.

But adult homosexuals in American education are busy driving this exploitative agenda. The National Education Association's "GLBT Caucus" has led the giant union into every imaginable supporting policy for same-sex "marriage" and "GLBT" expression among students and teachers. This past summer, the NEA representative assembly passed a measure calling for "hate language" to be eliminated from schools because of bullying issues. Given their far-left leanings, do we have any doubt about what this means?

Viki Knox, a teacher in Union, N.J., found out that the approved language is required not just at school. Her Facebook page wasn't even a "safe space" for her to express objections to the homosexual display board at school. With homosexual activists screaming for her job, politically correct Governor Chris Christie chimed in, saying he was "concerned" about her traditional-values opinion.

Even Congress is flirting with this issue. Two bills in the Senate (sponsors, Al Franken and Bob Casey) try to legitimize homosexuality in schools under the guise of "safety" and "anti-bullying." They may be attached as amendments to a vote on "No Child Left Behind."

Even Eric Holder's Department of Justice has gotten involved. The Civil Rights Division doesn't have time to prosecute voter intimidation in Philadelphia, but they are fully able to intervene in Mohawk, N.Y., over allegations a boy was harassed over "gender non-conformity." They are trying to set a precedent for "sexual harassment" U.S. civil rights law to be applied to school bullying issues. Can the tentacles of this agenda reach any further?

GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, actively promotes the "safe" and "inclusive" sports team. This is code language for "no traditional values." Some schools seem to be responding to the call to clamp down on conservative opinions while blurring male/female differences.

In San Diego, a lesbian and her girlfriend were elected homecoming king and queen at Patrick Henry High. Calls of complaint to the school were uniformly characterized as "hateful" by the superintendent, as he decried these "adult bullies" who should apparently be overjoyed at what he calls a "happy and positive event."

In Vancouver, British Columbia, an anti-bullying school program called "Out in Schools" came under fire for providing students links on its website to explicit pornographic videos. A pro-family group, Culture Guard, exposed the effort and its links to radicals in the Canadian pro-homosexual movement. Kari Simpson, president of Culture Guard, even filed complaints with the Vancouver police for possible criminal code violations.

Among recent tragic teen suicides, some were, or were thought to be, involved in homosexuality. But the picture is mostly murky, with activists making unsupported accusations while downplaying any role played by personal struggles, peer conflicts and/or family issues.

Research has shown that teens have a higher risk of self-harm after "coming out," and effeminate boys have a particularly high risk. The right questions are seldom even asked. Researcher Dale O'Leary has written that, "When an adolescent self-identifies as gay or bisexual, health-care professionals should ask, 'Was this child sexually abused?'" O'Leary notes that 61 percent of self-identified gay teens in one major study who attempted suicide had been sexually abused.

Yes, vicious teasing on any subject imaginable can have a devastating effect on kids. Any subject can be turned into fodder for cruel words, rumors or the excuse for an assault – so, are we to ban student communication altogether?

No – we are only supposed to ban objections to homosexuality, bisexuality or gender-bending. Not just slurs and insults, but opinions. All affirmation, as in "Go for it!" even to sixth-graders, is allowed, even encouraged. This will be the cure-all to keep kids "safe."

God help us.

Linda Harvey is president of Mission America and hosts a talk show on Salem affiliate WRFD in Columbus, Ohio.