After people understand the problem the question most asked of me is ….but what can we do about it and will it make any difference? My answer is, do whatever you can and it doesn’t matter whether it makes any difference because that is not under your control.
I watched a facebook post where a man from Cuba was just being released after a year in prison because he ran in front of the government parade with an American flag wrapped around his body as he quoted Jefferson. The reporter asked him if his actions were worth the consequences he had to pay and his reply was, “Where is My Flag”.
I have repeated that story a number of times in response to that question and my biggest shock came when some younger people said they didn’t understand the significance of the ‘flag’ in my story. So my first response to that question now is, …”Teach your children about democracy and that some things really are worth dying for.”
What were some of the things that “I can do”.
1. GRANDMA LETTER: Most important in any discussion, or protest, or rally, debate or handout is to firstly ‘care’ about the people you are talking to. Secondly, respect their right to think for themselves. So, my first handout did not tell people what to believe or what to do, it just informed people of the actions of activist teachers and the BCTF in controlling the environment that our children would be experiencing with new SOGI resources and to get educated for the sake of their children.
2. STAY INFORMED YOURSELF: I learned about SOGI from your first ‘angry parents’ meeting post on facebook. Since then I have stayed connected to people involved in this fight through websites like, culture guard, lifesite news, citizen’s go, rebel media, the Justice Center out of Calgary, and Jenn Smith. Add to that your own research and your own faith community. I have done reviews of the SOGI curriculum from the SOGI website. Teach BC is now the website that provides a lot of the resources parents need to look at. I have collected information about Glen Hansman and his desire to ‘socialize our children,’ I have done innumerable handouts exposing, summarizing, evaluating and challenging the SOGI 123 resources. I just finished the book The Global Sexual Revolution – The Destruction of Freedom in the Name of Freedom by Gabriele Kuby which exposes the evil designs of the UN to control peoples and governments through unelected and unaccountable international organizations each with there own special interest agenda. The latest and biggest threat of course being the Global Compact for Migration and Sustainable Development goals.
3. You have to SHARE in the best way you can and you must be BRAVE. It really does come down to ‘what YOU can do’?. The list could be a) Share with your family b) your friends c) your communities d) your co-workers The more you become informed the more you are able to share and TALK about it. This truly is our children’s future. The best way to support and love them is to arm them with knowledge, your example, your courage and your FAITH. This journey is really about us becoming better, not really what we can accomplish, so don’t judge yourself by what you end up being able to do but judge yourself by how much better you are able to do it.
4. SHARE WITH PEOPLE YOU DON’T KNOW. I have been told people ‘cannot do what I do’ which is approach strangers on the street. I have also been told some people think if I am on the street protesting, I must be hurting somebody. That can’t be true because the only reason I am able to do what I do is because I care about the people I am talking to more than I care about my own comfort. I sort of feel like a crosswalk guard who is trying to make sure everyone can cross safely. I do not control, or belittle anyone, I just give people information and by my actions let them see how important this information is to me and so should be for them. It is never appropriate or helpful to use foul or offensive language on any signs.
5. SHARE WITH MEDIA OF ALL KINDS. I struggle in this area. I got on facebook and then got off again. I have tried to start petitions in support of Barry and get signatures on the street. Not super productive. I need to put it on the internet. I need someone ‘who can do that’ to step into this discussion with their skills. I have done what I can, by creating an email list of my own whereby I can inform and encourage others to engage in the fight. I have written letters to the editor. I have taken my letters to RCMP offices, the MP and MLA’s offices. I have made comments on facebook etc which I will probably have to join again. Twice I have been asked for an interview by CBC but I ignored them. I have witnessed personally how the media twists, ignores or lies about the facts, but I have also been told I should have done it anyway because something is better than nothing.
6. USE THE SYSTEMS WE HAVE to engage in the debate, like school board meetings, pac meetings. Any after school program. I have attended most of the school board meetings for over a year. I have asked questions at those meetings. I have challenged the SOGI 123 learning resources twice. I have solicited support from the BC Ombudsman and emailed trustees with concerns and opinions. It would be wonderful to be part of the PAC in your school and become a known entity in your children’s school and make sure you stay aware of what is being taught to your children. I do not have children in school but I still went to a school and asked about what they were teaching about SOGI or their ‘out in schools’ presentations. One middle school principal told me his school had a class called “Fiercely Fearless for Girls”. The scariest part of that discussion was that he did not know what the SOGI LEAD was teaching in those classes as the class was for girls so he was not invited. The SOGI LEAD was the VP and she was gay so she felt she knew better than anyone how to conduct these kinds of classes. She said she was not concerned she might be making life harder and more confusing for children who were not LGBTQ because you can’t make someone gay and then she walked away.
Right now, I think it is important for every adult in Chilliwack to walk to their nearest school and DEMAND that the Trustees and Principals respect our electoral process and our democracy by allowing Barry Neufeld to do his job. Also, ask your schools who is teaching their sex-ed program and when?
