The California State Legislature is at it again — trying to coerce schoolchildren to accept homosexuality and overturn voters’ support for traditional marriage.
Those outrageous measures are among the five bills that are waiting for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature. We need your help to persuade the governor to veto all five bills.
TAKE ACTION
Please contact Gov. Schwarzenegger and ask him to veto these bills. You can contact his office at (916) 445-2841 or by e-mail at www.govmail.ca.gov.
For more information on the bills and other issues affecting families in California, go to the California Family Council’s Web site at www.californiafamily.org.
Bill Summaries – updated Sept. 14, 2007
SB 777 – Homosexuality protected/promoted in schools
This bill, introduced by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, would prohibit any teaching or other activity that would “reflect adversely” on any person because of sexual orientation.
In effect, it will force all public school teachers to present a one-sided message about homosexuality, bisexuality and transgender issues. It would also ban lessons, discussions and activities that reflect unfavorably upon one’s sexual orientation and would end any open discussion about the issue of homosexuality in public classrooms effectively silence the Christian voice on the issue.
Then to compound this bias, the bill calls for all facets of education to be stripped of any negative messages about homosexuality.
The final meaning of the bill, should it become law, would be settled only by the courts, and in California the courts can be crazy. It was a California federal court (the Ninth Circuit) that found the Pledge of Allegiance to be unconstitutional because it mentioned God.
AB 43 – Gay marriage
Openly gay legislator Mark Leno of San Francisco has introduced a bill that would legalize gay “marriages.” This bill is like the one that Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed in 2005. Leno’s bill is expected to pass the Legislature and Gov. Schwarzenegger has already vowed publicly to veto it.
AB 43 insults the California voters who approved a proposition in 2000 that says “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” That language passed with more than 61 percent of the vote.
AB 102 – change in domestic partnership laws
California lawmakers also want to make it easier for domestic partners to share a last name. Such a change is possible now through the legal system, but AB 102 would make the process a simple checking of a box.
AB 14 – Adding even more special protection for homosexuals to state laws
Called the Civil Rights Act of 2007, this bill would create a protected class for sexual orientation in 51 anti-discrimination provisions.
If AB 14 becomes law, the state would not allow churches and parachurch organizations — such as soup kitchens and homeless shelters —to use public facilities or public funds if they “discriminate” against homosexuals.
AB 394 – More school discrimination policies
This bill would take oversight of anti-discrimination policies away from the local districts and give it to the State Department of Education.
In 2006, the Legislature passed a very similar bill (AB 606) but Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed it.
According to the California Family Council, AB 394 is not about ending all discrimination. It is about redirecting “hate” toward anyone who objects to acceptance of homosexuality. That kind of hate is already evidence in some California classrooms. A few years ago, a northern California school conducted “tolerance circles” in which high school students who answered correctly were allowed to step inside the "tolerance circle."
At the end of the class only two students remained outside the circle. The reason? Each had said they objected to homosexuality as a result of their religious beliefs. The teacher and the other students then ridiculed the two students. AB 394 would encourage that type of discrimination.
SB 443 – Allowing HIV positive sperm donors
Update: Gov. Schwarzenegger signed this into law on Sept. 11.
This bill, introduced by openly lesbian Senate Democrat Carol Midgen, permits men to donate sperm even if they are infected by syphilis, hepatitis or HIV. There is no guarantee that a child conceived in this manner would be free of any of these infections.
Sponsors of the bill claim HIV-positive males should be allowed to become fathers, as long as the mother consents.
If you or someone you know is inclined to agree, consider the recent hoopla over the man who had a rare form of TB and boarded an airplane. Airline and health officials were concerned about the man might infect others on the plane. Just as those people did not have an opportunity to give informed consent to sit next to a TB patient, the baby created by an HIV-positive sperm donor has no say, either.
(Paid for by Focus on the Family Action)
