Fundies Give Up SB 777 Repeal

The wingnut failures are coming almost daily lately. Save California, the right-wing group attempting to repeal California's anti-bullying legislation, SB 777, has announced that they are giving up in order to concentrate on fighting gay marriage.

Via California Catholic Daily:

In a June 21 email to supporters, Karen England of the Save Our Kids Campaign, the organization pushing the initiative, said the group has decided to concentrate instead on passing the so-called Marriage Amendment, which would enshrine in the state’s constitution the definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman.

“Since the start of the Save Our Kids initiative campaign, the political landscape in California has shifted significantly,” said England in the email. “The California Supreme Court's decision redefining marriage has turned the state's attention to the traditional marriage initiative on the November ballot. In the last month, our staff has worked overtime responding to the marriage decision and contemplating the future for traditional marriage in our state. After much prayer, consideration and consultation we have made the decision to suspend the Save Our Kids campaign to allow our staff and supporters to dedicate themselves to the Marriage amendment.”

HomoQuotable - Ben Patrick Johnson

"Dear colleagues at the Capitol Resource Institute,

"I am a firm supporter of freedom of speech, and therefore I support yours, even if it in direct contrast with my own. However, we all use the media and the internet to spread our message: and with no hubris intended, I advise you -- if you continue your efforts, we will BURY you ... with public opinion, with media, and ultimately with legislation. EQCA passed NINE bills last year to protect basic dignities and we have every intention of yours going down, as have others who oppose decency and human rights.

"Today, over 150,000 Californians will receive the following message via email blast, MySpace, YouTube, and iTunes -- in other words, we're everywhere. I invite you to subscribe to my daily webcast, not because you agree with what I/we have to say, but for your own information ... so you can see what thousands of Californians are hearing and seeing about you." - Ben Patrick Johnson, Equality California activist, author, and the gravelly voice of every movie trailer you see.

I have no idea why Johnson refers to the wingnuts as "colleagues." The Capitol Resource Institute responds:

"For a group that purports to expand tolerance and civil rights, Equality California is not practicing what it preaches. This type of language evokes images of Communist leader Nikita Khrushchev pounding his shoe on the podium of the United Nations when he declared that Communism would bury America. The irony is not lost on us – Communists squelch all opposing speech, just as the modern 'intolerance' movement seeks to silence all opposing viewpoints.

"Johnson then threatens 'we have every intention of yours [group] going down, as have others who oppose decency and human rights.' It is shameful that a group that represents itself as promoting tolerance and civil rights would stoop to the very tactics it accuses CRI of using. Not once has CRI personally attacked opponents in such a degrading and vicious manner."

(Via - WingNutDaily)

Hackers Crash Anti-Gay Site

WingNutDaily is claiming that pro-gay hackers have repeatedly crashed the site of Capitol Resource Family Impact, which is working to reverse California's anti-bullying law, SB777.

Staff members for a prominent pro-family organization that has been key to the battle against California's mandated homosexual indoctrination programs for public schools are working off-site while an investigation is conducted into threats that someone would arrive at the office and "punish" them, officials confirmed today.

The investigation into the threats follows several days of aggressive attacks on the website for Capitol Resource Family Impact, which has restored the site multiple times, only to see another hacker attack disable the location. Karen England, chief of the organization that has played a prominent role in a challenge to the implementation of SB777, a legislative plan to mandate only positive messages about homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality in public schools, confirmed the web attacks, and the subsequent threat.

"Last night CRI's website was hacked again by the same vandals that have been attacking our website and e-mail servers for the last several days," she said in a notification to supporters. "One of our internet savvy supporters has been investigating the source of the hacks and discovered that several hacker websites are taking credit for the attack on our organization.

Hacking the sites of our enemies, while it may be temporarily satisfying, is contrary to the ideals of the kind of open society we are trying to build. Don't do it, people.

Huge Setback For CA Wingnuts

In a stunning blow to California's rightwing, an appeals court judge has ruled that parents who homeschool their children must have teaching credentials.

