If you've driven through any large city (and many smaller ones), you've probably been exposed to what's called a "red-light district." It is a seedy, run-down area of town with porn shops, bars and strip clubs – a place where anything goes. Few people would want one of these blighted areas in their backyard or want their children exposed to the filth and perversion there.

But most of us don't realize that we have a red-light district just down the street from our homes. And our children are not only allowed to be there, their presence is actually required by law.

Thanks to public apathy and the efforts of misguided state and federal lawmakers, activist judges and liberal teacher's unions, our nation's schools have become the new red-light district of the 21st century.

The proof:

 

• Gay-Straight Alliances, or GSAs, serve as illicit sex breeding grounds in more than 3,000 public schools across America. The GSA Network News links students to socials, seminars, conferences and other events enabling adult homosexuals to develop relationships with young people. A recent announcement seeks "queer youth models" who are males age 15-18 "or look under 18." Still another invites young people to a free movie screening described as being a "sexy, sensory treat." October's news featured a free "Queer Girl Retreat" for females ages 24 and younger for "two days of radical queer education about community, bodies and pleasure."

   

• GSA activists within public schools have inserted obscene material fit for a red-light district into both libraries and classroom discussions. Considered "sexual literacy," assigned books explore sexual perversions, including teen sex with adults. One book titled "The God Box" questions the "interpretation" of Biblical passages on homosexuality. Constitutional law attorney Matt Barber describes the irresponsibility as nothing short of "educational malpractice."

   

• This raw sexual material is now moving front-and-center into core subject areas. The GSA Network is offering a "New Campaign Guide," titled "Sharing Our Stories," to its middle and high school student clubs, designed to inject "LGBTQ curriculum into history, social science and literature classes."

  Active recruitment efforts even offer financial incentives for students. Several pro-homosexual groups are awarding $3,500 to the winner of a video contest on sex education. Entrants as young as 15 have two themes to choose from. They can either share their "sex ed experience" and show "how and why it sucked or rocked," or "redesign how sex ed could be delivered (and) imagine that anything is possible."

   

• Sexual abuse perpetrated by public school faculty or staff is shown by some studies to be as shockingly high as 5 percent, with sexual harassment figures soaring as high as 82 percent. A March 1995 research report by professors Charol Shakeshaft and Audrey Cohan, titled "Sexual Abuse of Students by School Personnel," determined that teachers sexually abusing their students are often "judged to be among the best teachers in a district and are very popular with students and parents." In situations where sexual abuse had clearly occurred, "superintendents rarely contacted the police or the district attorney's office, nor did they usually report the allegations to child abuse hotlines. …" In fact, "nearly 37 percent of the accused teachers continued to work in their districts, despite the belief by their superintendents that they had sexually abused a student."

   

• Sadly, even the largest education associations are on board with the abuse of children. The California Safe Schools Coalition promotes pro-homosexual textbook changes and is supported by both the California Teachers Association, or CTA, and the California School Nurses Association. The CTA represents more than 340,000 public school teachers and related staff.

   

• Last May, one public school speaker in Colorado best captured the message permeating today's public school culture by telling students to "have sex, do drugs, men with men, women and women, whatever combination you would like."

Perhaps Walter Williams, the distinguished professor of economics at George Mason University, said it best, "… the problem is the overall quality of people teaching our children."

He may have been referencing academic deficits, but it certainly appears that most of the nation's public school teachers also lack the moral character to stand up and be whistleblowers when it comes to exposing the red-light district for what it is.

In near exhaustion, some parents (a tiny fraction) spend voluminous amounts of time approaching school boards, pursuing lawsuits, reviewing textbooks, volunteering in schools and joining their local Parent Teacher Associations. Many in California are working on referendums affecting legislation that, according to the Campaign for Children and Families, unfortunately exert only a temporary victory since "more sexual indoctrination bills" will soon return. But are these large expenditures of time and energy gaining positive and lasting results?

Consider this: If you had concerns about a red-light district affecting children in your community, would you waste time reviewing street-side magazines and telling the purveyors you object? Would you work on a legislative referendum knowing that the pimps would return? Would you expect the entire porn industry to reform because of a lawsuit? Would you volunteer at a local adult business in an effort to have some positive influence?

Or would you do your best to see that the red-light district was shut down due to lack of business?