Don Wildmon

AFA/AFR founder

April 2005 – Across the country homosexual groups are making great strides getting their agenda into the public schools. But there may be a new angle for parents who are tired of having the homosexual lifestyle forced on their children in the schools. 

During the 2004 Christmas season, efforts to strip away some of the traditions associated with Christmas met determined resistance, promising that the issue will be a hot spot in the culture war this year. In one of the most dramatic demonstrations of citizen indignation, voters in Mustang, Oklahoma, said no to bond measures that asked citizens to pony up almost $11 million for new education projects. The reason for the vote results? The superintendent had decided that a nativity scene did not belong in the elementary school’s Christmas program. 

Closing Christmas plays with the nativity and the singing of “Silent Night” has long been a tradition in Mustang. But Superintendent Karl Springer, concerned that the nativity might be in violation of the so-called constitutional separation of church and state, was told by the school district’s attorney to drop the scene. However, symbols of Hanukkah and Kwanzaa were included in the play, as were a Christmas tree and a Santa Claus. 

Springer took the attorney’s advice and paid the price at the ballot box. The bond issues were defeated, marking the first time in more than 10 years that the school district was denied the money it had asked voters to provide. 

Tim Pope, a former seven-term member of the Oklahoma Legislature, led the effort to defeat the bond measures. “You have to send a signal and tell them you’re not going to stand for it,” he said. “You’ve got to tell them you’re not going to sit by and let them take away your rights.” 

The next step may be a lawsuit against the school district to ensure that Christianity is treated fairly, said Shelly Marino, one of the parents who complained about Springer’s actions. “We are all educated people. We could work this out and not have it split the community,” she said. “We don’t want a lawsuit, but we’re not going to go away. The fight has been started, and we’re going to see it through to the end.” 

Maybe these folks have hit upon something here. Local schools depend on the taxpayers to foot the bill. But if taxpayers, whose concerns are routinely ignored, join together when a bond issue is floated or a tax increase is proposed and simply involve the community and vote these items down, maybe those who approve pushing the homosexual agenda on school children will get the message.  

At least it is an idea worth pursuing.  And like the parents in Mustang, perhaps their voices will begin to be heard.  

As the saying goes: “Money talks.”  Sometimes, in the case of a school bond issue or tax increase, it screams!