The ruling arose from a child welfare dispute between the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and Philip and Mary Long of Lynwood, who have been homeschooling their eight children. Mary Long is their teacher, but holds no teaching credential.

The parents said they also enrolled their children in Sunland Christian School, a private religious academy in Sylmar (Los Angeles County), which considers the Long children part of its independent study program and visits the home about four times a year.

The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that California law requires parents to send their children to full-time public or private schools or have them taught by credentialed tutors at home. Some homeschoolers are affiliated with private or charter schools, like the Longs, but others fly under the radar completely. Many homeschooling families avoid truancy laws by registering with the state as a private school and then enroll only their own children.

Yet the appeals court said state law has been clear since at least 1953, when another appellate court rejected a challenge by homeschooling parents to California's compulsory education statutes. Those statutes require children ages 6 to 18 to attend a full-time day school, either public or private, or to be instructed by a tutor who holds a state credential for the child's grade level.

Yesterday's ruling is applauded by the state's largest teachers union. Last year California passed SB777, an anti-bullying measure aimed at protecting LGBT students. Since then the Christian right-wing has bleated loudly about the "homosexual agenda" and urged parents to remove their children from public schools for homeschooling. The new ruling by the appellate court effectively outlaws homeschooling in California, although the case will surely be reviewed by the state Supreme Court.

Shot For Acting Nelly

A 15 year-old high school student in Oxnard, California is it critical condition today after being shot by a classmate who taunted him for his feminine mannerisms and for wearing make-up.

A student at an Oxnard junior high school shot another classmate Tuesday in front of two dozen other students who were settling into their first-period English class, police said.

The 15-year-old victim was rushed to St. John's Regional Medical Center, where he was initially listed in critical condition. By day's end, his condition was described as improving.

"He's gone from very critical to a little bit better," said Oxnard police spokesman David Keith. "He's actually communicating with personnel at the hospital."

The boy's alleged assailant ran from the E.O. Green Junior High School and was apprehended nearby a few minutes later by Oxnard and Port Hueneme police officers.

The shooting was not gang-related, said Keith, who added that the school had not been a particular trouble spot before.

"It looked like it was personal between the two of them," he said, declining to elaborate.

Some students said the victim, whose name was not disclosed, sometimes wore makeup and feminine jewelry and had declared himself gay. They said he was frequently taunted by other boys and had been involved in an argument with the alleged shooter, an eighth-grader who also was not named, and others Monday.

During the lunchtime argument, one of the boys shouted at Tuesday's victim, "You better watch your back," said one student who witnessed the encounter.

I'm standing by for the Freepers to announce that the kid had it coming. Yeah, SB777, giving those damn queer kids "special rights." To be shot.

SB777 Battles Continue

WingNutDaily is claiming that 10% of California's public school students may be leaving for private and home schooling due to the state's anti-bullying bill, SB777.

Only months after a new state law effectively banned "mom" and "dad" from California schools [JMG: It doesn't.], a total of 600,000 students could follow because of what has been described as the "repudiation" of 2,000 years of Christian morality, according to leaders of a new campaign assembling education alternatives.

The campaign is called California Exodus, and is being headed by Ron Gleason, pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Yorba Linda, who said while the country excels in social, economic, scientific and political accomplishments, it "gets low grades on the education of its children."

The issue is the state legislature's adoption of Senate Bill 777, which requires only positive portrayals of homosexual, bisexual, transgender and other alternative lifestyle choices.

"First, the law allowed public schools to voluntarily promote homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality. Then, the law required public schools to accept homosexual, bisexual, and transsexual teachers as role models for impressionable children. Now, the law has been changed to effectively require the positive portrayal of homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality to six million children in California government-controlled schools," said Randy Thomasson, chief of the Campaign for Children and Families and one of those who originally called for an abandonment of public schools.

"To rescue their children, loving parents need to find an alternative to government schools, and every church needs to make it a priority to help parents be in charge of their children's education again," he said.

