Teaching Tolerance director discusses National Mix It Up at Lunch Day on CNN, addresses American Family Association attack

Teaching Tolerance Director Maureen Costello appeared yesterday on CNN 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 11th 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 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 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.”