(AgapePress) - Yet another state school system has banned discrimination against students based on their sexual orientation, and a pro-family leader is voicing concern over that decision.

The Maryland State Board of Education recently approved a new regulation that specifically protects homosexuals from verbal harassment. According to the Washington Times, under the new rule, students who call each other names or joke about someone's sexuality face suspension.

Pete LaBarbera of the Culture and Family Institute fears the policy will open the door to persecution of students who oppose homosexuality.

"Lets say there is a student that wants to witness the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ to a homosexual activist student in his class," LaBarbera says. "He starts telling the student about Jesus Christ, that he does not have to be gay, that he can change. And then the gay student says 'Hey, you are harassing me and I'm going to complain to the principal about this.' That means the Christian student could be drawn into this ordeal -- even a legal ordeal -- simply because he was sharing the love of Christ with a homosexual."

The school board has so far refused to describe what constitutes "harassment."

LaBarbera says such policies force all behaviors to be treated as equal, and only open the door to more pro-homosexual programs and curriculum in schools.

"We oppose true discrimination. But you cannot equate homosexual behavior with traditional civil rights," he explains. "Civil rights are about things that are unchangeable: black people, Hispanics, etcetera. There is no such thing as an ex-black but there are many, many former homosexuals. And so, you can't put homosexual behavior in with other civil rights categories. That is what they are trying to do and we are very [concerned] that the effect will be the persecution of people based on their speech that opposes homosexuality."

Texas Decision's Effect on Military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy
On a related issue, a military expert does not think the Supreme Court's decision to throw out Texas' sodomy law will snowball into an approval of homosexuals serving in the military.

Since the high court's recent controversial and unpopular ruling, pro-family activists have been speculating about the long-term ramifications of the decision.

Don't Ask, Don't Think
Retired Army Lt. Colonel Bob Maginnis fully expects the radical homosexual agenda to be energized.

"I do expect that they will shed a lot of tears, pathetically declaring that this is what they have long waited for and that the military should throw its doors wide open and abandon all of its rational thinking of the past."

But Maginnis says it will not be that easy to overturn the Clinton Administration's legacy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the military.

"First of all, they would have to find USC-654, passed in 1994 and signed by Bill Clinton, to be unconstitutional because it is a personnel regulation and the 'don't ask, don't tell' [policy] itself has been upheld in the courts."

In addition, Maginnis says the military's policy involves much more than just a ban on sodomy.

"The military's basis for banning homosexuals from service was not based upon the fact that sodomy has long been illegal in the military under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), Article 125. I suspect that it will continue to be, under certain circumstances. Obviously, it will be reviewed at this point based on the high court's decision."

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