http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=156645A lawsuit that demanded a right for parents to opt their young children out of a "gay" indoctrination program in a California school district was dropped after the district suddenly killed the worst of the curriculum, officials told WND today.
Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, had been working on the case pending against the Alameda Unified School District.
Dacus said the case was filed because parents wanted to uphold a state law allowing them not to have their children participate in health education programs if they choose. But he said the decision to drop the case was made when the district announced it was canceling "Lesson 9" of the Caring School Community curriculum, which was adopted by the school board last year.
"We're very pleased," he said. "But we're calling upon parents all across the country to investigate and find out just what material is being pushed in their school district.
"We're hoping that this school district learns tolerance is a two way street. One way tolerance is not tolerance at all. It's tyranny," he said.
District officials did not return a WND message asking for comment.
Dacus said the problem was that most of the Lesson 9 program went far beyond a message against bullying.
"The rest was all about acceptance, actual, moral and social acceptance of these very controversial and even medically dangerous lifestyle choices," he said.
According to a report from the institute, that section of the curriculum at issue "gave a monopoly to anti-bullying and diversity instruction to only one protected class – LGBT. Lesson 9 excluded all other children who would be subject to bullying because of gender, race, religion, nationality and disability."
"The dismissal of the appeal comes after attorneys for the district informed the Pacific Justice Institute that the board of education voted to discontinue use of Lesson 9 and replace it with materials that cover each legally protected class," said the institute reported.
"While the district had claimed that a LGBT curriculum was necessary to address bullying and harassment in elementary schools, documentation from the district obtained by PJI through a public records request revealed that, of the approximately 170 incident reports in an 18-month period, there were no school incidents of harassment due to sexual orientation in the elementary grades," the institute report said.
"The vast majority of reported complaints on AUSD campuses involved opposite-sex sexual harassment and racial tension, not sexual orientation."
Kevin Snider, a PJI attorney representing the parents, said "all children deserve safe schools."
"To give one group the sole voice in safe-school instruction was an attempt to teach impressionable children that the LGBT lifestyle is both moral and normative," he said.
The dispute spawned at least three lawsuits, several administrative complaints and board meetings attended by hundreds from the community.
"This has been a significant gain by parents. We are remaining vigilant and will continue to keep an eye on the district," Dacus said.
The parents' case technically was on appeal, following a ruling from Judge Frank Roesch in Alameda Superior Court, who refused to let the parents take their children out of such classes.
Pacific Justice reported at the time the decision came late last year that Roesch blasted the parents for seeking enforcement of a provision of the California Education Code that gives parents a right to opt their kids out of health education.
Education Code Section 51240 allows a parent to have a student excused from instruction, "If any part of a school's instruction in health conflicts with the religious training and beliefs of a parent or guardian of a pupil."
However, Pacific Justice Institute said Roesch repeatedly insinuated that the parents are bigots and insisted there can be no homosexual indoctrination because, he purportedly argued, people are born that way.
In his opinion, Roesch said the opt-out provision in section 51240 "is not reasonably construed to include instruction in family life education, but was intended to be more limited in scope."
WND earlier reported when the district was accused of violating federal law for approving the mandatory homosexual curriculum for children as young as 5 without allowing parents to opt out of the lessons.
The Lesson 9 curriculum was in addition to the school's current anti-bullying program.
Topic: District kills LGBT indoctrination for kids (Read 1003 times)