SEL, Social Emotional Learning: children/adults acquire/apply knowl & skills 2 understand & manage emotions, set/achieve + goals, feel/show empathy, make/maintain + relationships & responsible decisions. (Website: Social and Emotional Learning Alliance for Indiana.) 1/7

Evangelicals, a minority (31%, Pew Center) in Indiana, want to control us. They oppose SEL & have an “event” scheduled on Saturday, Jan. 29, on “SEL in Schools + Medical Freedom in Courts and Medicine.” How do evangelicals address LGBTQ ppl? 2/7

Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among young people (CDControl, 2020), w/LGBTQ youth being four times more likely to seriously consider suicide, to make a plan for suicide, and to attempt suicide than their peers (Johns et al., 2019; Johns et al., 2020). 3/7

Tony Perkins, pres of the evangelical (FRC), says there's no correlation betw inacceptance of homosexuality (he calls it “abnormal”) & depression/suicide, but that LGBTQ students have higher propensity 2 depression/suicide because of internal conflict. WFYI, 10/26/10. 4/7

Amongst principles of SEL is learning “to put yourself in the shoes of another person who may be from a different background or culture from the one you grew up with. To act with empathy and in an ethical manner within your home, school, and community.” 5/7

Tolerance is not a long suit for the FRC. As Perkins wrote in June, 2020: “I'm not talking about promoting tolerance -- we've got to go beyond tolerance to love. And the only true way that can happen is when we're in the bond of Christ.” 6/7

So here’s the bottom line. SEL promotes empathy for others and self-awareness. That is a threat to people who advance a rigid belief in the Jehovah of the old testament. It appears SEL teaches tolerance. The only tolerance FRC seems to possess is for teen suicides. 7/7