ADF Demands NC Governor's School Drop Course on 'Gay' Teenagers
by Jim Brown
March 2, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A Christian attorney says a homosexual advocacy seminar for students at the North Carolina Governor's School, a prestigious, six-week summer program for academically gifted and talented high school students, was offered in violation of state and federal law.
The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) has sent a letter to North Carolina school officials, demanding they stop offering "The New Gay Teenager," a seminar presented to elite high school scholars last summer at the North Carolina Governor's School facility in Winston-Salem, known as Governor's School West or GSW. Some parents claim the two instructors who led the seminar encouraged students to question Bible passages condemning homosexuality.
ADF attorney Mike Johnson says only the State Board of Education has the authority to approve and develop courses on human sexuality for use in North Carolina's schools. "Before any course offering can delve into such subjects, it has to pass a pretty rigorous process of approval and even input and commentary on behalf of parents," he says, "and of course they've got to authorize their students to participate. None of that happened in this case."
Johnson also believes the GSW "New Gay Teenager" seminar, as presented, may have violated the Constitution of the United States by demonstrating antagonistic attitudes toward religious beliefs opposing homosexual behavior. "From what we know of what took place in this seminar and potentially in other seminars involved with the Governor's School there," he notes, "they encourage students to question their religious faith. And, in some cases, instructors even indicated an outright hostility towards religious beliefs and traditions."
Such anti-religious advocacy "is just not allowed under the law and is not appropriate for any public school offering," the pro-family attorney asserts. Nor, he emphasizes, is teaching sexually-oriented material without parental knowledge, a move that he maintains "is not only morally wrong, it is illegal.'
ADF is calling on the chairman of the North Carolina Board of Education and the State Superintendent of Schools to put an end to the controversial course offering. Johnson says he has given the North Carolina education officials until tomorrow night to respond to his demand letter, or they will face potential litigation.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
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