***There's no required parental notification or consent, but kids are assured of “confidentiality.”***
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It’s Friday at 5:00 p.m. Do you know where your kids are?
Your sixth grader, Nick, stayed after school with his new buddy, Joel. They’ll be home soon on their bikes, because they had a last-minute homework assignment in the library. Or so they told you.
There’s one place in the neighborhood most parents might never think their kids would end up. It’s the local community center for homosexual kids. That’s right—for kids. And your sixth grader would be welcomed there by adult volunteers and staff, and allowed to socialize with high school and college age ‘gay’ youth, without your permission or knowledge. All he or she has to do is show up, and many are located conveniently on bus lines, for kids under driving age.
“No parents” plus homosexual approval is the reason these centers call themselves “safe” places. There is a homosexual youth center now in virtually every medium or large city in the U.S. Many are funded by private foundations or connected to a local adult center for “GLBT” (“gay, lesbian bisexual and transgendered”) people. Some are even funded by United Way.
And this summer, a traveling group of HIV positive young adults called “Hope’s Voice” will be visiting these centers all over the country, giving speeches, interacting with local kids, talking about “safe sex” and condom use -— and affirming the homosexual lifestyle. As a part of this tour and other contacts with local AIDS groups, your sixth grader could get a free HIV test right then and there, without your consent or knowledge.
Danger: Unsafe Zone
Preying on vulnerable teens and pre-teens, these centers provide instant access by homosexual adults to kids who have the unfounded notion they are “gay.” These misguided youth can adopt this high-risk identity and become sexually involved with peers and/or older homosexuals, all without a parent’s or guardian’s knowledge or even an objective bystander to watch over them.
Some community groups target youth by an upper and lower age limit, like 13 to 24. Others have an even lower age limit of 11 or 12. Some simply say they are for youth “age 22 and under.” How far under? And who checks? Thirteen- year- olds don’t have driver’s licenses or usually any form of legal ID. These centers in reality can do little verification of age.
The staff and volunteers are often homosexual adults, and the activities offered range from help with homework, to games, playing pool, cook-outs, parties and lots of "hanging out." The centers often provide training in “gay” activism, infusing impressionable youth with hard-core hostility toward traditional values and faith. The kids also get recruited for local demonstrations, and are usually welcome at the city-wide “gay” pride parade, its accompanying parties and events.
The centers make computers with Internet access available to kids, and it’s a safe bet that these terminals will not have filters. The same no-limits standard goes for the “libraries” that some centers maintain. Movie nights are a popular pastime where 12 and 13 year olds can watch homosexual sex via R-rated choices like “Jeffrey,” “The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love,” “Aimee and Jaguar,” and of course, “Brokeback Mountain.”
Staff and adult volunteers frequently teach workshops with questionable content. BAGLY, the Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth features ongoing courses called “Queer College.” One of these courses is called “HIV.” Conducted by a male staff member and “peer leaders,” the course content is described on the BAGLY web site as follows:
SEX! Yeah, we know you’re doing it. But how safe are you? We could all use info on sexy new ways to use condoms and barriers. We’ll have open, honest, judgment-free conversations about sex toys, oral sex, bare-backing, mixing sex and drugs, how to keep it safe and advocate for yourself during group sex, anonymous sex, and sex on the go! We’ll have something for everyone!
This course was held in April 2006 at the BAGLY meeting site, which is St. John the Evangelist church in Boston.1
The High School “GSA” Connection
Most of these youth centers are closely linked to area homosexual school clubs, often called “GSA’s” or “gay-straight alliances.” The non-school locale provides a venue for activities that might not be allowed at school. GSAs often defend themselves as appropriate for school, maintaining they don’t deal with sex as a club topic, but discuss “homophobia” and discrimination. Notwithstanding the disruptive religious intolerance this may foster, the reality is that GSAs are closely linked to these community centers, which are accountable to no one but the “gay” adults in the community. Frequently all area GSA members will be invited to youth center events, where explicit descriptions of homosexual sex are very definitely on the menu.
The Cleveland, Ohio, “GLBT “ Center youth program hosts numerous area GSA meetings and conducts “activism training” for high school GSA’s.2 At Kaleidoscope Youth Center in Columbus, Ohio, a “GSA Summit” was held on April 1, 2006. A news release said it was open to all “LGBTQ youth and their allies, age 20 and under.”(LGBTQ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning.) The summit was to “provide assistance to all youth who are working as advocates in their schools, whether they have a formal GSA or not.” 3 Would this apply to a fourth grader, one wonders?
Well, they apparently didn’t have fourth graders – this time. According to Lindsay, a volunteer at the center, the summit at Kaleidoscope had participation by 13 Columbus area high school GSAs.
A girls’ event was held in 2003 at a San Francisco Bay area youth community homosexual group, LYRIC (Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center). It was publicized by the California GSA Network to encourage attendance by school "gay" club members. The event, "Make Your Own Sex Toy Night," encouraged girls to "Let your imagination go wild and create a sex toy you can be proud of!"4
Some of these youth centers in more liberal areas of the country have been around a long time. BAGLY was established in 1980, and for years has sponsored the annual Boston Youth ‘Gay’ Pride parade. Most of the area GSA’s march proudly in the parade.
