The following article is written by Steve Jordahl and is found at Family News in Focus.
http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0038087.cfm.

If you're tired of your public school ignoring your complaints, you might want to think about running for the school board.

If you're frustrated at the education your child is getting in public school and feel there's nothing you can do about it, here's a trend you might want to watch; conservatives are starting to take matters into their own hands by running for local school boards.

"I'm not a crusader, I'm not a martyr, but my mother always said and my father always said don't come to me with a problem, come to me with a problem and a suggestion for a solution."

Margaret Young never dreamed she would see her name on a ballot. But when her kids brought sexually explicit books home from school she decided to run for the school board. She was elected in 1998 and the books are gone.

"I see myself as a patriot and as a radical in the sense of Patrick Henry who's one of my heroes."

When Eric Christen's kids came home from school with Planned Parenthood sex education material, he got involved. Planned Parenthood is now out and abstinence is in. Marc Fey of Focus on the Family says hundreds of conservatives across the country are joining school boards.

"It's one of the few opportunities immediately available to people that want to be involved, especially Christians who want to make a difference in their local communities."

These involved Christian parents are taking back their schools and putting liberal teachers' unions in their place.

"This is exciting because we're going back to the roots of what those local school boards were all about, and that is these are our kids so it's our responsibility, so we're going to take the lead."

Both Christen and Young are taking some heat for the changes they continue to advocate but the number of supporters helping them reform schools is growing. The trend is an unintended consequence of union activity. They've forced many parents out of the decision making process by intimidation or excessive bureaucracy.

OTTAWA, September 29, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In an expected vote, but nevertheless shockingly outrageous to many observers, a strong majority of Canada's Members of Parliament rejected two proposals to raise the age of consent for sex from one of the lowest in the world at 14 to 16 - the norm in most of the world, with some nations even having it at 18.

Bill C-313, which would have raised the age of consent, was supported by 99 MPs, including all Conservative Party members and a few Liberals, while the New Democratic Party, the Bloc Quebecois, and the majority of Liberals combined to defeat the proposal with their opposing 167 votes. A similar motion, M-221, a Private Members Motion from Conservative MP Nina Grewal, was also heard yesterday and defeated by a vote of 100-169.

Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, one of the fiercest opponents of the proposals, wanted to ensure 14 year olds were not prevented from engaging in sex. "We don't want to criminalize innocent sexual behaviour among teenagers and young people," Cotler said.

Cotler's intervention was roundly criticized, however, as being false since conservative MP Rick Casson, who proposed the legislation, clearly stated he would be open to adding a near-in-age exception should the bill be approved to go to the committee stage.

CALGARY, September 29, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Calgary's Bishop Fred Henry has come out swinging again, this time warning that the normalization of same-sex "marriage' will "usher in an era of intolerance and discrimination the likes of which we have rarely seen before."

In a pastoral letter published in the Calgary Sun on September 11, Bishop Henry warned that "Same-sex marriage proponents use the language of openness, tolerance and diversity, yet the foreseeable effect of their success will be to usher in an era of intolerance and discrimination the likes of which we have rarely seen before."

He warned that same-sex "marriage" and relations will be considered the norm, and that any school, for example, that fails to incorporate homosexual relations into their curricula, will be deemed discriminatory. "The impact of the social re-engineering is bound to filter down to school classrooms," he wrote. "The educational impact of laws on attitudes is undeniable. Ordinary words such as 'husband' and 'wife' will be replaced by 'partner' and 'spouse.' Children will have to be taught about homosexual acts. Every person and every religion that disagrees will be labelled as bigoted and openly discriminated against and dragged before Human Rights Commissions. Parents who complain will be branded as homophobes and their children will suffer."

The bishop illustrates his point with the example of a same-sex BC couple who initiated a human rights suit alleging that their provincial ministry of education does not adequately "address issues of sexual orientation," claiming that "there is systemic discrimination through omission and suppression of queer issues in the whole of the curriculum." The complainants want the so-called queer studies to be mandatory, stripping parents of the right to pull children from the offending classes.

"Traditionally only those matters on which there was a large measure of consensus in society would be taught in the public school system," Bishop Henry explained. "The rest was left to the home, to the church or to other institutions. The adoption of a new constitutional norm means that, in respect of homosexuality at least, this strategy is to be abandoned and students are to be confronted on the issues."

Bishop Henry adds the example of Chamberlain v. Surrey School District No. 36, where the Supreme Court refused a school board's attempt to deny use of a kindergarten text that included positive portrayals of same-sex families. "The refusal was on the basis that a significant number of parents and others in the school district would consider them to be incompatible or inconsistent with their moral and religious beliefs on same-sex relationships," the bishop explained. "The case marked a significant moment in the debate about parental rights in education."

