by Matthew Cullinan Hoffman
BRAZIL, May 27, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has agreed to eliminate a very explicit United Nations approved program designed to convince children and adolescents to accept homosexual behavior and transsexualism, following threats from Protestant and Catholic legislators to block new legislation in protest.
The program, which was sponsored by by the Brazilian Ministry of Education and referred to as “Schools without Homophobia,” included an “anti-homophobia kit,” with videos showing a cartoon of a child masturbating while fantasizing about sex with a man, adolescents who enter into homosexual relationships, and a “transsexual” student who calls himself “Bianca.”
In the original video, the “Bianca” character reportedly becomes sexually aroused at the sight of another male student urinating in the bathroom, although this scene was apparently removed later, along with an another image showing two girls kissing on the lips.
The program also supplied students with games, toys, and musical lyrics, all designed to normalize homosexuality and other sexual deviations. Despite the minor modifications made to the materials, they have continued to spark outrage from parents and pro-family activists.
Under massive pressure from a high-profile Internet campaign and from legislators, Rousseff capitulated, and one congressional ally reported that she regarded the program as “horrific” and “the end of the world.”
“I’m not in agreement with the kit, because I don’t think that it defends non-homophobic practices,” Rousseff said publicly. “I didn’t watch the videos, but I saw part of one of them on television and I don’t agree with it.”
“We cannot interfere with the private lives of people,” Rousseff continued. “There will not be authorization for this type of policy of defending A, B, C, or D. However, the government can teach that it is necessary to respect differences and that you can’t use violence against those who are different from you.”
Before retracting the materials, the government had boasted of the approval it had received for the program from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which had judged the videos “suitable” for the target audience, which is reported to reach children as young as 11 years of age.
“The material of the Schools without Homophobia project is suitable for the age groups and the affective-cognitive development for which it is targeted,” UNESCO wrote, according to a Brazilian government website.
The cancellation of the program, which has caused controversy in Brazil for over half a year, has made headlines across the country. Revelations that the government has spent over a million of dollars of public money on the program have also added fuel to the fire.
The defeat of “Schools without Homophobia” represents another major blow against the socialist government’s long-standing anti-life and anti-family policies.
The Brazilian Labor Party, led by the popular presidents Luiz Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, his handpicked successor, have consistently advocated the decriminalization of abortion and policies that would punish those who speak out against homosexuality. However, Rousseff found her presidential aspirations threatened last year when pro-family forces emphasized her party’s record on human life and family issues, forcing her to sign an agreement not to promote her party’s agenda.
Public opinion polls, as well as polls of congressional representatives, have also indicated a strengthening of the pro-life and pro-family positions in the Brazilian electorate.
Although Roussef has been careful to indicate her rejection of the program, her Women’s Policies minister has taken a more defiant tone.
“The program for confronting homophobia is a definitive program. It will not suffer setbacks. The government of President Dilma [Rouseff] is committed to the issue of rights. The president has demonstrated that in all of her acts,” said chief minister Iriny Lopes.
Rousseff’s education minister Fernando Haddad promised to return to the schools with new materials in a matter of months, after a further consultation with “specialists.” The program reportedly will be reformulated by the same homosexualist non-governmental organizations that created the current program.
Julio Severo, one of Brazil’s most influential pro-family activists, is warning that the administration will continue to push the homosexual agenda, and urges Catholics and Evangelical Protestants to continue fighting.
“Whether or not Dilma has retreated, the Catholic and Evangelical leadership should not retreat,” writes Severo, adding that “above all, it is necessary to unmask and combat the campaign that, in the name of fighting against ‘homophobia’ is combating the Christian majority of Brazil and the mothers and father who want to protect their children form every type of immoral assault.”
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