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By Olivia St. John

A mentoring program named Boys to Men is holding its annual conference on the campus of the University of Southern Maine this Tuesday, but many of the workshops appear more focused on gaining converts to the homosexual lifestyle than shepherding young men into adulthood.

Boys ages 11 to 18 will participate in a day of training sessions and other activities along with their “adult male mentors.” While some of the activities seem innocent enough, several should raise a warning alarm to those who are concerned about the continued corruption of our young men. Many, if not most, of these boys come from single-parent households with mothers desperate to find healthy male role models for their sons.

Will they find them at Boys to Men? Examine the evidence:

   * In the keynote address, the attendees will be told that they should question the tendency “to think of gender as something natural and permanent.”

   * Another workshop entitled “Queer, Questioning, Quiet: Developing Gender Identity & Male Sexual Orientation” features speakers discussing their own sexual preferences.

   * One workshop presented by Planned Parenthood of New England teaches that “movies, TV and music have a lot to say about sex and sexuality.”

   * Still another workshop, “Exploring the Gender Box,” will use film clips and group discussion.

What can be expected from a male mentoring organization pushing homophilia as a valid lifestyle to minors as young as 11? Is this good modeling for boys growing up to be men and fathers?

Child psychologist William J. Maier expressed concern when the agency “Big Brothers” started accepting homosexuals as mentors for kids. In an article titled “Gay Mentors for Fatherless Boys,” Maier says that many of these children have never met their dads and “are desperate for male attention and affirmation.”

He says their moms do “the best they can, and desire more than anything else for their sons to grow up to be good husbands and fathers.” Maier adds that many of these boys are “emotionally fragile and suffering from what one sociologist has coined ‘father need’.”

Maier acknowledges that most homosexual men are not pedophiles, but notes that “many mainstream gay leaders … promote the virtues of sex between men and boys.” He quotes the San Francisco Sentinel as stating, “The love between men and boys is at the foundation of homosexuality.”

He goes on to quote another homosexual publication, The Guide, asserting, “Instead of fearing being labeled pedophiles, we must proudly proclaim that sex is good, including children’s sexuality. We must do it for the children’s sake.”

Then Maier asks: “Can pairing a boy, starving for male attention, with a gay man be a good idea?”

In the case of the upcoming Boys to Men conference in Maine, the question begging to be asked is this: Can pairing a boy, starving for male attention, with a male mentor in a workshop discussing perverted sex be a good idea?

“Single mothers are particularly vulnerable to the designs of the pedophile,” say authors of one manual on victim abuse for clergy and congregations. “This person will offer to be a friend to the child participating in sports, taking on hiking trips, etc. The mother, anxious for the children to have a male image, often readily goes along with these offers from ‘such a nice person.’ The fixated pedophile is ‘very good’ to the child as one might expect in pursuing a sexual experience.”

Does Maine’s Boys to Men provide an atmosphere that could attract pedophiles?

It is a national tragedy that so many children today live in one-parent homes where they do not see healthy modeling from a father and mother. According to Fox News, 24 million children, one out of three, grow up without their biological father in the home. For African-American children, the figure is two out of three.

Is mentoring the answer? Responsible fathers and mothers committed to lifelong marriage is the ultimate answer, but mentoring can make a difference for the fatherless, provided the focus is on the best interests of the child, not the adult.

A new mentoring initiative, Double Duty Dad, is described in a 2007 Fox News report as “designed to inspire good fathers to sign up for another ‘tour of duty’ as mentors to fatherless children.”

Roland Warren, president of the National Fatherhood Initiative asks, “… who better to mentor our nation’s fatherless children than our nation’s good fathers?” He continues, “They have been on the ‘front lines’ building a reservoir of fathering, relationship, and communication skills. And given the scope of father absence today, a father will not have to search far for a child to mentor. He can just look down and around, into his own circle of influence, and he will likely find a child in need of a father’s care and guidance – a nephew, a neighbor, a child from his church.”

But is that enough?

A boy best learns fathering and manliness by seeing a man in action within the context of a healthy marriage and family, and a fatherless child will always have a hole in his soul from being denied this opportunity. But a mentoring family can help fill the void.

Summer is coming. How can your family reach out to a young person in need?

Olivia St. John is a freelance writer with almost 20 years of experience as a home educator. Her work has been featured in several online publications, and she is currently working on a book promoting home education.