from Gay Activism in the Schools
The publication is described as a "Primer for Principals, Educators, and School Personnel." It is endorsed by a remarkable "Who's Who" of health and education organizations.
Ironically, while the pamphlet advocates one particular view of homosexuality, its name is "Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation and Youth." And it omits all of the facts about the hazards associated with a gay lifestyle.
Warning against reorientation therapy and ex-gay ministry, the tone of the pamphlet is ominous. Referring to reparative-type therapies, it places the word "treatment" in scare quotes. It puts school officials on notice that if they do not permit the establishment of gay student clubs on campus, they could face a lawsuit for failing to offer those students "equal protection under the law."
Counselors are warned that sexual-reorientation type therapy could result in legal action against the school because such therapy "discriminates" against gays and lesbians and could result in psychological harm -- in legal-liability terms, "personal injury" -- to the student. Distribution of NARTH's type of literature is warned against by the pamphlet as being "discriminatory and biased."
A student referral to a religiously-based ministry is also called unethical because it would constitute a violation of church and state. But ironically, the pamphlet then offers the names of two "faith organizations" as resources. Both are radical gay groups, one being New Ways Ministry, a Catholic group rejected by the Catholic Church as doctrinally heretical.
The pamphlet was paid for by the National Education Association, Michael Dively, the American Psychological Association, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Association of School Psychologists, and the National Association of Social Workers.
Additional organizations endorsing the pamphlet are the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Counseling Association, the American Association of School Administrators, the American School Health Association, the Interfaith Alliance Foundation.
Exodus International's Bob Davies was strongly critical of the pamphlet's message. "What parent, teacher, friend or minister would encourage a child to engage in life-threatening behavior?" he asked.
Regeneration Ministries' Alan Medinger agreed. "It is absolutely criminal to take a confused kid and lead him into a life that could kill him."