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Published: July 10, 2008
“To remedy anti-LGBT harassment and discrimination”
ACLU forces tiny Northern California school district to champion homosexual cause in its elementary and middle schools
Under threat of a lawsuit by the ACLU, a small, rural school district in Northern California has agreed to promote activities sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network in its two schools.
 In late June, the Upper Lake Union School District reached a settlement with the ACLU of Northern California that, among other things, requires it to “implement the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s (“GLSEN”) ‘No Name Calling Week’ curriculum in all District schools,” “implement programs that draw attention to anti-LGBT bullying and effective responses, such as the GLSEN National Day of Silence and the Gay/Straight Alliance Network’s ‘Making your School a Hate-Free Zone,’ program,” and to “support the maintenance of a Gay/Straight Alliance club at the Middle School,” said a June 25 release from the ACLU of Northern California.
The district, headquartered in Upper Lake (population 989) in Lake County, runs a 372-student elementary school and one middle school. Enrollment at the middle school averages around 200 students a year, according to the school district’s web site, with 79 percent of its students classified as “socioeconomically disadvantaged.”
The settlement also requires the district to revise its parent/student handbooks to include anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies and to explain to students and parents how to file a complaint. The school district must also “provide copies of a National Education Association publication addressing LGBT sensitivity and discuss it with all staff. At each staff meeting, administrators will inquire about incidents of harassment and review the steps teachers and staff should take to intervene,” said the ACLU news release.
In addition, “Experienced, qualified trainers will provide student training at least once each year at each school site to educate students regarding the harmful effects of discrimination,” the release said.
The ACLU said it reached the settlement after warning district officials that federal and state laws “allow for school administrators to be held liable if they fail to take adequate measures to remedy anti-LGBT harassment and discrimination.”
The parents of a student named “Robby” contacted the ACLU after school officials allegedly failed to take any action against students who had taunted the youngster since third grade. According to the ACLU, “The years of harassment finally culminated in Robby being attacked by a group of boys in the school locker room after gym class last fall. The boys knocked Robby to the ground and kicked him in the stomach, head and sides while screaming ‘fag’ and ‘queer’ at him. Robby received medical care for his injuries. That is when his parents contacted the ACLU to try to finally put a stop to the abuse, believing that the District was not going to independently take the appropriate steps to respond and protect Robby.”
“I can’t remember a day at school when I wasn’t called a faggot or gay,” Robby was quoted as saying in the ACLU release. His mother told the ACLU, “We talked to the school about this harassment for years. We wanted to know that the adults in charge cared enough to make sure that our son was safe and secure at school.”
“We’re pleased the district is taking such a big step in the right direction,” said ACLU attorney Juniper Lesnik. “The lesson for other schools is to address anti-gay harassment early before it escalates to violence.”
Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 5:33 AM By Fr. M.P.
Just like the devil, to use one sin to promote a host of worse ones through his stooges.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 6:57 AM By Eileen
Why is the ACLU not intervening to implement anti- discrimination programs to assist other circumstances of bullying at schools? Does the ACLU bring in programs to offset the children that are mentally challenged and are being called "retards" by fellow schoolmates? How about these children? Why are these children ignored? Children are picked on and seriously hurt physically and psychologically every day for being handicapped, learning disabled, overweight, poor, glasses, ugly clothes, and so on. These attacks are just as harmful as the case of Robby above, yet where are the anti-discrimination programs for these victims? All discrimination is hurtful and can lead to dangerous bullying. The children who bully should be strongly disciplined because "all" bullying is wrong. Why didn't the ACLU care about making a hate free school zone for other types of bullying? The reason why is the ACLU is a tactical bully organization itself. The ACLU is selective on who they will go to bat for. Children can be very cruel to other children for many reasons. Bringing in the GLSEN is further evidence of the ACLU's own discrimination against other children who were and are still being bullied for other reasons. Where are they for those children? This is a clever excuse to only promote the homosexual agenda. The ACLU needs to show fair and balanced concern for all bullying and abuse, not just the ones that will further their own agenda. Parents and students have been crying out for years about cruelty and bullying from fellow students. The ACLU's "silence" on other heinous types of bullying is the best evidence against them. All bullying should be addressed and stopped......especially, the ACLU's special agenda bullying.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 7:14 AM By mark
Is the ACLU going after Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu schools as well?
If not that sounds like religious discrimination coming from the ACLU.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 9:15 AM By Fr. J
Now, have a Catholic parent state that her child is being harassed. Then sue and demand that the school implement Catholic friendly programs that are mandatory for everyone. Sauce for the goose...
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 9:35 AM By Dark Knight
So, the ACLU bullies a poor school district in order to correct a single incident of bullying out of how many years and students under their care?