7. USE OUR DEMOCRACY I used my own personal resources to campaign for Barry Neufeld and those running with him. We missed getting a majority by 33 votes but we sent a clear message to our local school board and our community about where we stand and what is important to us. I have become a member of the BC Conservative Party and attended their AGM in Kelowna in November. I routinely up- date my MPs and MLA about my concerns and follow what is happening in politics and who is making things happen.
8. Now that awful word ‘MONEY’. It is interesting to me that people are so reluctant to help organizations who are doing the ‘hard jobs’, as they are afraid those organizations will forget their goals or they fear the goals are just fabricated so they can get your money. We need more faith in our fellow citizens than that. If we truly feel something is important there are others who feel just as passionately as you do. Everything in this mortal world is financed with money. Yes, the bad as well as the good, so we do need to be wise but we also need to be generous. We live in a mortal sphere and until God comes again, we will have to decide who we will support and what is important to us and our society for the sake of our children. I personally support a conservative party, a conservative media and my local faith group on a monthly basis. Plus, I personally fund my own activism. I encourage everyone to decide which group speaks for them and support them financially because they really cannot keep going without our help.
My definition of an activist is someone who identifies a situation that cannot be tolerated and out of necessity responds with a stern and vigorous rebuke.
Stories I heard by talking to Parents on the Street
4 YEAR OLD was forced to sing song about turning from a boy to a girl while she moved her body and danced.
Mother who was told by her principal that they didn’t have to TELL PARENTS ANYTHING This mother was prepared to move to the Congo to get away from it. Her son was 12 and had autism. These kinds of children are becoming the biggest victims to SOgI 123 resources as they know they have a problem and start to believe the changing their sex will fix it. I think it was 54% of transgender children have autism. Paul Dirks would know that number for sure.
Victoria’s daughter asked her mother if she would STAY A GIRL and her son said he could wear makeup. When she tried to talk to teachers about it they just sent her to the SOGI website which she said told her nothing and she took her children out of school.
Retired teacher said he had to go ‘UNDERGROUND’ as a teacher. Other teachers say they will not teach it and are shocked and upset when I tell them it IS being taught and then I tell them the 4 year old story.
Mother had daughter come home with a BOYS NAME on her report card. The school had told her nothing about what her daughter was doing in school.
My scariest story…..One little boy approached his mother after school and told her he learned that boys can marry boys and girls can marry girls and that SHE COULD’NT TELL HIM ANY DIFFERENT. The SOGI agenda is far bigger than acceptance and compassion. It is about teaching intolerance.
Dallin H. Oakes: I have chosen to speak about truth because teachers in schools, colleges, and universities are teaching and practicing relative morality. This is shaping the attitudes of many young Americans who are taking their places as the teachers of our children and the shapers of public attitudes through the media and popular entertainment. This philosophy of moral relativism denies what millions believe….
Dr. Rich Swier: I have written that when tolerance becomes a one-way street it leads to cultural suicide. Aristotle said two millennia ago, “Tolerance is the last virtue of a dying society.”
Labels such as bigot, racist, Homophobic, Islamophobic, Alt-Right, irredeemables, Xenophobic and deplorables are the weapons used by those who are intolerant of others. They are the same weapons used by the Embracing our Differences supporters to silence dissent. Embracing our Differences is dedicated to teaching children to be intolerant of those who have values, morals and speak truth to power.
Intolerance is the language of SOGI 123. Six times in the lesson plans up to grades 4/5 students are asked to “Describe and assess STRATEGIES FOR RESPONDING to discrimination, stereotyping, and bullying.” and “Reinforce that in our school there is NO TOLERANCE for any form of discrimination.”
SOGI 123 is all about ‘how to identify and respond” to any real or perceived discrimination. One of the key questions for K – 12 is “What is an insult”? That is what our children are discussing and learning.
Name calling and labelling is being taught and modelled by adults on our school boards and at our highest levels of government. The chairman of the school board in Chilliwack is not allowing Barry Neufeld, who got more votes than our mayor, from entering schools.
The Justice Center out of Calgary [JCCF lawyer] Cameron also told the three Appeal Court Justices — Chair Frederica Schutz, Bruce McDonald and Dawn Pentelechuk — that in another case, a 13-year-old boy who was a member of a GSA was taken off school grounds to a GSA conference. The boy was told that ‘his mother would not know if he attended a GSA conference and miss all of his classes’”
…
“Cameron pointed out that at the off-site GSA conference, the boy said he ‘watched a demonstration on how to put a condom on a banana; he was given materials with a space ship shaped like a giant penis with a caption ‘explore your anus’; (and), he was given a 50-page flip book with step-by-step instructions on how to have sex, with what appears to be an older individual’… Court heard the boy was also given 153 condoms.” .
Teach BC list Sexplainer – YouthCo as good sources for sex ed instruction.
by Sandy Devenney