He has condemned public school districts as "no longer a safe emotional environment for children" under the new law, signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, that will introduce children as young as kindergarten to the homosexuality and other alternative lifestyle choices.

Blah, blah, blah. And of course, over on Free Republic this story is being linked to photos from the Folsom Street Fair. Because SB777 not only bans "mom" and "dad", it requires a fisting & flogging slideshow for 3rd graders. That 600,000 figure is completely imaginary, but I fully support any Jeebus-folk in pulling their spawn from public school.

SB 777 Repeal Bid Fails

Wingnuts in California have failed to deliver the necessary petition signatures to challenge SB 777, the public schools anti-bullying law signed into effect by Gov. Schwarzenegger last year. "Save Our Children" needed to turn in 434,000 signatures by last Friday, but claims they could only find 350,000 people willing to sign their names to hate.

Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors: "Opponents of SB 777 have been spreading misinformation and outright lies for months, and whether they actually collected 350,000 signatures, we will never know. What is clear is that they failed. Despite their vicious attack, Californians stood with us and said 'no' to turning back the clock on civil rights and protecting all youth from discrimination in our schools."

By the way, if "Save Our Children" sounds familiar, that's because it's the same name Anita Bryant used in her successful 1977 campaign to overturn Miami's gay rights ordinance.

HomoQuotable - Sheila Kuehl

"When society tells a young person ---- in subtle or, often, not so subtle, ways ---- that they are less valuable, perhaps because of the color of their skin, their religious practices or the gender of the person they want to take to the prom, the whole society suffers.

"When we mandate that every young person must go to school, we must also provide the safety and dignity of an education free from harassment, discrimination and violence. That is why, over the last several years, I have authored several laws that strengthen civil rights protections for students and improve school safety. This year, as a simple cleanup measure, I authored SB 777 to include civil rights protections that have already been required for the last eight years by law to be more clearly spelled out in California's Education Code.

"Seeing an opportunity to confuse their supporters by pretending the bill added protections to the code, the opposition has invented a number of inflammatory and false claims about the operation of SB 777. A bit of clarity, not to say truth-telling, is in order." - California State Senator Sheila Kuehl, in the North County Times, a San Diego area newspaper. Kuehl is the author of SB 777, the bill which provides protections for LGBT students. Kuehl follows the above quote with a dissection of the Christianist lies being spread about SB 777.

War On California's SB777 Continues

The Christofascists are really losing their shit over California's SB777, the law intended to stop discrimination against LGBT youth in public schools. Schwarzenegger signed the bill into law earlier this year.

From WingNutDaily:

HOMOSEXODUS!
Revealed: 'Gay' plans to target 2-year-olds
5th-grade students could be handed 'Coping With Sexual Orientation'

Children as young as two years of age are in the bull's-eye of coming changes in California's school curriculum, which "gay rights" advocates now admit will alter the very foundation of information presented to public school classrooms.

A list of school resources, sponsored by a homosexual-advocacy group called Safe Schools Coalition, suggests that for those who are only two years old, there's "Felicia's Favorite Story," which tells how she was "adopted by her two mothers."

The list also promotes a book called "Are You a Girl or a Boy?" by Karleen Jiminez, a resource for children ages 4-8 when advocating homosexuality, bisexuality, transgenderism and other alternative lifestyle choices. It's described as "A sweet book about a gender-different kid."

Other resources being promoted in light of California's adoption of SB 777 as state law include books authored by officials for Planned Parenthood and the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network. One book, called "Tackling Gay Issues in School," is for kindergarten through grade 12, and offers a "rationale (for the inclusion of les/bi/gay/trans issues in school)." It features recommended "extracurricular" activities for classes.

The promotion of such materials has coincided with the recent admission by Equality California, a homosexual advocacy group that worked to have SB 777 passed by lawmakers and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, that the bill really does edit all school curricula in California.

