It’s Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in Schools . . .is scheduled to be shown on hundreds of PBS stations across the country during the month of June. It’s Elementary is a 78-minute documentary, produced in 1996 by two lesbians. Its purpose is to “promote respect in the very place where the discussion needs to begin – in school, starting in the primary grades.” Producers and promoters of this pro-homosexual documentary have been promoting It’s Elementary to groups all over the country -- the film has been shown to state legislators, faculty in over 200 school districts, statewide “school safety” conferences, PTAs, students from high school through graduate study levels, school administrators, and over 500 college-level teacher training programs. Now, the promoters of the film would like to gain broader exposure and acceptance of homosexuality by airing It’s Elementary over the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). If It’s Elementary is aired on PBS, this pro-homosexual documentary will be brought into millions of American homes, exposing millions of children to homosexual propaganda as they tune in to PBS for familiar, age-appropriate programming, such as Barney or Seseme Street. If It’s Elementary airs on PBS, Christians, who have a biblical view of homosexuality, will be forced to fund this pro-homosexual programming because PBS is supported, in part, by taxpayer dollars –the U.S. Government provides almost a quarter-billion taxpayer dollars to PBS each year. Dr. Howard Hurwitz, head of the Family Defense Council and a former public school principal, viewed the film and said, “Never in my 50 years of experience in the schools have I seen so scandalous a plan for indoctrinating children. It is an assault on common decency and traditional family values.” [New York Post, 5/21/97] ACTION TO TAKE:Each public TV station will make its own decision about whether to carry It’s Elementary. Two-thirds of the major markets have already decided to air the show. One-third have either decided not to air the show or have not yet made a decision.1) Call, write or email the PBS station in your area and encourage them NOT TO AIR THIS FILM. 2) If the PBS station in your area has decided to air the film, contact them with your concerns. 3) If the PBS station in your area has made the decision NOT TO AIR the film, let them know you appreciate their bold stand. 4) Two Missouri PBS stations are in the top 50 markets that have not
yet decided. St. Louis – KETC, Channel 9, 314-512-9000,
letters@ketc.pbs.org. Kansas City – KCPT, Channel 19, 816-756-3580,
kcpt@kcpt.org. TO THINK ABOUT:If this film was about teaching respect, “why not have a video that shows all the things that children often make fun of – fat, big ears, red hair, religious observances, an accent, shyness, a seemingly ‘feminine’ boy or ‘masculine’ girl?[Dr. Laura, “Video promoters are off the mark,” The Kansas City Star, 5/30/99] Humanistic Sunday Schools? . . .Cathy Mickels and Audrey McKeever, co-authors of Spiritual Junk Food, show how the very ideas and methods many Christians have been battling in the public schools -- from values clarification to touchy-feely exercises taking the place of academic content – have found their way into the Sunday School curriculum and youth ministry programs of many of our churches. According to Mrs. Michels, the new curriculum borrows secular methods – relativism, subjectivity and pop-psychology – of contemporary educational theories and often borrows a secular world view. The authors devote most of the book to examination of youth ministry programs, demonstrating how many programs are modeled after the “encounter groups” of humanistic psychology. For more information about this critical issue, pick up a copy of Spiritual Junk Food(Winepress Publishing, ISBN 1-57921-169-0). Co-Habitation Leads To Higher Divorce Rate . . .Today, there are at least four million couples living together without the benefit of marriage, while in 1960, fewer than half a million American couples were co-habitating. Co-habitation became popular with couples who liked the idea of “trying out marriage” to avoid a bad marriage and the resultant divorce. However, a 1992 study of 3,300 couples found that those who had co-habitated before marriage had a 46% higher chance of later divorce than those who did not do so. David Popenow and Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, of the National Marriage Projects, suggest that co-habitation arrangements do not carry real commitment and thus, don’t foster an emotional investment in the relationship.[Dr. Wade Horn, “Fatherly Advice,” Washington Times, 3/23/99; NEWS & NOTES, 4/2/99] Internet False Rumor Persists . . .Over the past year, false rumors have persisted about the so-called “internet tax.” Computer users have bombarded the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with e-mail messages about the possible regulation of the Internet by the FCC, which would result in higher charges for internet users. To set the record straight:1) The FCC IS NOT recommending the assessment of per-minute fees on internet traffic; and 2) There IS NOT A BILL PENDING in Congress that would charge customers a per-minute fee every time they use the internet. NOTE: The FCC DOES NOT REGULATE the rates that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) charge to their customers. However, the FCC DOES REGULATE how phone companies charge each other for the use of local telephone networks for the purpose of delivering calls to ISPs. This is the only issue the FCC is debating at this point. For more detailed information on this issue, access the FCC’s web site at www.fcc.gov. ACTION TO TAKE:1) DO NOT FORWARD OR RESPOND to this or any email message or form letter “alerts” until you research the issue carefully and unless there is a sponsoring organization that can be contacted for verification. 2) Check out a great web site for information about REAL viruses and how to spot internet hoaxes: www.av.ibm.com/BreakingNews/HypeAlert/Guts/ 3) Although the FCC cannot increase your internet charges, they have
just voted to raise the “Gore e-rate Tax” to pay for the wiring and
connections of computers in schools across America. This WILL INCREASE
your phone bill. More on this next week!
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