Shout Out: more social indoctrination masked as educational resources
To make sure that the lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, LGTB lifestyle is promoted and normalized in Ontario schools teacher unions have been busy publishing resources. One is a very colorful book published by the Rainbow Resource Centre, a gay and lesbian group involved in political awareness and activism. It's called, Shout Out Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Transphobia and Heterosexism. The Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation, OSSTF, has reprinted the text for teachers and students. The description used to promote it to teachers claims it’s “designed to educate young people on issues relating to sexual orientation and gender identity. Included in the publication is a series of autobiographical stories describing the first-hand experiences of those challenged by these issues, as well as educational information and resources.” The reader may want to also read another resource titled, Creating Spaces: Embedding Equity in Education put out by the OSSTF, which we reviewed in an earlier blog entry. Other publications include, Promoting Equity and Inclusive Education in Schools: A Teacher's Guide and the video, "Hear Me Out" produced by the Ontario Teachers' Federation, OTF, and features the former Minister of Education Kathleen Wynne.
There’s little “education" happening in the book. There’s a great deal of indoctrination. We have read it and it’s mostly propaganda for the LGTB agenda. It uses emotional words to try to convince readers who are mostly going to be young high school students. The text is an apologetic work for the LGTB lifestyle and those who wish to do activism in schools under the umbrella of education. The OSSTF is now in the business of political correctness and activism. We urge parents to take notice and be prepared to act pro-actively.
In the book's introduction we find this disarming idea, “Knowing and accepting yourself as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit or just plain queer can be a freeing experience.” It goes on to tell the reader to be proud of your sexual orientation because this will be “a unique and amazing journey.” Nowhere in the book or in its references is there any information about the health risks of the homosexual lifestyle. Shout Out will serve to hyper-sexualize the school environment. Marketing and advertising already bombard children with too many degrading sexual images as well as sexist stereotypes that treat girls and boys of all ages as sexual objects. Teacher unions should be publishing resources to offset this troubling trend and not to encourage it.
Overcoming the “negative messages”
According to this book, once you recognize your sexual orientation, the next step in educating yourself is overcoming all the negative messages that have come from family, friends and religion. One needs to fight the fears and "phobias” such as “homophobia”, “biphobia”, “transphobia” and “heterosexism”. By knowing about these phobias, one can feel physically and mentally better.
The writers should be questioned about the meaning of these newly constructed words such as “biphobia”, “transphobia” and “heterosexiam”. But with teachers’ unions mostly preoccupied with political correctness, there’s little room for reason and for providing the appropriate information to students about the human person and human sexuality. The "phobia" words are too often used to stop people from asking any questions. But if you really think about it, a "phobia" is another word for "fear" . So if you feel this fear of homosexual behaviours, you are not allowed to feel this fear. You are only allowed to feel the feelings that the LGBT lobbies want you to feel...Only some people can have legitimate feelings, namely those who feel attractions to same sex people....If you disagree, you will be accused of either having a “phobia”(which by now you will recognize is not the correct word) or a bias for heterosexuality.
Language shapes our thinking and feeling
The book goes on to list and define the "phobias" that make it difficult for those who want live the “queer” life. Heterosexism is viewed as another “social prejudice, such as racism or sexism" Heterosexism is the prejudiced belief that heterosexuals, or ‘straight’ people, are socially and culturally superior to queer people. The definition goes on to say, “A common example of heterosexism is the assumption that everyone is straight. This often happens without even thinking about it. It might present itself in a simple way, such as asking a girl/woman if she has a “boyfriend’ or “husband” rather than a partner or significant other. The heterosexist assumption is that because she’s female she would naturally be dating a male.”
To persuade, the text uses the emotional victimhood pitch: “If we believe that queer people are not equal or deserving of being equal, then we are engaging in heterosexism. Throughout history and today, queer people exist in all cultures and same-sex sexual behavior exists.” The argument tries to convince the reader through feelings and a faulty analogy. To state that you are sexist and racist, if you accept the idea that the majority of the population is heterosexual, is an attempt to substitute an assumption for a fact. If the observation reflects the reality, that most people are heterosexual, then the reasoning is sound. To raise and confuse the issue with equality is a way of masking the truth. Of course the writers of this book have a different agenda: to convince us that the LGTB lifestyle is the “same” or “equal” to the heterosexual one. It’s like saying apples are now oranges and oranges are like apples because fruits are all equal aren’t they?
Personal testimonies
The reader is given several testimonies from young people stating the importance of celebrating and being proud of one’s sexual orientation. We hear the “coming out” stories of Nicole who is 15, Jennifer 17, Jeffrey 21 and Karen who is 16. In her biography, Karen says, “When I told my best friend that I liked girls and boys and that God doesn’t make mistakes, she said, ‘How do you know that God created you?’ I felt scared and evil even though I went to church every Sunday.” Eventually she got the courage to overcome her fears and accept that she was a “homo”; she hopes her story will help to make a difference for herself and others. The lesson here is “God does make mistakes”, and so it's the person who must correct them and be proud of having done so. In short, sexuality is a choice and the choice is up to the individual, not to God or anyone else.
Facts and lies
The book tells the reader that society only “acknowledges two distinct genders.” This natural fact of being male or female is distorted by stating, “this binary leaves little room for people to openly express their gender in a way that feels right for them. Gender is also a socially constructed concept or idea of what is male or masculine, and what is female or feminine (e.g. blue for boys and pink for girls).” The male and female sex is not socially constructed. What is socially constructed are the dozen or so sexual orientations that the book tries to get the reader to accept as if they were the same as female and male. We should not confuse this with any colors we may associate with what is masculine and feminine or socially accepted characteristics of one sex or the other. Surely there’s a measurable difference between the cultural attitudes about being male or female and the socially constructed and self-chosen sexual orientations advocated in this resource.
Language with no meaning
Much of the wording in the book is abstract and open to interpretation. Consider this observation, “We’re a multifaceted community that expands beyond society’s gender expectations. Our self-determined gender is what we personally make it: emotionally, psychologically, and even physically. Our individuality should be based on who we are as people, not on what society expects us to be or what is between our legs.” The reader is instructed not to let society decide their “gender expectations”, but the writers of the book do exactly what they are telling the reader not to do. The writers are defining gender, manipulating language and playing once more with the feelings of young adults. The advice given here is both irresponsible and socially dangerous because there’s an invitation to experiment with one’s sexuality. This will confuse young people who look to adults they can trust to lead and counsel them. It’s the book that is reducing one’s individuality to what is not “between our legs”: the sexual orientations based on feelings and societal pressure. The emperor now not only has no clothes but also has no genitalia.
Church teaching could soon be illegal
These kinds of resources serve to undermine and help students to reject Christian values, their friends and even their families. They also may become a source of conflict between parents and children on the question of a moral education. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, teaches that homosexual acts are disordered. It can be compared to contraceptive sex between heterosexuals. In both instances the acts are directed against God’s natural purpose for sex – procreating and love. In Ontario if Bill 13 becomes law, Christian parents may no longer legally teach what they believe about human sexuality because they will be contravening the law. Christian teaching and Catholic schools could easily be held in contempt of the legislation. It will become a crime and a prejudice to live and speak the faith.
Ultimately parents must take an objective look at what is happening in our schools, our government and our society. There’s an open willingness to publish books such as Shout Out that have the potential to cpmpletely turn these institutions against the Church, against parents and against a moral education. Soon the present generation will not remember how our freedom of conscience and of religion disappeared and the future one will not know it ever existed. It's up to the adults to provide that bridge from the past to the future. Are Christians willing and ready to do their part?
