Friday, May 02, 2008

Concerned Women for America lies about the Day of Silence . . . are we surprised?

A few days ago, I ruminated as to how the anti-gay industry would spin their failure to undermine this year's Day of Silence.

To recap: they wanted parents to keep their children from schools that day.

I speculated that the anti-gay industry would make various claims that students were barred from "'protesting the gay agenda."

Apparently Matt Barber and Concerned Women for America decided on a course of action as old as the hills: lying like a cheap rug:

The DOS Walkout was an overwhelming success and far exceeded the expectations of the dozens of participating pro-family organizations, such as Concerned Women for America.

And just what example does Barber put forth to demonstrate this "success?"

Take the Seattle area's Mount Si High School for instance. Out of 1,410 students, nearly half (638) reportedly walked out of school on DOS with a unified voice saying, "No! We're here to learn. We refuse to be subject to radical homosexual indoctrination at school or anywhere else!"

The Rev. Ken Hutcherson, a former pro-football player, current pro-family champion and pastor of Antioch Bible Church, led the charge in defense of God's moral standard at Mount Si. He organized a prayer rally outside the school – which his daughter attends – and was joined by hundreds of parents, children and community members.

That is a lie.

Hutcherson's protest only had 100 people. Furthermore, no one walked out of school in support of Hutcherson.

According to the Seattle Times, More than one-third of students didn't show up for classes Friday. Principal Randy Taylor said 495 out of 1,410 students weren't at school, including 85 athletes whose parents had asked that they be excused for their personal beliefs.

Some students (and their parents) may have wanted to avoid the entire controversy with Hutcherson's protest all together.

Whatever the speculation is, it was NEVER DETERMINED by any source that any student walked out of school in support of Hutcherson's protest.

So to spin a story that students walked out in a protest reminiscent of the last scene of Dead Poets Society is just insane.

What Barber did here was to use one protest to make it seem as if there is a groundswell of opposition to Day of Silence:

. . . Kids at schools all over the country stood tall and said, "Enough is enough!" Untold thousands of students participated in a peaceful, pro-family counter effort called the "Day of Silence Walkout."

I bet I know why Barber said "untold thousands of students." It works much better for his lie to be vague than to give exact numbers.

But whether Barber and company like it or not, the Day of Silence was a monumental success:

Students from more than 7,300 middle and high schools will take a vow of silence today during GLSEN’s 12th annual National Day of Silence to bring attention to anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) name-calling, bullying and harassment. The event is being held this year in memory of Lawrence King, a 15-year-old from Oxnard, Calif., who was shot and killed in school on Feb. 12 because of his sexual orientation and gender expression.

Hundreds of thousands of students are expected to participate, from middle school to college. Students from more than 1,000 colleges also have registered.


I don't know what's worse; that Barber lies or that he talks about morality and Christian principles at the same time he is doing it.

It just goes to prove that yet again when push comes to shove, the anti-gay industry are a bunch of sleazy fearmongerers who, when the facts don't go their way, will intentionally repeat a factoid in an effort to stamp out the truth.