In an item headelined "Chicago children march in gay pride parade...or not," Pete Chagnon of OneNewsNow reported on 6/26/2009 that, as noted in yesterday's blog, the Chicago Tribune reported that Chicago's Nettlehorst Elementary School will be the first public school in the community to march in the city's gay pride parade. According to the Tribune, the school's fence is adorned with thousands of green, blue, purple, and red strips of fabric -- each hand-tied by a student with a sign by the gate stating that the elementary school will "be the first Chicago public school to march in the city's gay pride parade" and that the school believes that family means everybody. OneNewsNow contacted Nettlehorst Elementary School and requested an interview with school principal Cindy Wulbert. However OneNewsNow was informed that she was unavailable, but the person who answered the phone told OneNewsNow that the school does not endorse the gay pride parade; neither is it participating in the event. She also told OneNewsNow that some of the parents of students were participating in the event with their children but that, again, the school is not supporting that effort. When asked about the strips of fabric, OneNewsNow was told that they do not exist. Laurie Higgins with the Illinois Family Institute was also told that the school was not participating in the event, but that parents and students who are participating can identify themselves as being a part of Nettlehorst elementary. {Here's the obfuscation--what's the difference? WSW.] Higgins was also informed that the sign referred to in the Tribune did not exist. "I'm sorry; this just sounds very fuzzy to me. I find it difficult to believe that the reporter who quoted the sign imagined that the sign was there. And this morning I was told that they were participating, and now we're told that they are not participating, but that the parents who are marching can actually identify that they are going to Nettlehorst," she notes. "So I think that it's a distinction without a difference. It sounds to me like they caught a lot of flack today, and they are trying to find a way to wiggle out of this." As far as the participation by some of the parents and students in the gay pride parade, Higgins notes that some of the parents are homosexual, but she believes that is no excuse to expose young children to such an event. "These parades are noted for nudity. Sometimes there are open sex acts. They have cross-dressers in these parades. Any parent who takes their child to this is not a responsible parent, she contends. "To me this is the equivalent to child abuse; it's exposing their kids to live pornography, and I find it very shocking." Higgins notes that it would be a pleasant surprise if nudity laws were enforced at this event.