‘Ally Week’ Enemy to Parental Values
By Ed Thomas
September 22, 2005
(AgapePress) – A campaign called “Ally Week” is being promoted across the United States in schools this week by the National Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). Pro-family leaders are also pointing to the week-long observance as the kind of doorway into schools that the pro-homosexual movement is constantly seeking.
The GLSEN website urges high school Gay-Straight Alliance clubs to use Ally Week to identify and support student allies, who will sign a pledge to intervene against bullying and harassment of members. GLSEN suggests making the event a fun time with games, speakers, and educational activities throughout the week.
Victoria Cobb is executive director of the Family Foundation of Virginia, one of many pro-family groups trying to clue in parents about campaigns like this one in their children’s schools — many of which the parents may not even be aware. Cobb says pro-homosexual activist programs are allowed into schools under the guise of making them safer, but such programs “actually present a curriculum or an agenda that is wholly against what parents want to be teaching at home, and it really is a direct counter of the efforts that parents make to teach their children values.”
The Family Foundation spokeswoman points out that Ally Week encourages Gay-Straight Alliance clubs to recruit fellow students, purportedly to protect them from harassment. However, she asserts, “Ally Week is yet another example of the all-out assault on our values by the homosexual community through our public schools.”
While the stated goal of Ally Week is to end bullying and harassment of “gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender” (GLBT) students at schools by signing up allies and having them involved in certain activities, Cobb contends that “the reality is, it’s a week of indoctrination and misinformation.”
The pro-family advocate advises lobbying for uniform state policies on school access to keep these types of programs from sneaking in past parents, as one way to fight the homosexual agenda in schools. Another is for pro-family groups to “blow the whistle” on the presence of such programs in schools so parents can stay informed.
Parents need to be aware of campaigns like Ally Week and take them seriously, Cobb asserts, because these efforts are designed to make students question and reject the values they are taught at home.