BC Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin wrote in her opinion, "Parental views, however, important, cannot override the imperative placed upon the British Columbia public schools to mirror the diversity of the community and teach tolerance and understanding of difference."

Read the bishop's letter in its entirety at:
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/sep/050929a.html

See also
"Man and Woman", "Wife", "Husband", "Widow", "Widower" Banished From all Ontario Law
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/feb/05022511.html

tv

LEXINGTON, Mass, September 26, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - After a Massachusetts school board decided to incorporate so-called diversity training in its classes, which includes indoctrination in the homosexual lifestyle, local superintendent Paul Ash notified schools that parents need not be contacted about the program.

Last April, as reported by LifeSiteNews.com, one parent of a six-year-old kindergartner, David Parker, was arrested, allegedly for "trespassing" at his son's elementary school while attending a scheduled meeting with the principal and the city's Director of Education. He had arranged a meeting to object to the homosexual curriculum materials and discussions his son was subjected to in his kindergarten class.

The "diversity" training includes materials such as the book by Robert Skutch, "Who's in the family," which depicts families made up of all manner of combinations including same-sex parents. Parker, as a Christian, objected to his son's exposure to such indoctrination, and requested that he be notified when such discussions took place.

After refusing to leave the school until he was given an assurance that he would be notified before any discussion of homosexuality occurred in the classroom, the principal and Director of Education called police who put Parker in jail overnight. His trial, originally scheduled for last Wednesday, was postponed until next month.

The Superintendent, in a letter to the Lexington public school board last week wrote, "Activities and materials designed to promote tolerance and respect for individuals, including recognition of differences in sexual orientation . . . do not trigger the notice and opt out provisions of Section 32A." The opt-out provision, 32A, maintains that parents be notified if a school teach on "human sexual issues." To Ash, homosexuality is not a sexuality issue.

Concerned Americans rallied in support of Parker September 11, at a demonstration held at Lexington Green, the site of the opening battle of the Revolutionary War more than 200 years ago. Parker was prevented from addressing the media by the police, arguing that it could spark violence between his supporters and a large number of counter-demonstrators.

"This is not about creating a forum for hate . . . for any segment of society," Parker said after his arraignment in April, according to a boston.com report. "I'm just trying to be a good dad."

See prior LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Father of 6-Year-Old Arrested Over Objection to Homosexual Curriculum in Kindergarten Class
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/apr/05042910.html

GLASGOW, Scotland September 21, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Scottish parents have increased demands to keep their children out of increasingly explicit school sex-ed programs says Gregory Carlin, spokesman for The Rights of the Scottish Child organization.

Carlin told LifeSiteNews.com this past June that "The dreadful record of teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases in Glasgow is largely because of the harmful sexualized environment created by educators and officials." This motivated the original challenge to Glasgow City Council's attempt to make its graphic sex-ed curriculums compulsory.

Yesterday Carlin told LifeSiteNews.com that concerns about the UK Liberal Democrat Party's continuing support for mandatory sex-ed programs and their policy that young teenagers should have the right to watch and appear in explicit pornography have convinced the Catholic parents to be even more proactive. The sexualized UK culture has led to a situation, as reported in the Sept. 18 Sunday times, where that UK has become the porn capital of Europe, with access to 27 porn television channels and many teenagers actually wanting to become porn stars.

"The threat by the Liberal Democrats to make sex education compulsory will not happen", said Carlin. Rather than demanding that Catholic children not be exposed to the sex-ed programs in Catholic schools only, Carlin is also demanding, "Catholic children in non-denominational schools all across Scotland must have access to separate sex education classes." Such programs would substantially differ from the damaging government programs.

See previous LifeSiteNews.com report:
Scottish Parents Sue Over School Board Refusal to Allow Parental Opt-Out on Sex-Ed
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jun/05062404.htm

and
Let 16-year-olds visit sex shops and see explicit porn, say Lib Dems
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article65366.ece

What We Lose When We Forget What Sex Is For
http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=18-06-022-f

ATLANTA, September 20, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The continuing push for explicit sex-ed programs in the US and abroad and the consequent rise in promiscuous sexual activity among youth has concerned organizations re-emphasizing the dangers that result from this phenomenon. One study being emphasized is a US Centers for Disease study which warned that the prevalence of sexually transmitted disease (STD) in the US is having a serious impact on the rates of disability and premature death.

In the year studied, 1998, approximately 30,000 deaths were attributable to STD infections, most prevalently HIV/AIDS, but also cervical cancer resulting from human Papilloma virus (HPV) in women. They reported that the US incidence for these diseases was three times the average rate of other developed countries.