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 9:55 AM By Thomas
NOTHING LIKE A GOOD EDUCATION!!!!!
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 10:19 AM By Peter
Hey - it's never too late to begin the fight against bigotry.
Fr.J. - A person can choose not to be Catholic; whereas homosexuality is genetic, like race.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 10:44 AM By Grisha
My cousin Dennis was effeminate from the time he was a small child. While he may have been harassed a bit, it never got to the point it did for "Robby" because he went to an all boys Catholic school and 1) The Brothers would have told the kids early on their harassment was sinful 2) They knew if they assaulted a weaker kid, the Brother's reaction would be swift and severe about homophobia is that this kid may grow up to be straight as an arrow. "Conservative" Christians have no credibility in arguing against this kind of a lawsuit, SB 777 etc. unless they take responsibility (I don't mean "blame") for stopping this kind of violence.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 10:58 AM By John L. Sillasen
The aclu is going after Christians for this reason: The Christians are the only ones who tend towards compassion as a pro-active way. So, the aclu pushes this in the attempt to take over leadership. It is like if a pope were to say it is good to love one's neighbor, and the Church begins to implement programs for this ... and then the aclu starts harping on it in the courts, screaming that it's not being done well, fast enough, or in the right way. Somebody needs to level the aclu, to call it what it is, a charlatan. The aclu is the effect of feminism in promoting the fine art of nagging; it needs to be slapped down, back to the gutter where it creeps out of.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 11:01 AM By John L. Sillasen
Homosexuality is like the race of the devil. Jesus called the leaders who perverted His creation sons of the father of lies, the devil. The devil it is which has sired homosexuality, the consequence of evil, championed by its stooge, the aclu.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 11:03 AM By Tom P
Sorry, Peter, but homosexuality is not genetic. There is NO -- repeat -- NO physical or biological evidence whatsoever for same sex attraction being other than a chosen perversion. What's worse, one chooses to live the life of a sodomite at terrible risk to one's immortal soul. Come out of it, Peter.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 11:14 AM By William
Disband the ACLU, under the RICO statutes. AntiChristianLoversUnionAllCommunistLoversUnite Thats what ACLU means.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 11:16 AM By James
This is just how low the aclu is. Did anyone check to see how this boy was acting around others. I remember how a homo would sneak around to get a view of the toilets or kept asking people to look at books. They can be and are most annoying at times.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 11:27 AM By Harry
Eileen, the answer to your question of why the ACLU does not intervene in other kinds of bullying is easy. The ACLU are not interested in those matters. They have a vested interest in promoting the homosexualization of our society, and the schools provide a good place to do just that under the noble pretext of preserving liberties. Hence their singling out of gay children for special attention. Handicapped or overweight children can't be exploited for that purpose, so they don't bother with them.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 11:59 AM By Jack P
The basic premise the GBLT gangsters use to infiltrate the schools is "bullying". But what about the bullied Hispanic, or the ostracized overweight girl, or the marginalized slightly under-performing kid from Korea....
What this shows it that the GBLT "sensitivity" cops are one-issue advocates. They don't care about "bullying" nor "equal" treatment for all. They need to be "special".
The need to be "special' is the root symptom for all kinds of acting out, flamboyance, and various self-destructive behaviors. It's a cry to be noticed and accepted. It's not only GBLT's that feel that need. It's just their way of crying.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 2:07 PM By betty
Just one small question about a very small issue. What's this about the aclu being the "effect of feminism promoting the fine art of nagging?" I.m just curious. What exactly deoes that mean?
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 2:08 PM By Pax Christi
Well said, Harry. Likewise with the homosexualization of society by the Pink, Lavender and Rainbow mafias comes dechristianization. We can be assured the ACLU won't come running to our defense when it comes to protecting our religious freedoms. Sorry, Grisha, laws were already in place to guard against discrimination in the schools. SB 777 has the very real potential to promote homosexuality to children at young as 5 and subject those upholding traditional family values to reverse discrimination. If you think ACLU & Co. won't tread on those values, I have some spectacular swampland to sell you.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 2:40 PM By John L. Sillasen
The weight of sin on the souls of a couple who bear a child may weigh down the innocent child also: even baptized, yet the effects can remain; this may be a good case for infant baptism. Without God's grace being applied to such a situation, who is to say that the prophetic view of Old Testament times is not in play today? If sinners refused to repent, then the consequences of their sins would pass down as many as ten generations, or more in some cases. So, according to Scripture, a child might be born whose parents, grand and great grand parents were not particularly sinful, yet where no one in that parental line ever unloaded the guilt of some sin way further back in their generations. So, it might not be obvious that the effect of sin many many generations ago is showing up in some particular case today with no visible link to any terrible sinfulness in the immediate or known family. If one studies Catholic tradition, one finds all sorts of practices of penance designed to deal with such issues as these ... practices that go back countless centuries. One can also see that Purgatory figures in on this as well. Beyond this life the dimension of time does not exist, and so the penance we do now for those who went before us can have some good effect, and change the consequences of sin through these generations.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 2:41 PM By Pax Christi
By the way, how providential is this? A Bible publisher is being sued for including anti-gay verses. Do I hear the ACLU storming over in defense of religious freedom? http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/man_sues_bible_publishers/2008/07/10/111626.html?s=al&promo_code=65BF-1
Furthermore, Peter would do well not to be duped into the fallacy about homosexuality being genetic. The Catholic Medical Association is but one of many experts who dispute this sorry excuse for committing sins: http://www.cathmed.org/publications/homosexuality.htm
Now go and sin no more!
