Update on Nettelhorst Elementary School and the "Pride" Parade

by Laurie Higgins, Illinois Family Institute

On Thursday morning, June 25, three days before the Chicago "pride" parade, I called Nettelhorst Elementary School Principal Cindy Wulbert to ask whether the school was participating in the parade as was reported in the Chicago Tribune. I was told that Principal Wulbert was unavailable and that the school would be participating in the parade.

I asked the woman I was speaking to whether school time was used to make and/or tie the "thousands" of rainbow-colored fabric strips that the Trib reported were adorning the school fence. She claimed that she didn't know and that when she "arrived at school one day, they were just up."

I left a message asking that the principal return my call.

I called again in the afternoon and was told that Principal Wulbert was still not available and that Nettelhorst was not participating in the parade. The new person told me that there are Nettelhorst parents who are members of the gay and lesbian community and that they would be taking their children to march in the parade. She also informed me that Nettelhorst "does not have any school policy that prevents these parents from identifying the school their children attend." This raises the question, what is the difference between officially participating in the "pride" parade and unofficially participating if anyone can carry signs that say "Nettelhorst Elementary School"?

Since Nettelhorst was purportedly not "officially" participating in the parade, I asked her if the school had removed the sign that the Chicago Trib reported was on the school fence announcing Nettelhorst's participation in the parade. I was told that there was no such sign and never had been, and that the statement in the Trib was "inaccurate."

I then asked this new person, who was giving me remarkably different answers from those that I had been given in the morning, about the fabric strips. Lo and behold, I was again given a different answer. I was told that the thousands of rainbow-colored fabric strips had nothing whatsoever to do with the "pride" parade. I was told that "they're always up." She claimed that the fabric strips represent student wishes, and whenever a student makes a wish, he or she ties a fabric strip on the fence. I wonder why the first woman I spoke to, who I believe was a teacher, didn't seem familiar with this longstanding tradition.

This new version of the story contradicts not just the Chicago Trib story but also the account offered by Darius Kemp on the blog "Not in Our Town":

In May, teachers and parents, both gay and straight, collected ribbons and created a rainbow "Pride Fence" with a sign that read: "Each Nettelhorst student has tied a piece of fabric to the fence as a tangible sign of his or her personal intention to create a better world."

Furthermore, to show children and the neighborhood that fighting intolerance and bullying is not a one-time event, parents and teachers from the school will march in the Chicago Gay Pride Parade to demonstrate their support for inclusion in our schools and in our towns.

I called again on Friday to try to get to the bottom of this very curious story by speaking with Principal Wulbert but was told she would not be in the office until Monday. I then asked the gentleman on the phone if he could answer some questions about Nettelhorst and the "pride" parade. He said that he was "not at liberty to discuss that issue." Apparently, the Nettelhorst administration has as much commitment to transparency as they do to truth.

I left yet another message for Principal Wulbert; I'm still awaiting her call.

I had one last pre-parade hope for clarification: Rex Huppke, the Trib reporter who wrote the story on Nettelhorst.

I called and emailed Mr Huppke, leaving detailed messages about who I am, what Nettelhorst told me, and what my questions were. I'm still awaiting his call also. Mr. Huppke is likely very busy writing yet more glowing, transparently biased stories about the LGBT community, some of which you can read here, here, here and here:

I guess we're all just left to figure out the truth for ourselves. Perhaps this disturbing video provided by Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) can shed some light on the darkness created by the Nettelhorst administration and the homosexual activist organizations that promote the depraved "pride" circus:

Two final thoughts:

The dissembling or outright lying engaged in by Nettelhorst public school employees makes one wonder how people with so little commitment to truth can possibly foster integrity in children.
 
Pay attention to the Log Cabin Republicans' float in this AFTAH video. The GOP must sever all ties to Log Cabin Republicans. The "big tent" must not become so big that its support structures collapse under the weight of pernicious ideas

Comments

[Virgil C.]

Thanks Laurie!

As a Christian, I find your disdain for homosexuals very inspiring. Keep up your very important work.

