TT Director Discusses Mix It Up on CNN

Teaching Tolerance Director Maureen Costello appeared yesterday on CNN [2] to discuss national Mix It Up at Lunch Day and to address the American Family Association’s (AFA) bizarre attack on the anti-bias program.

The SPLC-sponsored program, now in its 11^th year, simply encourages schoolchildren to step out of their cliques and sit with someone new in the cafeteria for just one day.

“What we want to have is a positive environment where every child who walks into a school feels that he or she belongs there and they feel welcome,” Costello told CNN host Carol Costello (no relation).

The AFA has launched a campaign urging its supporters to contact schools and demand they drop out of the program. Last week, AFA spokesman Bryan Fischer claimed on CNN [3] that Mix It Up is an attempt to indoctrinate children into the “homosexual
lifestyle” – even going as far as to compare the Oct. 30 event to poisoned Halloween candy. Fischer [4] previously has blamed gay men for orchestrating the Holocaust. 

As for Fischer’s ludicrous theory about Mix It Up, Costello said, “It is just a bizarre preoccupation … you know Bryan Fischer sees the homosexual agenda in a dish of ice cream.”