Whatever happened to the Day of Truth?

Apparently some members of the religious right are abandoning "Truth."

Of course according to some of us, they have abandoned the notion of truth a long time ago, but this "Truth" is the Day of Truth they created to combat the Day of Silence.

The Day of Silence is an annual student-led event created to bring attention the plight of lgbt youth in America's schools.

Participating students across the nation from middle school through college remain quiet to bring attention to harassment and violence directed toward gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth.

Religious right organizations don't exactly like this (do they like anything that we do) so they created an event called the "Day of Truth," in which students are "encouraged" to speak the so-called truth about homosexuality. By this, I mean that students are encouraged not only to call homosexuality a sin but to repeat all of those discredited and misrepresented studies that have made our lives a living hell.

Like many spin-offs, the Day of Truth hasn't been that successful. And that is why several religious right groups are actually encouraging a "student walkout" in protest to Day of Silence:

AFTAH Joins April 17 Walkout of Pro-Homosexuality Student Day of Silence

Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) is part of a national coalition of pro-family organizations urging parents to call their children out of school on April 17. This is the day designated for this year’s Day of Silence when students and/or teachers will purposely remain silent during instructional time to protest so-called discrimination and gain sympathy for students who identify as homosexual or transgender.

The Day of Silence is a yearly event sponsored by the partisan political action group, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). The implicit purpose is to undermine the belief that homosexuality is immoral. It is the belief of the sponsors of the Walkout that parents should no longer passively accept the political usurpation of taxpayer funded public school classrooms through student silence.

The DOS requires that teachers either create activities around or exempt silent students from any activity that involves speaking. DOS participants have a captive audience, many of whom disagree with and are made uncomfortable by the politicization of their classroom.

There are so many things wrong that what these groups are trying to do.

The purpose of Day of Silence is to bring attention to the fact that many lgbt youth cannot function in an educational environment because they get picked on due to their orientation. It is not design to criticize personal religious beliefs but negative actions that may stem from those beliefs.

That comment about parents being forced to "accept the political usurpation of taxpayer funded schools through student silence" is bad logic turned inside out. What those this mean? Let's force these students to talk because them being silent is a waste of tax dollars?

And the notion that the Day of Silence causes disruptions is a lie. Generally when students are left alone to participate, the event is a success.

If anyone causes disruptions, it is those who oppose the event, like the Rev. Ken Hutcheron tried unsuccessfully to do last year in Seattle.

This new tactic is just another attempt to disrupt the Day of Silence. And it doesn't make sense. You protest against the alleged politicizing of schools by encouraging more politicizing?

And this explanation by the so-called Illinois Family Institute is a hoot:

Parents must actively oppose this hijacking of the classroom for political purposes. Please join the national effort to restore to public education a proper understanding of the role of government-subsidized schools. Please help de-politicize the learning environment by calling your child out of school if your child's school allows students to remain silent during instructional time on the Day of Silence.

That's right! Demand that students talk during class! It's not only educational, but now it's Christian.

Seems to me that the goal of these groups is to undermine the Day of Silence to the point that schools would be encouraged not to hold it.

When and if that happens, these same groups will claim that schools outright refused to hold the Day of Silence because of their Christian values rather than the fact that they were hassled to the point of exhaustion by a bunch of brats masquerading as "pro-family" groups.

And that strikes me as very untruthful.