LGBT activist groups are outraged that the Trump administration’s Department of Education invited speakers from two prominent conservative Christian family organizations to participate in a panel discussion on fatherhood held in advance of Father’s Day last week.
Politico reports that experts from the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family were invited to speak at a day-long conference hosted by the Education Department that addressed how fathers can be engaged in their children’s lives.
Both FRC, headed by Tony Perkins, and Focus on the Family, led by Jim Daly and founded by James Dobson, are known for advocating in accordance with biblical beliefs on sexuality and the belief that marriage is only a union between one man and one woman.
However, the pro-LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign believes that the organization’s’ beliefs in traditional marriage and opposition to same-sex marriage should make their employees disqualified from being given a government-funded platform to voice their views on marriage and family.
“To provide a taxpayer-funded platform for these organizations is outrageous,” Human Rights Campaign said in a statement provided to Politico. “Families in this country are increasingly diverse, and include those with same-sex parents, and those led by single parents.”
GLAAD, another LGBT advocacy group, asserted in a statement shared with Politico that FRC and Focus on the Family’s inclusion in last week’s Education Department conference shows where Education Secretary Betsy DeVos really lies on LGBT issues.
“Secretary DeVos’s actions speak louder than her words,” the statement said.
Before her confirmation hearing in January, Mother Jones produced an article explaining that Education Sec. Betsy DeVos’ family, through its nonprofit organizations, had donated millions to social conservative Christian organizations. Full Report
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