Southwest Idaho schools throwout Student Club Rule

BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- A legal group claims Idaho's largest school district rejected a measure to require a parent's signature for students to participate in school clubs amid pressure from a national organization that promotes equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

But the Meridian School District says the proposal was dropped because the vast majority of their student clubs do not currently require parental permission.

The Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based group of Christian lawyers, issued a statement Monday saying the district was "duped" by gay rights activists into ditching the proposed parental consent policy. The group claims the proposal was cut amid pressure from Lambda Legal and the Idaho Safe Schools Coalition.

Those organizations wrote the district in August, saying the proposed rule would be harmful to already vulnerable students.
 (Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is a conservative Christian nonprofit organization with the stated goal of "defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.

The Alliance Defense Fund established the Day of Truth "to counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda and express an opposing viewpoint from a Christian perspective." The Day of Truth is held annually following the Day of Silence, which is organized by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). The Day of Silence is the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network's (GLSEN) annual day of action to protest the bullying and harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students and their supporters. Students take a day-long vow of silence to symbolically represent the silencing of LGBT students and their supporters. The Day of Silence has been held each year in April since 1996. The 2010 Day of Silence was held on April 16; in 2011 it was on April 15

ADF has announced that beginning in 2009, it was passing on its leadership role in the Day of Truth to an ex-gay organization, Exodus International, who had prepared the resources for the event. On October 6, Exodus International stated they would no longer be supporting or leading the Day of Truth.

On November 11, 2010, Focus on the Family announced it had acquired the Day of Truth event and was renaming it to the Day of Dialogue. The goal would remain unchanged.

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