Parents are being warned to monitor their children’s engagement in service clubs and mentorship programmes which are increasingly being infiltrated by persons seeking to recruit vulnerable minors to join the surging LGBTQ community in the island.
The warning comes from Audrey Cole-Crossdale, a behaviour change strategist who worked for 15 years with MSMs (men who sleep with men) and sexually active adolescents. Her mandate during that period was to teach children how to use a condom, educate people about masturbation and show persons how to use sex toys among other things. However, she was so disturbed by some of the scenes she witnessed at several of the gay sex parties she attended over the years that she decided to leave that line of work.
“One of the most disturbing things was when I saw one of my friend’s husband there. You have soldiers there, politicians there, and very prominent personalities who we look up to, and we see as role models,” she said of her encounter attending these gay sex parties.
She has come to realise that some of those being considered as role models by parents are actually engaged in demonic lifestyles and are making use of every opportunity to recruit young children under the guise of mentoring them through programmes that might seem very advantageous to students.
“They go in to these schools, and they look for these young men and young girls and recruit them into these programmes,” she noted before adding, “I remember once, you had a particular NGO, from a particular sector, and I used to be the trainer, facilitator for some of these workshops, and when I counted, there were 60 boys; none of them were straight.”
Cole-Crossdale, who was one of several presenters during a forum hosted by the Association of Christian Communicators and Media (ACCM) and the Freedom Come Ministries International on December 31, said very deceptive means are being used to lure children to join the LGBTQ community.
“One thing with this community, they have the money, so they are well paid, and are well taken care of, and that alone will blind you, especially if you are carried away with the material things of this world,” she said.
“Parents, you better know what your children are engaged in. Know where you are sending them,” she cautioned, while pointing out that some of the boys seen in the company of known members of the community are underage boys. Most of these older men, she said, are well spoken and well dressed, and as a result, they are able to deceive persons that their intentions are pure.
The behaviour change strategist said she was traumatised by what she witnessed while interacting with members of the LGBTQ community, that she found herself turning to alcohol at one point to numb the pain. She eventually became a Christian and started speaking out against some of the activities she was being exposed to.
“We are sending our children to other people’s yards and we do not know anything about them. Because they have three storey house, they have remote gate, they have swimming pool, the Benz and the bimma, we say they are nice people,” she lamented.
She said some of the children exposed to this lifestyle eventually develop suicidal tendencies and become depressed. Some attack the men who recruited them when they realise that promises for material gain that were made are not being fulfilled. Others develop other destructive tendencies. She noted that some of these students are given scholarships and grants by some of their mentors, and so they feel obligated to continue with the lifestyle. Some are also encouraged by parents to continue because of the material gains.
“A lot of parents are putting up with the slackness. We know the children are living the dirty lifestyles, but because they are getting the money and they are getting treated to all-inclusive and they buy the gifts, we turn a blind eye,” Cole-Crossdale said.
Immediate Past President of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), LaSonja Harrison, shared similar concerns about the need for parents to be more aware of what their children are involved in at school.
“Indeed, we are supposed to watch the mentorship programmes, that our children are involved in. The service clubs, they are good on one hand, but you have to be careful and monitor your children,” said the educator.
She warned parents about being bewitched by the glitz and the glamour that comes with their children’s involvement in some of these clubs and urged them to follow their instincts if they are uncomfortable about something.
“For 2024, you need the spirit of discernment, because the enemy comes as an agent of light,” said Harrison, who is also a mother.
The former JTA president encouraged parents to attend their children’s Parent Teachers’ Association (PTA) meetings, monitor their children’s syllabus and get involved at their child’s school, so they are able to know what is happening and can express concerns when necessary.
“Teach your children the Word [of God]. When they go to these service clubs; when they participate in these things where everybody else is jumping up and joining the bandwagon, they are not going to be able to resist; they are not going to be able to challenge, because they do not have the Word,” she said.
Cole-Crossdale encouraged parents as well to get their children to start attending Sunday School again.
“Stop let them rule you, put on back your cap, take back control, take back authority, take back power. When you lose your cap, all sorts of things run into your house and take over,” she charged.
The battle for what children should be exposed to through school curriculum and extra co-curricular activities, has intensified in more developed countries, with several school districts insisting that children as young as four should be exposed to comprehensive sexuality education. It has become mandatory in several European countries, such as Belgium and Ireland, despite widespread protests from parents. A recent ACP-EU agreement signed by Jamaica could see it being introduced in local schools as well.
Several parents are now pushing back, as their roles are being threatened by school administrators who are insisting children should be able to assume their preferred genders and alter their names without parental consent. Several parents took to the streets in Canada last year to protest the infiltration of the gender ideology in schools. Some have openly opposed the Justin Trudeau Liberal government’s LGBT policy. “Lets save our innocent children from #grooming and pedophiles infiltrating our public schools. Our most valuable assets of any nations. All of us will be held accountable on different levels except for those who speak up or take action,” one of the protesters wrote on September 20, 2023 during a mass protest dubbed “The Million March for the Children”
Added to the LGBTQ push in public schools, The Satanic Temple is also insisting that Satanic Clubs be allowed alongside Christian clubs at public schools from the elementary level. They have since filed and won lawsuits against institutions that have sought to block them from activating these clubs.