All these connections allow many opportunities for students who join the school clubs to socialize with practicing homosexuals, youth and adult, some of whom may be HIV positive, and to hear the graphic details of “safer sex.”
How Kids Get Involved
Though parents may not think such centers pose a danger to their child, many remain naïve about the assault being waged on the mind and heart of today’s child. It’s no surprise, since kids are pounded with messages about homosexuality, that at some point most will privately wonder, “Am I ‘gay’?” Churches could be doing a lot more to equip youth on this issue, but too many remain silent, as do most parents.
And of course, movies, youth novels and the Internet are flowing streams of pornography featuring homosexual dating, street and bathroom sex, group sex, experimentation, and more. Any teen or pre-teen has easy access to such material, and the feelings that may be stirred won’t be disclosed by many of them. They’ll just jump to conclusions from what they’ve been taught.
And what they are being taught is mostly inaccurate, even dangerous. Most kids today believe such misinformation as:
- Some people are born ‘gay’ and an attraction to a person of the same sex may mean you were born homosexual.
- A person can’t possibly be talked into, or seduced into, becoming gay. You just are or you aren’t.
- An unbiased, progressive person will accept homosexuality. It’s perfectly fine.
- Homosexual behaviors can be practiced “safely” and are no more risky than heterosexual sex.
- If your parents are old-fashioned and oppose homosexuality, it might be better to figure out your sexuality yourself before you ‘come out’ to them.
- Beliefs that oppose homosexuality are out-of-date and uninformed, and probably stem from oppressive or even evil feelings toward homosexuals. These can lead to violence and harassment, and people must try to stop people with such beliefs from practicing their discrimination.
With a head crammed full of such mythology, the curious student can easily learn where the local “GLBT” community youth club is through the school newspaper, the Internet, a phone book listing, or through the school-based GSA club. And if your child at some point has a friend with an interest, he or she may accompany the friend to the “GLBT” club for a visit. The hours of operation are frequently after school and on week-ends.
Up Close: Several Ohio Centers
In my home state of Ohio, several major cities have community “gay” clubs for kids. In Columbus, Ohio, the youth center, Kaleidoscope, occupies a run-down storefront across the street from a new shopping center. It’s also a few steps from a bus stop, and two blocks from the campus of Ohio State University, which makes it convenient for college-age “gay” youth. The shopping center features a popular movie theater, several burger hang-outs and a coffee shop, plus major chain clothing and retail stores. A parent who drops off a child for a few hours of movies and shopping would not ordinarily worry about the questionable influence that lurks right around the corner.
This center pitches its programs as available for youth 12 to 20. (See their web site at http://www.kaleidoscope.org/ ). In addition to the programs and activities we’ve already mentioned, Kaleidoscope offers “safer sex” lectures and HIV testing to these kids as young as 12. They also offer support groups with peer-mentoring. This type of counseling is not “billable,” according to Lindsay, a center volunteer, and no parental permission is required for this or any other service at the center.
On March 15,2006, representatives from the Ohio AIDS Coalition, the Columbus AIDS Task Force and Planned Parenthood spoke on STDs and HIV and “positive decision-making,” to the Kaleidoscope youth in a program called K.I.S.S., Keep It Smart and Safe. The Columbus-based AIDS groups seem to have an ongoing relationship with Kaleidoscope.
On April 25, 2006, the second annual “Hope’s Voice” tour planned a stop at Kaleidoscope in Columbus on its cross-country tour. The program, co-sponsored by the Ohio AIDS Coalition, offered free confidential HIV testing to youth, using the oral swabs which provide a response in around twenty minutes with over 90% accuracy. “Hope’s Voice” features HIV positive young adults who give speeches in what is termed “peer-to-peer education.”
Yet few people believe a 22- year- old is the “peer" of a 12 or 13-year-old. This, however, is typical health-speak in the world of HIV/AIDS, where anyone over age 13 becomes an “adult” and is counted as just another health statistic, not necessarily treated as a child in need of guidance by a parent or guardian.
The Cleveland, Ohio, “GLBT “ Center program offers ongoing “safe schools” and HIV prevention education for youth. On the center web site, a quote is featured from a “gay” youth:
““Most information about HIV isn’t written for us. We’re afraid to talk to our family doctor – he may tell our parents. So where can you go for help if you’re young and gay?
– 16-year-old gay male” 5
The Cleveland center web site also states, regarding Ohio law:
A minor can consent to – or refuse – an HIV test for AIDS without parental permission.6
So there you have it. A safe, parent-free, pro-homosexual environment.
Now, imagine you are a confused kid who has somehow landed in this Oz at the Cleveland Center or at Kaleidoscope. Imagine that you have seen this testing going on regularly and you’ve even heard other youth talking about how happy they are that their last test was negative (those with positive tests most likely keep it to themselves.). You’ve talked with the attractive “Hope’s Voice” HIV positive speakers. You may also know or assume (probably accurately) that all this “testing” is needed because the people are having homosexual sex. You quickly get the false sense that becoming sexually active is pretty safe, and all you have to do to stay safe is to get tested regularly, free of charge, and of course, use condoms. At (perhaps ) age 12.
