By Fred Jackson and Jody Brown
November 21, 2002

(AgapePress) - A group of conservative lawmakers is calling on Big Brothers Big Sisters of America to abandon a school-based mentoring program. They say it allows homosexuals to work with children without their parents' consent.

The Big Brothers Big Sisters organization has been under fire from pro-family forces ever since the group decided this summer to allow open homosexuals to be mentors. The self-described "experts in youth mentoring" made a decision in late June to require local agency directors to match homosexuals with their children -- or risk losing affiliation with the national BBBSA. [See Earlier Article]

Now a group of Capitol Hill lawmakers, all Republicans, has written a letter to President Bush -- the honorary chairman of BBBSA -- saying the mentoring organization is failing to protect parents' rights. The group is led by Representative Tom Tancredo, who hails from Colorado's 6th district. Others signing the letter include Bob Schaffer (Colorado), John Hostettler and Brian Kerns (both of Indiana), Ernest Istook and John Sullivan (both of Oklahoma), Joseph Pitts (Pennsylvania), Jim Ryan (Kansas), and Chris Smith (New Jersey).

"Mr. President, public school children are being matched with homosexual mentors without parental notification or consent," the letter reads. "The new policy ignores psychological research and common sense. As a general rule-of-thumb, Big Brothers [sic] doesn't match up adult men with teenage girls. Obviously that would set up a risky situation that could lead to sexual abuse."

In the letter, the congressmen urge President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush to join them in challenging BBBSA to rescind what they describe as an "ill-advised policy." By taking decisive action, they say, the president will be protecting children who have a "critical need for healthy, same-sex, adult role models."

The Denver Post quotes a major homosexual group, the Human Rights Campaign, which is accusing the congressmen of "anti-gay bias" and spreading misinformation. But in the letter, Tancredo cites BBBSA spokesperson Noreen Shanfelter, who told Associated Press in August that "it is possible that a child in a school program could be matched with a gay mentor without the parent's knowledge."

In a press release, the Colorado Republican points out that public school children cannot take an aspirin without their parent's knowledge -- but under the new BBBSA policy, they could potentially be matched with homosexual mentors without parental notification or consent. That, he says, clearly violates parental rights and potentially undermines parental values.

"We need positive mentoring programs," Tancredo states, "and to be successful, those programs need to maximize, not minimize parental involvement."

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