In addition, the study, reported in January 27, 2005 edition of the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections, revealed that STDs accounted for 20 million cases of adverse health problems arising from STDs, such as infertility and a tendency to miscarriage.

The researchers at the Atlanta-based CDC reported a staggering 2 million years of life were absent as a result of STDs - known as "disability adjusted life years," or DALYs - due to premature death and loss of healthy life because of disabilities attributable to sexual behavior. The 2 million represented 6% of the national total of DALYs.

The leading causes of death were HIV/AIDS for men, and HIV/AIDS and cervical cancer for women.

Meanwhile, UK researchers are now calling for major increases in the capacity of clinics to tackle what they call an STD "epidemic," claiming that current levels are inadequate to meet the government's own health targets. Recorded numbers of new STDs have doubled in the last five years.

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Canada's Sexual Diseases Going from Bad to Worse with no Plan to Alter Failed "Safe-Sex" Approach
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/jun/04061109.html
New UK Abortion and STD Statistics: 1 in 5 Babies Killed; Teen STD Rates Doubled
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/mar/04033104.html
UK Study Reveals Reproductive Health Clinics for Teens Increases STD and Out-of-Wedlock Births
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/apr/04040501.html

The following article is from The Vanier Institute for the Family.

Ottawa - It comes as no surprise that many couples choose to live together rather than marry, at least for a period of time. What may surprise you is that for some couples, especially older ones, this benefits all parties. For others, cohabitation benefits one partner over the other, most often men, who may view cohabiting as convenient access to their current sexual partner. Overall, marriage is a far more beneficial arrangement for children.

These are just a few of the findings of Anne-Marie Ambert's new paper, Cohabitation and Marriage: How Are They Related?, released today by the Vanier Institute of the Family as part of its ongoing Contemporary Family Trends series. Ambert has synthesized the findings of hundreds of research papers that examined the social, emotional and financial effects of cohabitation and marriage on men, women, children and society.

"While more research is needed to confirm some of the implications and conclusions of Ambert's paper, it raises some troubling topics which we, as a society, would be well-advised to consider," says Robert Glossop, Executive Director of Programs and Research at the Vanier Institute. In particular, he adds, Ambert found that cohabitation and marriage are not equivalent unless accompanied by equivalent levels of commitment, fidelity and stability, all of which are far more often lacking in cohabiting relationships.

"More than half of American teens ages 15 to 19 have engaged in oral sex, increasing to nearly 70% for those who are 18 and 19, according to the largest federal study of the nation's sexual practices."
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-oralsex16sep16,1,6131822.story?coll=la-news-science&ctrack=1&cset=true

CLEVELAND, Ohio, September 8, 2005, (LifeSiteNews.com) - A recent study, just published in the American Journal of Health Behaviour, shows that "abstinence-until-marriage" programs have produced encouraging results among middle school students in Greater Cleveland.

The study was conducted by surveying 2,069 grade seven and eight students that had participated in the school-based program called "For Keeps", run by Operation Keepsake in Mayfield, OH. The program consists of five 40 minute sessions. The sessions stress abstinence-until-marriage, presents virginity as a "gift" that should be shared in marriage and emphasizes the dangers of teen pregnancy and sexual diseases, including HIV. Those students who were sexually active reported fewer sexual partners and sexual encounters five months later.

Reactions to the survey were mixed and will surely cause debate among sexual educators and condom advocates.

The lead author of the study, Dr. Elaine Borawski, commented in the Plains Dealer newspaper that the results were a surprise. The public health researcher at Case Western Reserve University said the federally tax funded program positively influenced sexually active adolescents. "Everyone says that kids who have had sex won't find programs like this relevant," said Borawski, who has reviewed Operation Keepsake's programs in the past. "It did seem that it resonated with them more than we thought."

While remaining cautiously optimistic, Dr. Douglas Kirby, a nationally recognized expert on sex education, was concerned that the study's short time frame of five months reduced its strength. Still, supporters of "abstinence-until-marriage" are encouraged and are pushing for more studies.

Critics, however, like Earl Pike, executive director of the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland, unsurprisingly took the study's findings to task, calling them "disturbing." Pike stated that the government should curtail funding until a more rigorous, long term study proved that the programs work. "I wouldn't be proud to promote that abstinence programs educate young people to avoid proven methods like condoms that we know reduce risk and save lives," Pike said.

Pike's comments, however, fail to take into account that curtailing the funding of the abstinence program would logically reduce the program's effectiveness, thereby hindering an accurate assessment of its successfulness.

Globally, statistical evidence in Africa seems to support the findings of the Cleveland study. Uganda, which promotes abstinence-before-marriage programs has the lowest reported cases of AIDS/HIV while Botswana, a country that actively promotes condoms, has the highest rates.