Central Arkansas Library System Defends LGBT Programs

LGBT,

On Friday the Executive Director for the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) issued a statement defending two pro-LGBT programs scheduled at libraries in Little Rock.

An event called “LGBTQ+ Teens: Know Your Rights” at the Main Library downtown originally was scheduled to take place last week, but has been postponed.

An event called “Make Your Own Pronoun Pins,” where teens craft pins displaying their preferred pronouns, is scheduled to take place at Terry Library in Little Rock on Monday.

Both events are geared toward youth in central Arkansas.

In a statement issued Friday, CALS defended the programs, noting that “neither of these programs is ‘sexual’,” and that the programs are funded in part by the Arkansas LGBTQ+ Advancement Fund at the Arkansas Community Foundation, the Alice L. Walton Foundation, Olivia and Tom Walton through the Walton Family Foundation, and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation.

In March Family Council reported that the Arkansas Community Foundation awarded a grant to the Central Arkansas Library System to set up a Gender and Sexualities Alliance (GSA) for teens and young adults. The money is part of a $1 million fund that the Walton Family Foundation created to support pro-LGBT groups in Arkansas.

Even though the programs at the Central Arkansas Library System are not overtly “sexual,” they still promote LGBT ideology to children at a public library.

Libraries don’t have to form Gender and Sexualities Alliances or organize pro-LGBT seminars to be successful. They can house books and promote reading and education without these types of events.

These activities are simply unnecessary.

Below is a full copy of the statement CALS issued on Friday.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Young Men Now Outnumber Women in Church

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In September of 1989, Rev. Billy Graham preached to tens of thousands of people gathered at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock over the course of several nights.

In one of his sermons — which you can listen to hear — Rev. Graham shared these words:

Christ did more to liberate women than any other person who ever lived. Women in many cultures today are exploited … It was Jesus Christ who treated women with honor and courtesy in a nation in which they were despised.

Theologians have noted over the centuries that the gospels list several different women as some Christ’s prominent followers during his earthly ministry and in the New Testament Church.

For many years church in attendance in America has been higher among women than among men. Today, however, young women seem to be leaving the church.

Christianity Today reports that women born after 1990 — women in their 20s and early 30s today — are no more likely to attend church than men their age, and women born after 2000 are actually less likely to attend church than men.

Among Americans age 18-25, 49% of women identify as non-religious, compared to just 46% of men.

John Stonestreet at the Colson Center recently addressed this trend, writing,

Battered by church controversies and scandals, and shaped by cultural messages, women are increasingly heading for the exit. In doing so, they are rejecting a faith that, in the words of my colleague Glenn Sunshine, has done “more to improve the status of women than any other historical force.” The Church is meant to enable and empower men and women to live as image bearers, according to God’s design.  

In this day and age, there are even many believers who think they can follow Christ without the church.

But being part of a local group of believers is an important part of discipleship. Christians help each other grow in the faith.

Put simply, men and women both need the church.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Three-Judge Panel Leaves Arkansas’ SAFE Act Blocked for Now

Transgender, ,

On Thursday a three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Arkansas’ Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act will remain blocked while a lawsuit over the act progresses.

The decision prevents the State of Arkansas from enforcing the SAFE Act for the time being.

The Arkansas Legislature overwhelmingly passed the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act last year.

The SAFE Act is an excellent law that protects children from sex-reassignment procedures, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones.

Researchers do not know the long term effects that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones can have on kids.

This summer the U.S. Food and Drug Administration added a warning label to puberty blockers indicating that they can cause vision loss and swelling of the brain.

Stories like these are part of the reason many experts agree that giving puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children is experimental, at best.

That is also why a major hospital in Sweden announced last year that it would no longer administer puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children.

Unfortunately, the ACLU and others filed a lawsuit against the SAFE Act last summer, before the law officially took effect.

Several business interests and the Biden-Harris Administration also joined the fight against Arkansas’ SAFE Act.

U.S. District Judge James Moody temporarily blocked the state from enforcing the law while the lawsuit progresses. The lawsuit is set to go to trial in October.

Arkansas’ Attorney General asked the Eighth Circuit to lift his order so that the state can start enforcing the law right away.

Judges James B. Loken, Jane Kelly, and Katherine M. Menendez heard arguments in the case last June.

President George H. W. Bush appointed Judge Loken to the Eighth Circuit, and he has served there since 1990.

Judge Kelly is one of President Obama’s appointees, and has been on the court since 2013.

Judge Menendez was appointed to the federal district court by President Biden last year.

On Thursday the panel ruled that the state cannot enforce the law at this time.

This is a very bad ruling. Children should not be subjected to sex-reassignment procedures. Researchers do not know the long term effects puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones can have on kids. The panel’s decision today fails to protect the children of Arkansas.

The SAFE Act is commonsense legislation that protects children. It received overwhelming support from the Arkansas Legislature. Most voters in Arkansas support the law as well, according to polling by Talk Business & Politics and Hendrix College. Arkansans understand this is a good law. Our federal courts should as well.

Arkansas’ SAFE Act protects children. We believe federal courts ultimately will recognize that fact and uphold this good law as constitutional.

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