Protestors urge veto of pro-homosexual bills
Damian J. Anderson
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_fosterj_news/20000915_xnfoj_protestors.shtml
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 15 2000
WND Exclusive
Protestors urge veto of pro-homosexual bills
'Stop the Insanity' campaign decries 'indoctrination' of school children
By Julie Foster
Š 2000 WorldNetDaily.com
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Protesters outside the California State Capitol
yesterday urged Gov. Gray Davis to veto four bills that would provide for
"tolerance" field trips and curricula.
The rally in Sacramento, which attracted about 350 people, is the last
stop of Campaign for California Families' week-long "Stop the Insanity"
Tour, which has made its way through several cities, including San Diego,
Los Angeles and Fresno. Most of the rallies took place outside Davis's
district offices.
[Photo]
CCF Executive Director Randy Thomasson led the week-long "Stop
the Insanity" tour, which held its final rally at the California State
Capitol yesterday.
Campaign for California Families Executive Director Randy Thomasson led
the week-long tour and daily rallies, traveling up and down the state
with activists in a Fleetwood motor home.
Chanting, "Listen, Gray Davis; listen to the parents," and holding high
posters declaring, "To disagree is not a hate crime," protesters expressed
their opposition to Assembly Bills 1785 and 2000 by Antonio Villaraigosa,
D-Los Angeles.
[Photo]
Former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, who has mayoral
aspirations in Los Angeles, authored two of the four bills protested
at yesterday's rally.
AB 1785 would "require the State Board of Education to revise the
state curriculum frameworks and guidelines and the moral and civic
education curricula to include human relations education, with the aim of
fostering an appreciation of the diversity of California's population and
discouraging the development of discriminatory attitudes and practices,"
according to the state Legislative Counsel's digest.
Additionally, AB 1785 would require a course on "human relations"
as a prerequisite for receiving a teaching credential to teach
"limited-English-proficient pupils," and would define "culture" and
"cultural diversity" to mean "an understanding of human relations,
including," among other things, "recognizing and responding to behavior
related to bias based on race, color, religion, nationality, country of
origin, ancestry, gender, disability, or sexual orientation."
AB 2000 would establish a 13-member "California Commission on Human
Relations" at a cost of $300,000. The commission would be disbanded on
Jan. 1, 2006, unless the legislature decides to extend the commission's
life in coming years. Legislative Counsel, which drafts all bills
requested by elected members of both the Senate and Assembly, says
the bill would "among other things, make policy recommendations to the
Governor and the Legislature on the resources needed to meet specified
objectives in improving human relations in the state." An analysis of the
measure by Democrat staff at the State Capitol lists those objectives:
The commission's purpose is to "(a) assess state and local response in
the area of human relations, (b) identify prevention and multicultural
community-building strategies, (c) advise the Governor and Legislature on
changes in law or administrative practice that are necessary to improve
state and local response in human relations, (d) develop an initial
workplan within the first two years to accomplish these goals, and (e)
collaborate with associations of human relations organizations in the
development of the workplan and its subsequent implementation."
Families at the rally were also opposed to two more bills: AB 1931 by
Jack Scott, D-Pasadena, and AB 2421 by Carole Migden, D-San Francisco.
[Photo]
Assemblyman Jack Scott, D-Pasadena,
sponsored AB 1931, which provides for "tolerance" field trips for
school-aged children.
Should Scott's measure be signed by the governor, school-aged children
would be taken on field trips to "participate in educational programs
focused on fostering ethnic sensitivity, overcoming racism and prejudice,
and countering hatred and intolerance." "Hatred" and "intolerance"
are not defined in the bill.
"The bill does not require informed consent, and it's very sloppily
written," explained Thomasson. "Parents can think their son or daughter
are going away to learn something good when they'll actually be getting
homosexual indoctrination."
In Midgen's bill, unmarried, heterosexual couples over the age of 62
could qualify to register as "domestic partners," granting them some of
the rights and privileges previously restricted for married couples.
[Photo]
San Francisco Assemblywoman Carole Migden is one of two openly
homosexual members of the state legislature and author of both the
bills creating and expanding California's domestic partnership registry.
"The bills should never have gotten to the governor's office," said Dan
Salmon, who drove the RV.
Thomasson was joined on the tour by Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson of the
Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny, a national, non-profit
organization dedicated to "rebuilding the family by rebuilding the man."
Peterson, a black pastor from Los Angeles, joined the tour when it came
to Riverside.
"I have met many ex-homosexuals. I have never met an ex-black," he told
the cheering crowd. "This is not a civil rights issue. This is a moral
issue. It's about right and wrong."
[Photo]
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson said he spoke
for black Americans when he declared he takes "offense" at being "used"
by homosexuals who say theirs is a civil-rights issue.
Talking to WorldNetDaily, Peterson remarked, "Homosexuals are trying to
use black people by saying that this is a civil-rights issue, and it's
not. It's an offense to me to be associated with a perverted lifestyle. So
we're taking the stand and saying to them, 'You cannot use us,' and say
to Gov. Davis that, "If you vote for this bill, we're going to vote you
out of office when you run for president.'"
Davis is reputed to have presidential aspirations for the 2004 election --
an aspiration the activists say will not become a reality if the governor
signs the controversial bills. The grassroots movement in California has
already successfully lobbied the state legislature against more than a
dozen other homosexual-acceptance measures this year alone.
"People speaking out strongly with their voices, with their phone calls,
with their letters, in the year that is an election year, paid off," said
Thomasson. "And there were more homosexual-agenda bills that were defeated
than passed. That's why it's absolute insanity that these bills passed. It
goes against the will of the people; it goes against the parents, and
that's why we're asking Gov. Gray Davis to stop the insanity."
Thomasson referred several times to Proposition 22, which defined marriage
as an institution reserved only for "one man and one woman," and which
was overwhelmingly approved by voters. Of the 58 counties in California,
only a half-dozen managed to defeat the initiative.
Protesters carried signs that read, "Whose child is it anyway?" and
"Gov. Davis, we're watching your decision." Many of the signs were held by
non-English-speaking Russian immigrants, who made up a bulk of the crowd.
"These people here have come to this country expecting freedom, and they
are shocked and dismayed and very angry that the freedom to raise their
own children is being taken away from them. Most of these new immigrants
have their children in public schools," said Thomasson. "There's a
huge Russian community in Sacramento that have heard about these bills,
and they're very upset," he added.
"These new immigrants don't have enough money to send their children
to a private school, so they're very concerned about how these bills
will indoctrinate their children and grandchildren in public schools,"
Thomasson continued. "However, I will say if the governor signs these
bills, I believe that Proposition 38 will pass hands down because parents
will demand change -- radical change. They will want their children
back and they will want to send all children to a private school to get
away from this homosexual indoctrination."
Proposition 38 is California's voucher initiative, which will appear
on the ballot in November. It provides $4,000 per child to families who
wish to remove their children from government schools.
One rally attendee had a different explanation for the predominant
immigrant attendance yesterday.
"I think Americans have become apathetic to the political process," said
the women, who identified herself only as a "minister" of the Family
Federation for World Peace. Her group was represented at the event by
non-English-speaking Asians from the San Francisco Bay Area.
--
Damian J. Anderson <dam...@unification.net> http://www.unification.net