San Francisco, Calif., Sep 18, 2009 / 04:12 am
A homosexual activist group is claiming that groups at dozens of high schools and middle schools in California, including at least one Catholic school, have signed up to show and discuss its explicit films. The films include one in which a boy “comes out” by wearing his mother’s bikini.
Another film uses Native American spirituality to depict lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people as being “two-spirit” people.
Parts of the discussion materials encourage students to question whether religious and cultural celebrations such as bar mitzvahs wrongly discourage homosexual and transgender lifestyles, the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) reports.
PJI said it was not clear whether the films are being shown predominantly during class time or in meetings of LGBT student clubs.
“They are clearly being marketed for showing in class and in school assemblies,” PJI says in a press release.
The films and accompanying school materials are being distributed by Youth in Motion, a partnership between the Gay-Straight Alliance Network and the LGBT media group Frameline.
“Our goal is to give student activists and teachers new tools to educate their peers about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender history and culture (and have fun doing it!). And we believe that an inclusive curriculum is one step to creating truly safe and welcoming schools,” Youth in Motion says on its website.
Trying to draw on the controversy of Proposition 8 in California, Youth in Motion promotes its videos on “hot topics” such as “marriage equality.”
The group claims over 250 schools have registered for the program.
The list of registered schools includes high schools throughout California and some middle and junior high schools. At least one elementary school is on the list. Many of the schools are located in the Bay Area and Southern California, but the Sacramento area and small communities are also affected.
Notre Dame High School, a Catholic girl’s school in Belmont, Calif. sponsored by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, is on the list of schools registered for the Youth in Motion curriculum.
“PJI will continue to investigate whether any opt-out laws are being violated by the showing of these films,” said PJI president Brad Dacus. “Any parents whose opt-out requests are denied by their child's school should contact PJI immediately.”