[Darius]

As Darius Kemp I would like to say that I do not approve of this message or anything that listed in the article. While people can have there own opinions about homosexuality and LGBT people my views of the Nettelhorst school are clearly located in my article. I believe that name calling and extremist views on people and their families is not needed and the school as I understand it has always had the children's best interest in mind.

[Laurie Higgins]

Dear Mr. Kemp,

When you say that you disapprove of everything in my article, are you saying you disagree with your own words that I quoted verbatim? I was simply using your post as evidence to support my claim that the school made statements that contradicted both Mr. Huppke's and yours.

Even though you and I may disagree on the nature and morality of homosexual acts, I would hope that we would agree on the importance of truth and transparency on the parts of paid public servants.

And just for the record, we also agree on two other things: I abhor name-calling. And I abhor extremist views like the view that homosexual acts are moral and the view that the "pride" parade, in which deviant sexual practices and cross-dressing are celebrated, is a place for children.

The depravity and ignorance displayed by adults who take children to such an event are both extreme and unconscionable.

Laurie Higgins

[Sam Pierce]

Tolerance requires thrusting homosexuality upon school children?

I suppose government should be kept out of the bedroom... unless it can facilitate indoctrinating public school children in the wonders of alternative lifestyles based on sexual preferences. Is that how it works?

[Laurie Higgins]

Wow, Suzy, I'm accustomed to hateful intolerance from those who hold different views on the nature and morality of homosexual acts than mine, but your comment may have reached a new low.

Until the latter part of the 20th century and continuing until today, the view of most people in most parts of the world has been that homosexual acts and cross-dressing are not moral acts. And this belief regarding what constitutes moral acts does not constitute hatred of persons. Your comment does, however, suggest hatred of those who believe differently than you.

Your view may ultimately--and tragically--win the day, but it won't be because of sound reasoning. It will be because people are cowed by intimidation tactics like being called Nazis, or having their jobs threatened, or being thrown into jail for exercising erstwhile First Amendment speech or religious rights.

[Ian Howell]

Oh Suzy, you dear bleeding heart liberal, may I suggest that you step away from the emotion and look at the facts?

To suggest that someone is complicit in killing or hurting "gay" people because they disagree with homosexuality as public policy is intellectually dishonest.

Moreover, your hatred of Christians demonstrates your bigotry.

Those who self-identify as "gay" are hurting themselves by engaging in homosexual behavior which is extremely unhelathy and dangerous. Behavior is a choice and choices have consequences.

[suzy]

gee no one addresses the question... if one or more of your children came home and said they killed or beat one of those depraved homosexuals you taught them about how would your feel?
maybe the next baby you save will be gay...

[O. March]

Don't you conservatives get it? "Suzy" is creating parody! No liberal in their right mind (that's a topic for an entirely different, lengthy discussion) would abandon facts and reason to simply call names and imagine a whole different world from where the rest of us live.

[Laurie Higgins]

Suzy, I will address your question.

I have four children, all of whom were taught that all people are created in the image and likeness of God, and all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. My children were taught that since the Fall, all mankind is depraved. We share in common this universal human condition.

They were taught that we all experience myriad impulses, desires, feelings, and temptations. Our task as moral beings is to figure out which of those feelings are morally legitimate to act upon.

Same-sex attraction is just one of the feelings upon which we ought not to act.
We also should not engage in polyamorous acts, even if we are sexually and emotionally attracted to multiple people. We should not engage in consensual incest even if we love our sisters or brothers. We should not engage in selfish or greedy or aggressive acts even if we have powerful selfish, greedy, or aggressive feelings and even if those feelings are shaped by biology.

They were taught that although we must not abandon the critical personal and civic obligation to discern between moral and immoral behaviors, we must never hate those who engage in behaviors we deem immoral. Nor may we call them names or assault them or assault them. And, they were taught not to stand idly by if they saw another child being bullied.

How would I feel if my child killed or beat another human being? Devastated.

Fortunately, my children, who are grown, treat all with compassion and civility, even those whose moral convictions and behavioral choices are very different from my children's, and even those who call them names, like Nazi.