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 2:41 PM By Mea Culpa
How long before they come after the Catholic Church for discrimination for not performing gay marriages? The gay agenda is advancing rapidly - and California is burning because of it.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 3:08 PM By The other Mike
Why would a parent continue to send his son into a situation where he is picked on and beat up since the third grade? Why didn't the parent teach his son to fight back? It's just as easy to call the local karate school as it is to call the ACLU. Another case of careless parents not doing their job and blaming the outcome on others. The poor kid will spend the rest of his life running for the lawyers every time he feels discriminated against.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 4:19 PM By Hugh
Peter, genetic proof to your homosexual orientation is not substantiated by any viable scientific community that bears the burden of evidence as fact. The acid kool-aid you are peddling is just your own illusion. In nature, we know there are a plethera of variables that go against the norm, but the attempt to subvert that which is overwhelmingly normal in human nature is darkness upon the soul of man.
If you think Catholicism is unreasonable, Islam has another view.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 4:34 PM By Grisha
The Other Mike: Come on! You can know Karate but if they come at you banana style ("Yellow and in a bunch) there isn't much you can do. Also, when he grows up, he may have to deal with "business bullies" where punching thier lights out isn't an option but refering it to counsel is.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 4:37 PM By Jimmy Mac
Another victory for the forces of right. Taxpayer dollars cannot be spent to enforce discrimination, no matter how much the theocon neocon uberright want that to happen.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 4:48 PM By Grisha
Hey all: In addition to the above, keep in mind this is a "middle school" were talking about and the parants likely don't have too many alternatives given thier location. . As I see these kinds of vstories here in Cal Catholic every few weeks about homophobic violence, I become more and more concerned that the hysteria and fear mongering about gay marriage is so very dangerous.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 6:12 PM By John L. Sillasen
Another way to protect kids against bullying is social organization. It is harder for bullies to pick on several others at the same time. Problem with the weak little boys is that they find it hard to bond into groups. And so they are picked off by the bullies, who perhaps tend to verge into homosexuality not infrequently.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 7:15 PM By Pam
Social organization is both a cause and a solution to bullying. The other kids don't want to associate with the gays because many fear they'd be mistaken for gay themselves and outcast. And for some, the fear is great enough that they resort to bullying to try to show that they're not like them. It is thus because of social organization that your so-called "weak little boys" are bullied and may find it hard to bond into groups. As to social organization being a way to protect such kids, these groups are recommending that to schools. They call these social organizations "gay-straight alliances."
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 7:38 PM By Pam
Tom P, genetics is just one aspect of "physical or biological evidence" for same sex attraction. There can be and there is physical / biological evidence apart from genetics that suggests sexual orientation (attraction) is not chosen. As the American Academy of Pediatrics has stated, "sexual orientation probably is not determined by any one factor but by a combination of genetic, hormonal, and environmental influences." Neither science nor the Church teaches that same sex attraction is chosen by the person.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 10:04 PM By Anne T.
One can protect these children without telling students that homosexual acts are normal.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 10:21 PM By John L. Sillasen
Here we go again. If all that exists is the physical world we can sense, then there would be no need for morals. These arguments that ignore the possibility of God and morals have no meaning. God says over and over in His communications with mankind that homosexual activity is sinful and also that it is the consequence of sin. So, here we have these so-called science experts arguing as if there is no tomorrow, and ignoring God. Further, even though there may be proof of genetic pre-disposition towards effeminacy, nevertheless God says that the consequences of sin may stretch at least ten generations. So, for example, ten generations ago, some homosexual who seems to have been "born" that way, had a forebearer who committed grave sin against God, but the next nine did not. Yet, in each of those nine, there was a mark of the consequence of the unrequited sin. Guilt is powerful medicine, and can alter the material world. Psychics employ such things when they perform magic tricks; since faith is a small seed which can move mountains, then guilt evidently has enough power in it to also change matter, but destructively. Hence, these apologists for "genetic" predispositions to "gayness" are wasting their time investigating the condition; it is irrelevant whether it is genetic or not. What is relevant is the healing and restoration power of faith in God.
