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View Point
AGAIN, the old saying to "never judge a book by its cover" proves true. With respect to the state Board of Education's proposal to amend the rules regarding students being harassed, the BOE and media are grossly misrepresenting the issue. Policy change could
bring gay activism
to schoolsThis is not about who wants to protect students and who doesn't. We all want each and every student to be protected from harassment. But the fact is that all students are already protected by present rules.
It is dishonest that gay activists, members of the BOE and the media are attempting to trick the public into believing that kids who are perceived to be homosexuals are not protected by present policies.
No one at the public hearings testified that present policies leave students unprotected because of their sexual orientation. There hasn't been a single documented incident in which a teacher or administrator refused to act on a report of harassment due to the victim's sexual orientation.
Yet the media, especially KGMB-9 News, continued to missrepresent the issue. In her coverage of this story, Jade Moon begins with the question, "Should gay students in public schools be protected against harassment?"
The clear inference: that those against the changing of the policy's wording don't want "homosexual" teens to be protected. This is propaganda.
In addition, Nancy Kern of the state Health Department has continually misled the BOE and public with fabricated estimates concerning the percentage of homosexuals in the population and the suicide rate of supposed homosexual kids.
Unfortunately, the BOE has done nothing to clarify the issue. In fact, some of its members also have been making misleading statements.
All this has nothing to do with protecting our kids. Since existing policies already protect our children, why are the homosexual activists promoting this change? Two reasons:
In short, the goal of homosexual activists is to change the values of our people. In their view, anyone who believes that homosexuality is wrong or unhealthy is bigoted and hateful. Their goal in schools is to have programs in which they can undermine the values that parents have taught their children.It is an attempt to equate homosexuality with a bona-fide minority status. For example, that if you choose to live a homosexual lifestyle, it should somehow be recognized in the same way as being Japanese, Filipino or Hawaiian.
It breaks my heart that Chairwoman Linda Lingle and the hierarchy of the Hawaii Republican Party have come out in support of this form of government interference.
If anyone has any doubt that the real issue is not the wording of a policy, but the instituting of pro-homosexual programs in our schools, look at the letter that Lingle presented to the BOE, which stated: "The Republican Party strongly supports the new wording...Similar programs have been implemented in school districts across the nation and should be implemented in Hawaii."
So while we do agree that all children should be free from harassment for any reason, we clearly do not all agree that they should be protected from being indoctrinated and misled by homosexual activists who want to change their values.
Jason Scott Jones is chairman of the Young Republicans of Hawaii.