Anti-Gay History Referendum Effort Faces Long Ballot Odds

As noted previously, the hate merchants of the Christian Right have launched an effort to gather enough signatures to repeal California's FAIR Education Act that mandates that the achievements and positive contributions of LGBT individuals - e.g., individuals like Michelangelo - be recognized and included in the state's public school history curriculum. Nothing undermines the false picture of LGBT individuals promoted by "family values" organizations and professional Christians quicker than having students know true and accurate history. Hence the hysteria against the FAIR Education Act. A San Francisco Chronicle article looks at the likelihood that the effort to repeal the legislation - the good news is that it looks like the opponents will be fighting an uphill battle. Here are some excerpts:

At churches, shopping centers, schools, and local tea party meetings in California, fired-up volunteers have started gathering signatures for a ballot referendum that would repeal the nation's first law requiring public schools to include prominent gay people and gay rights' milestones in school lessons.

Organizers of the Stop SB48 campaign_ Senate Bill 48 was the law approved by the California Legislature and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in July — are telling would-be voters the new mandate would inappropriately expose young children to sex, infringe on parental rights and silence religion-based criticisms of homosexuality. Those are talking points successfully used by proponents of Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage in California.

But so far, Mormon and Catholic church leaders and conservative groups who spearheaded the Proposition 8 campaign have not joined the effort to qualify the gay history referendum for the June 2012 ballot, leaving less-experienced Christian conservatives to lead the charge without the organizational prowess and funding to hire paid signature gatherers. Political operatives say they can't recall any citizens' initiative that made the state ballot without professional petition circulators in almost three decades.

Supporters have until Oct. 12 to collect 504,760 signatures from registered voters to qualify the measure for the ballot. Conventional wisdom among political consultants is that it will be difficult to meet the requirement with such a short window and only volunteers.

Still, no one is ready to write off the repeal attempt, especially if a donor steps up in the next few weeks to fund professional petitioners. If ever there was a measure that could galvanize the electorate, it's one dealing with gay rights and school children.

The new law takes effect Jan.1 but state education officials say it is unlikely to be fully implemented until at least the 2015-16 school year. It adds lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people, as well as European Americans and people with disabilities to the lengthy list of social and ethnic groups whose "roles and contributions" California public schools must include in California and U.S. history lessons and teaching materials such as textbooks.

The law also prohibits any instructional materials that "reflect adversely" on gays or particular religions. Because of the state's budget straits, the California Department of Education's timeline for adopting new textbooks has been pushed back until 2015. The work of revising the history and social studies curriculum framework that determines what students learn and at what grades has been suspended until further notice.

The group organizing the petition drive is the Capitol Resource Institute, a nonprofit organization that has fought gay rights bills, including measures that recognized slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk's birthday. Three years ago, the institute unsuccessfully attempted to qualify a referendum that would have overturned a law prohibiting discrimination in schools based on sexual orientation.

Like so many of the "family values" organizations, in addition to spewing religious based hatred, Capitol Resource Institute's main purpose is to provide a steady income to its paid staff. In the furtherance of that goal, no lie is to big and no anti-gay myth is too disgusting. It's all about money and promoting special rights for Christianists.

Oxnard School Shooting of Gay Student Called a Hate Crime

Yesterday I blogged about the murder of Lawrence King (pictured above left), a 15 year old gay student in Oxnard, California. Today's Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-oxnard15feb15,1,1414535.story) indicates that the murder was a premeditated hate crime. Moreover, the killer has been identified as a 14 year old student, Brandon McInerney (pictured above right). This sad event shows the need for recently enacted SB 777 the goal of which is described by it supporters as follows:

The achievement of a totally integrated society and calls upon Americans to eliminate, by statute and practice, barriers of---gender, sexual orientation---and genetic characteristics that prevent some individuals, adult or juvenile, from exercising rights enjoyed by others, including liberties decreed in common law, the Constitution, and the statutes of the United States."

Every child is entitled to a safe and positive school climate that provides for the emotional safety of the students; supports and recognizes each person's efforts to achieve his/her full potential; and provides the social and cultural acceptance every individual needs for high self-esteem."

Unfortunately, some find such goals reprehensible since they will limit the right of bigots to spew hate and discrimination. In the forefront of this opposition is Capitol Resource Institute ("CRI")which describes itself as an organization seeking to to "educate, advocate, protect, and defend family-friendly policies in the California state legislature and at local government levels." It further describes itself as a "watchdog for family values here in Sacramento." I guess killing those who are different is one of CRI's family values. They certainly work to create an atmosphere where those with an anti-gay mentality feel they have a license to harrass, attack, demean, and apparently kill gays. I can only wonder what impact "family values" organizations and/or homophobic churches had in warping the mind of Brandon McInerney.

Here are more highlights from the LA Times:

Ventura County prosecutors charged a 14-year-old boy with the shooting death of a classmate Thursday and said the killing in an Oxnard classroom was a premeditated hate crime.Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Maeve Fox declined to discuss a motive in the shooting or why prosecutors added the special allegation of a hate crime against Brandon McInerney, who was charged as an adult.

But classmates of the slain boy, Lawrence King, said he recently had started to wear makeup and jewelry and had proclaimed himself gay. Several students said King and a group of boys, including the defendant, had a verbal confrontation concerning King's sexual orientation a day before the killing.King, 15, was declared brain-dead and was expected to be taken off a ventilator late Thursday so organs could be removed for donation, said Craig Stevens, senior county deputy medical examiner.

McInerney was charged with premeditated murder with enhancements of use of a firearm and a hate crime.Because he is a minor, McInerney will remain in Juvenile Hall and be taken to the Ventura courtroom for court appearances, Fox said. He is being held in lieu of $770,000 bail.If convicted, McInerney could face 50 years to life. The hate crime enhancement would add another one to three years to his sentence.

Authorities said McInerney sneaked a handgun into school on the day of the shooting, but they have not disclosed how he got the firearm.McInerney's family lives in the south Oxnard neighborhood near E.O. Green school. Court records show that his father, Bill McInerney, has had brushes with the law in recent years.

The case is drawing attention from a growing number of gay rights groups, which said they would be watching developments closely."In the 15-year history of this organization, this is the first time we've seen the district attorney act this swiftly and clearly to say 'This will not be tolerated,' " said Jay Smith, executive director of the Ventura County Rainbow Alliance, a nonprofit group that advocates for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights."We're assuming that the hate crime component has to do with [King's] sexuality," Smith said. "Because of that, we are very eager to see the district attorney follow through."