Articles in several newspapers have reported that the Christian Civic League of Maine said people from the Attorney General’s Office were telling kids not to take materials handed out at the recent statewide conference in Augusta. That is completely false.

The letter sent to our teams explained that the league would be demonstrating and we could accept or decline the materials, but we should be polite and respectful to these individuals.

The league also accused people from the AG’s office of boarding the buses that day and telling students not to accept the materials. This is completely false.

The representatives from the AG’s office explained that people would be offering us materials and we could accept or decline the information, but we should be polite and respectful. They explained the protesters had a right to be there and we had no problem with that.

We have a problem with this: The league seems to believe that civil rights teams have been encouraging homosexuality. This is far from the truth.

Our team has been working hard to eliminate bullying and hatred and to promote tolerance. We feel we are helping our school become a safer place.

As a result of these events, civil rights teams have encouraged students to participate in and appreciate the democratic process in our society. It is our responsibility as citizens to promote tolerance and practice truthfulness as a part of this process.

Paula Collier, on behalf of the civil rights team at Bath Middle School, Bath