Issues@Hand
AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs
January 2005 – It is as unprecedented as it is cunning, using all the right words and happiest faces in an attempt to speak directly to the nation’s children about “tolerance and diversity.” Once again, of course, those ideas include homosexual advocacy.
On November 10, a video remake of the song, “We Are Family,” was created using the voices and images of over 100 beloved children’s TV characters. On March 11, 2005, the video performance will air simultaneously on the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and PBS. A similar video aired on those networks in 2002.
The nation’s children will be all too familiar with the characters on the video, incuding those from Arthur, Barney, Blue’s Clues, Bob the Builder, The Book of Pooh, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Dora the Explorer, Jimmy Neutron, Kim Possible, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Little Mermaid, Madeline, The Magic School Bus, The Muppet Show, Rugrats, Sesame Street and SpongeBob SquarePants.
Also in March, the DVD of the song will be distributed to 61,000 public and private elementary schools across the country. It will be accompanied by a teacher’s guide, designed by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL, www.adl.org), a group that, among other things, promotes the normalization of homosexuality.
Driving the project is the We Are Family Foundation (WAFF, www.wearefamilyfoundation.org), which states on its Web site that the song was remixed “to speak the message of diversity and tolerance to elementary school children nationwide.”
On the surface, the project may appear to be a worthwhile attempt to foster greater understanding of cultural differences among all Americans. However, a short step beneath the surface reveals that one of the differences being celebrated is homosexuality.
WAFF was founded as a non-profit organization in 2002 by Nile Rodgers, who wrote the song “We Are Family” with his late music partner, Bernard Edwards. The WAFF site says that the group “celebrates our common humanity and the vision of a global family ….”
The Web site is filled with pro-homosexual materials. A “Tolerance Pledge,” for example, created by Tolerance.org, part of the leftist Southern Poverty Law Center, encourages signees to pledge respect for homosexuals and work against “ignorance, insensitivity and bigotry.”
Most Christians are now aware of what those code words mean, said AFA Chairman Don Wildmon. “If you are a person who accepts the homosexual lifestyle, then you are tolerant,” he said. “If you don’t, then you are a bigot who is motivated by ignorance and hate.”
One of the teacher’s guides available online at the WAFF Web site is called “Writing for Change: Raising Awareness of Difference, Power, & Discrimination.” Full of politically correct lessons on feminism, it is also a primer for teachers who want to indoctrinate children regarding sexual orientation issues.
Lessons include such topics as “Talking About Being ‘Out’” and “Uncovering Attitudes About Sexual Orientation.” In these lesson plans, teachers are taught how to introduce students to “the concepts of homophobia and compulsory heterosexuality.”
According to the teacher’s guide, children should be taught to reject the idea “that women are ‘naturally’ or innately drawn sexually and emotionally toward men, and men toward women,” or that heterosexuality is normal and should be the only model for marriage.
Students are expected to be influenced by the lesson plans. One of the follow-up questions asks the kids: “How will understanding these definitions change your thinking about compulsory heterosexuality and homophobia?”
The ADL has partnered with WAFF on the “We Are Family” project in other ways. The WAFF site includes the ADL’s pamphlet, “Close the Book on Hate,” a diversity tome that normalizes homosexuality. It also contains a reading list for children and adults that includes such homosexual favorites as Daddy’s Roommate, Growing Up Gay, Heather Has Two Mommies, Is It a Choice?, Two Teenagers in Twenty, and What If Someone I Know Is Gay?
Wildmon said it is difficult taking a stand against such projects. “Nobody I know has a problem with teaching children to be respectful and tolerant. It is wrong, however, to use such concepts to open the door to a secondary discussion about a controversial subject like homosexuality,” he said.
For those people who find it difficult to understand AFA’s objection, Wildmon said they should imagine a scenario in which the shoe is on the other foot. “What if these television characters were singing about personality, but then when children went to the Web site, or when the teacher opened up the accompanying lesson plan, the topic was Christianity?” He said. “A lot of people would be angry with that kind of approach. And that’s why many Christians will be upset with the strategy taken by the We Are Family Foundation.”
While the March launch of the school project was still a few months away, Wildmon advised parents to be on the lookout to see if the DVD, teacher’s guide, and other WAFF materials find their way into their local schools. 
