This excellent article in Rolling Stone shows just how far some will go to demonize homosexuals. In this case, an entire town (in Michelle Bachmann’s home district, no less) got into the act, forbidding school teachers from even approaching the subject in their classes, no matter what the context. The trail of teenage suicide bodies they left behind did nothing but embolden their religion-fueled orgy of hate against anything and anyone associated with the “gay lifestyle.”
This shit will make your blood boil, and the below excerpt is only a taste of what the full article delves into.
LGBT students were stunned to be told for the first time about the existence of the neutrality policy that had been responsible for their teachers’ behavior. But no one was more outraged to hear of it than Tammy Aaberg. Six weeks after her son’s death, Aaberg became the first to publicly confront the Anoka-Hennepin school board about the link between the policy, anti-gay bullying and suicide. She demanded the policy be revoked. “What about my parental rights to have my gay son go to school and learn without being bullied?” Aaberg asked, weeping, as the board stared back impassively from behind a raised dais.
Anti-gay backlash was instant. Minnesota Family Council president Tom Prichard blogged that Justin’s suicide could only be blamed upon one thing: his gayness. “Youth who embrace homosexuality are at greater risk [of suicide], because they’ve embraced an unhealthy sexual identity and lifestyle,” Prichard wrote. Anoka-Hennepin conservatives formally organized into the Parents Action League, declaring opposition to the “radical homosexual” agenda in schools. Its stated goals, advertised on its website, included promoting Day of Truth, providing resources for students “seeking to leave the homosexual lifestyle,” supporting the neutrality policy and targeting “pro-gay activist teachers who fail to abide by district policies.”
Asked on a radio program whether the anti-gay agenda of her ilk bore any responsibility for the bullying and suicides, Barb Anderson, co-author of the original “No Homo Promo,” held fast to her principles, blaming pro-gay groups for the tragedies. She explained that such “child corruption” agencies allow “quote-unquote gay kids” to wrongly feel legitimized. “And then these kids are locked into a lifestyle with their choices limited, and many times this can be disastrous to them as they get into the behavior which leads to disease and death,” Anderson said. She added that if LGBT kids weren’t encouraged to come out of the closet in the first place, they wouldn’t be in a position to be bullied.
via Rolling Stone