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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 10:30 PM By JW
Bullies are cowards. The only way to deal with them is to confront them directly. The concept of bullying, which has been around since the snake "bullied" Eve into chewing the wrong fruit, has been made a political "hate crime" by those who have an entirely different and perverse agenda.
When I was in the sixth grade (1964, so I know this is dated), I was confronted by a punk on a bicycle and his four "friends" , and he insisted that I "kiss his foot" in order to avoid getting stomped by his friends. I did so.
Two weeks later, I cornered him alone and insisted that he accept one of two options: 1. A personal apology then and there would suffice, and he could kiss both my feet as an act of contrition, or; 2. I would call him out in a public place to stomp the snot out of him and I would have three or four "referees" present to make sure his "friends" didn't interfere. He chose the former course of action and was never a problem for me or any of my friends again.
We don't teach our children today that they have to stick up for themselves. This is a major failure in parenting. If you think they are going to develop these very necessary coping skills magically when they turn 18, forget it. If you haven't taught them how to stand up for themselves, what makes you think the education system will. It won't. You have allowed your children to become victims: Victims they will remain.
My dad taught me that if I ever started a fight and lost it, I'd get whipped when I got home if the fight was not justified (i.e., the protection of self or others). On the other hand, any time I was in a fight defending (win or lose) in the protection of self or others, he'd put a steak on my eye and take me out for dinner or ice cream.
Children can become competent, independent adults. They must be taught how to fend for themselves. This is, without question, one of the best lessons a parent (particularly a father) can impart to their children, boy or girl.
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Posted Friday, July 11, 2008 8:14 AM By John L. Sillasen
And then the guy, who was short and thin in grammar school, who was stuffed upside down in a trash can after school: He went home, got his dad's two Dobermans and returned, then siccing them on the bullies. Do I know this to be fact? No, but it provides a lesson either way: Some people do not take injustice at all, and will settle such by whatever means they see fit. Some men have a great deal of respect for their children and simply will not tolerate any slight ... I think that without this respect in society, it would plummet even more quickly than it is doing now. That is one of the lessons of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, that without any respect in a community for what God has made, such community is doomed.
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Posted Friday, July 11, 2008 7:50 PM By Kenneth M. Fisher
I may have written this before, but the late Congressman Clyde Doyle, my political mentor, and when he passed away the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, told me that he was trying to outlaw the ACLU as a foreign controlled, read Soviet Union, organization, and he told me he had the evidence to prove it!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher, Founder & Chairman
Concerned Roman Catholics of America, Inc.
www.crcoa.com
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Posted Saturday, July 12, 2008 5:55 AM By Ricky G.
Awesome news!!!
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Posted Saturday, July 12, 2008 7:22 AM By Wibald
In a civilized society, people should respect one another, not beat up on the weak. There is no excuse for such vicious behavior.
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Posted Saturday, July 12, 2008 8:32 AM By John L. Sillasen
Bill Clinton demonstrated to the world the value of evidence, when the public has no respect for truth, and instead prefers the "hss hss hss" of the serpent (isn't that what Clinton's "Is is is?" sounded like?)
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Posted Saturday, July 12, 2008 8:39 AM By Karol
The real solution to this problem is teaching kids civility, not sodomy.
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Posted Sunday, July 13, 2008 9:31 PM By Anne T.
Karol you have said it all.
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Posted Monday, July 14, 2008 9:41 AM By Stella
Please see http://needing-fathers.blogspot.com It features a couple of points from the UN's Convention On The Rights Of The Child, as well as quotes from a couple of professionals working in child psychology.
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Posted Monday, July 14, 2008 11:46 PM By John L. Sillasen
Stella, can you say what it is that that site says? A summary, perhaps?
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Posted Thursday, July 24, 2008 4:23 PM By HL
Remember when Jesus told us to forgive? Remember the part about 'you who have not sinned, throw the first stone?' You all really think people choose to be gay, and not one of you has a gay or lesbian child, sibling, niece, uncle, nephew, grandchild, deserving of your love and acceptance? Shame on you.
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Posted Thursday, July 24, 2008 7:16 PM By Kay
I have read all the comments above and cannot even express in words the shame I feel that there are "Catholics" out there whose mentality is so vile. It turns my stomach that you have twisted Jesus' words to fit your own twisted agenda. Thank God for the ACLU. Obviously none of you care about the children. These children should be protected and cared for not forgiven (they have nothing to be forgiven for). They have not committed the sin of judging others the way all of you have. I just hope none of my non-Catholic friends look at this website. I would have a hard time defending the disgusting attitudes that have spewed from your mouths like bile.
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