For months while California lawmakers discussed Senate Bill 777, opponents worried about its usefulness in censoring public school curricula to include a pro-homosexual bias. Supporters, however, steadfastly maintained that it only clarified anti-discrimination laws already on the books. They still hold that stance, with statements this week from both Schwarzenegger's office and Equality California.

Sabrina Lockhart, a spokeswoman for the governor, insisted it is a "technical bill" intended to clarify anti-discriminations laws. "It simply takes anti-discrimination language used in other areas of [state law] such as employment and puts that in the education code," she said. And Ali Bay of Equality California told WND the new law "doesn't require that any specific curriculum be included in California's classrooms."

Technically it is correct that the law doesn't "require inclusion." But opponents say it does now ban anything that can be "perceived" as being discriminatory, up to and including references to "mom" and "dad" or "husband" and "wife."

"The terms 'mom and dad' or 'husband and wife' could promote discrimination against homosexuals if a same-sex couple is not also featured," said Meredith Turney, the legislative liaison for Capitol Resource Institute.

"Parents want the assurance that when their children go to school they will learn the fundamentals of reading, writing and arithmetic – not social indoctrination regarding alternative sexual lifestyles. Now that SB 777 is law, schools will in fact become indoctrination centers for sexual experimentation," she said.

The new law demands, "No teacher shall give instruction nor shall any school district sponsor any activity that promotes a discriminatory bias because of a characteristic [including perceived gender.]"

And Karen England, a spokeswoman for Capital Resource who is a primary organizer behind the Save Our Kids plan to put the issue before voters and ask them to reject it, noted that even Equality California's own materials are assuring constituents the law will ban curriculum that fails to meet the pro-homosexual standard cited.

"All along, Capitol Resource Family Impact has maintained that the true agenda behind SB 777 is to infuse school curriculum with pro-homosexual, and other controversial lifestyles, propaganda. The proponents of the bill countered that this was not true and the law would merely 'streamline' anti-discrimination laws for schools. Based on our 20-year experience with the homosexual lobby, we know that a common tactic is to maintain innocence and then utilize vague language to push a radical agenda. We expected the same of SB 777 and we are already witnessing the same pattern," England said.

"Last week the sponsor of SB 777, homosexual rights group Equality California, released their 2007 legislative scorecard. The scorecard featured a description of the each of the bills the group sponsored or considered homosexual-friendly," she said.

"For the first time, the group admitted that SB 777 'prohibits curriculum that is discriminatorily biased against LGBT people.' Understand that the entire time the group was pushing this bill through the legislature, they vehemently denied that it would affect curriculum. After the bill had passed, they now reveal their true agenda," England said.

And the lovely Freepers roll in:

-"I offer a personal anecdote. I have a homosexual nephew. His tactic on his own nephew, aged three, started by educating him in his front yard to the fact that "snails have no sex." Then he bought the boy a toy vacuum cleaner. Eh, homos start recruiting early. Even in their own families."

-"Homosexuals target children because it's highly unlikely that 12 year old boys have AIDS."

-"I have pointed out to 8th graders that most fashion is designed by gay guys who like teenage boys. That's why the models are built like....teenage boys, and why the fashion styles don't work on the average girl. The "EEEW" factor goes up considerably when they realize I'm right..."

Of course, the easy answer is that if you want to teach your kids to hate, take them the fuck out of public school.

UPDATE: Rex Wockner points us to his October story on SB 777, in which he interviewed Geoff Kors, the head of Equality California:

"This bill takes existing law and puts it in every part of the Education Code," Kors said. "It simply makes it really clear for administrators and puts the categories directly into the code rather than referring you [elsewhere]. Nothing is being changed legally."

Kors said anti-gay activists "are always looking for the issue they can use to rile up their base and, with the same-sex marriage bill vetoed, this is what they're going after."

"They are absolutely making up things that this law ... does not do," he said. "We have had seven years to see what these protections did or did not do.

"The Legislature did not pass, and the Republican governor did not sign, a bill that prohibits saying there are mothers and fathers," Kors said. "And even if the right wing repeals this law, all these exact protections still exist, because they're in a law from 2000."