The statewide PTA also has taken note of an ad Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) placed in the National PTA magazine, and is encouraging individual groups to write the national office.

PFLAG's ad promotes its scholarship program, but some Bountiful PTA members view it as more of a political statement than an informational piece.

"We believe that the promotion of alternative lifestyles to the nation's youth is a breach of the purposes of PTA," states the Bountiful High PTA letter to the national organization. Allowing the advertisement "to appear in a publication supported by our dues monies" assumes Bountiful PTA's "support of 'gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning high school students and their supporters.' ''

Utah PTA executive board members share the Bountiful parents' concerns about lifestyle promotion.

"If you sit back and don't say anything - if you don't have a voice, it will just keep going," said Carmen Snow, state PTA president.

The work of the national PTA is all about children - not about lifestyle, said Anna Weselak, president of the national organization. And an ad in their publication would not reflect any kind of viewpoint. The organization has no policy relating to "lifestyle."

"We make it very clear we work with and partner with a lot of organizations and it doesn't mean we're endorsing them at all," she said.

The Bountiful situation is one of many her group handles.

"I know there are PTAs who may not agree with everything we do as a national organization, but it's a very big country and there's a lot of issues we need to deal with," Weselak said.

Meanwhile, the letter has outraged the gay and lesbian community in Utah. The founder of Bountiful High's first gay-straight student alliance, now a University of Utah student, described the piece as "really hateful and really disgusting."

"I know that Bountiful is a very LDS city and the parents think that since it's a very LDS city the whole school is safe - they think everybody follows Christ-like values," said Brendon Olsen, 19. "In real life you actually do have to worry about your sexual preference, sexual identity, gender identity, your race," suggesting those people struggle in the high school.

In explaining how homosexuality does not match the purposes of PTA, the letter states:

"Alternative lifestyles cannot foster intelligent cooperation of any sort between any groups interested in the education of children and youth because they are not scientifically sound. . . . Adults who care about the future of children and youth wisely guide and direct them, acting as voices of morality, decency and standards to counteract the popular but immoral trends of society. In Bountiful, Utah, we value, stand up for and celebrate the innateness of biological gender and the decency and tradition of heterosexual relationships."

"I don't want anything I say to come across as condemning people, individuals," said Rose Marie Murray, Bountiful PTA president. "But we do not support or encourage the promotion, the advertising, the encouraging of alternative lifestyles."

PFLAG said it had no agenda other than to advertise a scholarship.

"This was about getting an ad in print in a publication that clearly has an audience who would know who these potential students are, who would be interested in applying for these scholarships," said Jean-Marie Navetta, PFLAG National's communications director. "All children need to be valued. That's exactly what these scholarships do."

When Utah Pride Center Executive Director Valerie Larabee read the Bountiful letter, she was appalled.

"My immediate concern was for the safety of the kids at Bountiful High School," she said, noting that the letter had initially been posted online on the Bountiful High School Web site. "If you're the maligned population and your administration doesn't do anything to counter that kind of rhetoric, then you're not going to feel safe."

The letter was removed from the Bountiful Web site once Principal Ryck Astle realized it was there. A student had raised concerns about the letter, Astle said.

"We're there to take care of students," he said. "We're not there to advertise pro or against anything."

Larabee would like to help educate the school and PTA about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students and see the group apologize to the student body for posting the statement online.

"They can have whatever opinion they want, but having that in a public place where students have access to it is completely inappropriate," she said.

jlyon@sltrib.com