Enrollment up for students planning stand for 'Truth'

Enrollment up for students planning stand for 'Truth'

A spokesman for the organization that launched the annual nationwide "Day of Truth" for high schools says it's expecting more than 4,000 students from hundreds of schools to participate in 2007 -- based on past involvement counts and significantly increased registration already this year.

The Alliance Defense Fund started Day of Truth in 2005. This year's student-led observance to defend traditional gender values will be April 19. In 2006, more than 2,800 students from 800 schools participated in the observance. Nearly 3,700 students had already registered by the end of March to participate this year, an increase of some 32 percent over last year's enrollment.

ADF's senior legal defense counsel Mike Johnson says it is a great example and exercise of First Amendment rights. "The Day of Truth is merely an opportunity for Christian students to respectfully present a different viewpoint on the subject of the aggressive promotion of homosexual behavior on campus -- and for too long, only one side of that issue has been presented," says Johnson.

That is typified, says the attorney, by the "Day of Silence," an annual high school observance promoted by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) -- and usually by public school systems -- that asks students to be quiet all day to show their support for homosexuality.

"Breaking that silence is something that's important for students of Christian faith, and those who adhere to traditional moral viewpoints, to let their voices be heard as well," Johnson points out. The date for the Day of Truth is always set for the day after the GLSEN-promoted event.

According to the ADF attorney, the most common way that students participate in the Day of Truth is by wearing T-shirts that display the Day of Truth logo or perhaps their own message. "And they also pass out cards during non-class time that has a very simple, and I think, encouraging and uplifting message," he continues. "It says this: 'I am speaking the truth to break the silence.'"

Johnson says students cannot be expected to make well-informed decisions if they are only hearing part of the story.