That will be the take-away for most kids this age from the counseling they’ll get. There’s a practice called “voluntary counseling and testing” that is a core HIV prevention approach of AIDS organizations. In a one-on-one “confidential” interview with this young teen or pre-teen, an HIV volunteer or staff person will:
- Ask him/her “Why are you here today?” This helps to assess what risky behaviors the person may be involved in, such as anal or oral sex between males, intravenous drug use, or heterosexual sex with anyone who is doing either of these two practices.
- Convince the person he/she needs to manage or reduce this risk;
- Teach the proper use of condoms, with assurances that these will reduce one’s risk, and get the person to say they will use condoms in the future.
- NOT urging the person toward abstinence, which works 100% of the time but is seen as discriminatory or judgmental by certain “population groups” like homosexual males and drug users. HIV prevention efforts almost always steer in the direction of maintaining sexual activity.
- If the test is negative, sending the person on his/her merry, if totally delusional, way, holding a supply of condoms and brochures.
- If the test is positive, suggesting a follow-up course of long-term treatment, and then urging the person to contact his/her partners, which is required by law, but not enforced very stringently. Which has really big implications in relation to a “youth.”
What in the world are we doing exposing kids to opportunities to get involved in practices that are spreading an epidemic disease? How can we let kids make such huge health care decisions, interact with health professionals, receive “counseling” and figure out what all this means, without the guidance of a parent or guardian?
The basic assumption that “parents are the enemies” presents by itself a huge risk to kids. The people who most of the time have the best interests of a child at heart are the parents. Not every child has a stable home to go to, but in no case is homosexuality the answer to such a dilemma, and in any event,this applies to a relatively small number of kids. In the long run, far more harm will result to youth from offering quick entry into the “gay” world than any risk parents might pose to kids from their disapproval. And who of us can’t recall the times when it was our parents who prevented us from acting on our impulses, and thereby spared us damage and grief down the road?
In the current parent-free world of homosexual groups, a teen can get involved in a high-risk sexual relationship, be tested for HIV, and get a positive test result, and his parents have no idea of any of this. Yet the this young person has to evaluate all this, cope with what he will probably think is a death sentence, and have entered this world of corruption in secret, because of incessant, inaccurate propaganda. And all this, from an agency that might be supported by your United Way, in cooperation with taxpayer-funded HIV and AIDS groups.
Adults & Kids: Smashing the Boundaries
Then, there’s the big question of molestation.
What happens if one of these HIV testing sessions uncovers a 12, 13 or 14-year-old who is having a relationship with a 25 or 30- year- old? Is there required reporting of this relationship? This is criminal child corruption and /or statutory rape. I have found no group that says anything about this on a web site, nor anyone who can assure me that such reporting occurs. Such liaisons are not at all uncommon in the “gay” community. It’s certainly a frequent anecdotal scenario in homosexual-themed novels promoted to teens.
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In Cincinnati, the city “GLBT” youth group is called CYG (for Cincinnati Youth Group) and is affiliated with the city’s adult “gay” activist group. The CYG web site says that youth group meeting facilitators do have a criminal background check, but “usually have a connection with the GLBT community through previous activities or events.”7
I spoke with Todd, who is a volunteer at CYG but also is a youth educator employed by AIDS Volunteers of Cincinnati. He told me that the center invites attendance by youth ages 13-21. I asked how they determined if this was the accurate age. He said they just go by impression, and “whether the person is getting his/her needs met.” They have had kids attend before who’ve lied about their age, even at the upper level. He said, “By the time someone is 21 they really want to be out on their own, you would think.”
I spoke with someone else who had called the Cincinnati Youth Group. The caller had been told that despite the center’s claim that it was for youth ages 13-21, a 12- year- old would be welcome “if he was ready for it.” What did that mean? Well, the discussions get pretty graphic, said Todd, and are completely open. They discuss safe sex, etc. and it might not be appropriate for a 12-year- old. But the caller was assured that “if he felt comfortable,” a 12- year- old boy would be welcome. It was all about the boy’s comfort level. In order to see if he was ready, Todd joked, “somebody could take him to the gay pride parade!”
There is nothing to prevent the interaction, exchange of phone numbers, etc. between younger kids and older people. And when the group ends at 8 p.m., although they try to be watchful, is there any supervision to prevent a younger youth from going off with an older person? No, Todd said. The only thing kids need to be included in the youth group activities is a way to get there, and at closing time, they are on their own.
Yes— - there’s no question these kids are on their own. Where are the parents? Where is the Christian church? Where are the police?
Notes:
- http://www.bagly.org/quac/catalogue.doc
- http://www.lgcsc.org/youth.html
- http://www.outincolumbus.com/Home/news.asp?articleid=10921
- GSA Network News and Announcements, February 26, 2003.
- http://www.lgcsc.org/ssafe.html
- Ibid.
- http://www.glbtcentercincinnati.com/cyg/facilitators.html
