Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute

By the Pacific Justice Institute

SACRAMENTO – A pro-parent group is alarmed by upcoming plans for schools across America to celebrate several highly questionable individuals as heroes, including someone recently released from prison for manslaughter.

The killer-turned-hero is just the tip of the iceberg, according to attorneys at Pacific Justice Institute, who are calling on parents to pay attention throughout October to what is being taught in schools as part of LGBT History Month.

“It is almost unbelievable who these activists think should be held up as role models,” said Brad Dacus, PJI president. “Every year, this celebration gets more disturbing and bizarre, but telling kids that a killer is a hero represents a new low.”

The organizers of LGBT History Month annually select 31 “icons” of LGBT history that they urge schools and students to learn about and celebrate, one for each day in October. The list is posted at www.lgbthistorymonth.com. Perhaps most concerning to parents this year will be the inclusion of CeCe McDonald, who was released from prison earlier this year after serving time in prison for the killing of a man who had insulted her.

McDonald was charged with second-degree murder and accepted a plea of second-degree manslaughter after fatally stabbing the man with scissors. She is presented in LGBT History Month as a “prison reformer” who brought attention to the plight of transgender inmates.

Works by several of the other individuals included on this year’s list would not otherwise be allowed in schools, or most homes. For example, a music video of “icon” John Cameron Mitchell has been deemed too explicit to be shown on MTV Europe. Comedienne “icon” Margaret Cho’s routines are replete with vulgarity and not permitted in school. And kids who want to learn more about “icon” Natalie Barney will read that she decried fidelity and instead advocated for adultery.

Last year, the number of school districts officially celebrating LGBT History Month grew to include Los Angeles, Fresno, Philadelphia, Charlotte, and two counties in Florida. In most districts around the country, LGBT History Month is promoted with posters and other materials by the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) student clubs, and by individual teachers, without advance notice to parents.

In 2011, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie suggested that a teacher should be fired for criticizing LGBT History Month on her personal Facebook page.

PJI is urging parents to talk immediately to all of their children’s teachers and school administrators to find out whether any promotion of LGBT History Month will be taking place over the next few weeks, and to keep an eye out for posters promoting drag queens, radical activists, or “prison reformers” as historical figures.