“It’s time we raise our children to be independent thinkers and deeply suspicious of bible beating organized religion. We’d be much better off if parents were honest with their children about the hypocrisy of some churches with regard to homosexuality.”
Bohnett then outlined tactics to counter “faith based discrimination,” saying it is an obligation to take “active measures” to create a world “free of bigotry and intolerance.” He advised an “aggressive response” to critics that “confronts lies with facts” and also a “pre-emptive campaign” that anticipates the arguments of homosexual activists’ opponents and undermines their credibility.
He said activists should speak with friends, family and co-workers about “religious intolerance as one of the main impediments to progress in the march toward full equality for lesbians and gay men and their families.”
He added that children should also be taught to “respect differences in sexual orientation.”
Bohnett declared that “many groups and individuals” are supportive of GLSEN’s “quest for safe schools and full civil equality.”
“On the other hand, there are other groups and individuals who actively work against our efforts, and that our work in education and outreach further emboldens their hatred and zeal to deny us our equal rights. Let us say to these folks; ‘we condemn their intolerance’ and we will expose their hypocrisy, choke off their financial support, and shine the bright light of shame and humiliation on their cowardly prejudices.”
Bohnett’s speech is evidence of a growing trend in which churches and religious groups are targets of vocal criticism.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as Mormons, were singled out for criticism for their support of California’s Proposition 8, which restored the definition of marriage in California.
Harry Knox, a leader with the homosexual activist group Human Rights Campaign and an appointee to President Barack Obama’s advisory council on faith-based partnerships, has called Pope Benedict XVI and Catholic bishops “discredited leaders” and has attacked the Knights of Columbus as an “army of oppression” for their work to preserve the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
According to the GLSEN website, the group claims a national network of 10,000 “students and allies working to create safer schools.” It reports that more than 3,000 student clubs commonly known as “gay-straight alliances” have registered with the organization.
President Barack Obama appointed GLSEN founder Kevin Jennings as director of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, the “Safe School Czar.”
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Jennings, a former teacher, has come under fire for not referring to the police a male student who came to him for advice after being involved in a sexual incident with a man he met in a bathroom. Critics also question his qualifications for the office because of his past drug use and his praise for Harry Hay, a homosexual activist connected with the pedophile group NAMBLA.