EDUCATION FOR A FREE NATION
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June 6, 2006

EdWatch Calls on Pawlenty to halt his administrations
promotion of homosexual agenda
GLBT groups receive taxpayer funds

      ST. PAUL, MINN (June 6, 2006)   Governor Tim Pawlenty's public stances are opposite the behind-the-scenes actions by his departments.

        Although Gov. Pawlenty is publicly supporting a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman, homosexual advocacy groups are being funded by grants from the state Department of Health under his authority. Additionally, under Governor Pawlenty's supervision, his administration is actively promoting the indoctrination of students into a homosexual worldview and value system.

        EdWatch notified the Governor's office more than one month ago that his Departments of Health and Education have been including homosexual advocacy into policies and directives which impact impressionable children beginning with pre-schoolers.

        For example, groups funded by state agencies and materials on the Governors Health Department website have supported the aggressive indoctrination of children into the homosexual agenda by advocating that pro-homosexual/bisexual/transgender values be taught in schools. This includes teaching that homosexuality, heterosexuality, and bisexuality must be viewed as morally and socially equivalent, and that people who define marriage as existing only between a man and woman are bigots.

        The Governors Department of Education is using outcome measurements for preschoolers and child care providers that require teaching gender identity through stories, games, and conversation. Gender identity curricula include children experimenting with various gender roles and behaviors and questioning their own sexual orientation.

        One of the groups that played a key role with Pawlenty's administration in writing Minnesota's Early Childhood Indicators of Progress has published the widely used book, The Anti-bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children. This publication and others train teachers in the gender identity curriculum. "Gender identity," as defined by this book, teaches children to question their gender identity. Their definition of ìhomophobiaî teaches preschoolers that social norms which value and prefer heterosexual relationships are bigotry.

        Under Governor Pawlenty, homosexual advocacy groups, such as the Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP) and District 202, are financially supported with grants from his Department of Health. MAP actively opposes the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage that Pawlenty supports in public, yet 10% of its budget is from state taxpayers. MAP labels the marriage amendment "homophobic." District 202 encourages students to embrace diversity and learn about homophobia and transphobia by, for example, holding hands with someone of the same sex in public.

        Additionally, a Coordinated School Health Program website (CSH), sponsored and created by the Governors Health and Education Departments, has been aggressively promoting homosexual advocacy groups, that include Out 4 Good, Out 4 Equity, and Rainbow Families. The CSH site lists two well-known homosexual advocacy groups OutFront Minnesota and Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund as their references for homosexual and transgender legal rights.

        The only apparent response from the Governor to date has been to make the CSH website password protected, leaving the public in the dark about who has access to that site or what content still remains.

        Governor Pawlentys state health and education departments recently promoted a Rainbow Families Conference at which teachers were trained to integrate homosexual advocacy into preschool curriculum. Teachers attending the conference learned strategies on how to interrupt heterosexism and homophobia in schools. This conference also taught seminars specifically on how to oppose the marriage amendment.

        "The Minnesota Human Rights statute does not condone or promote the teaching of homosexuality in the schools," says Dr. Karen Effrem, a pediatrician and board member of EdWatch. "These programs are a betrayal of the public trust and an endangerment to the public health."

        EdWatch is calling on Governor Pawlenty to stop the use of taxpayer funds for homosexual advocacy groups and to stop the integration of homosexuality into school curriculum, beginning with preschool.

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