Far Right Calls For Exodus From Public Schools Over Gay History Law

The efforts of the Christofascists in California to repeal the newly enacted state law, SB 48, which requires the contributions of LGBT individuals to be included in the state's history curriculum have failed again.  And to listen to hate group leaders like Randy Thomasson (pictured at left) one would think the end of the world was about to occur.  God forbid that gays be portrayed in a positive light or that or contributions to society or roles in history be recognized.  So what are the Christofascists urging Kool-Aid drinkers to do?  Pull their children and grandchildren out of the California public schools so as to protect them from learning that (i) LGBT people exist and (ii) that we are not the alcoholic, drug addict perverts that folks like Thomasson depict us to be.  Of course such an exodus would also be a boon for lunatic "Christian" schools that oppose the teaching of evolution and promote batshitery in general.  Here are highlights from Thomasson's missive to the Kool-Aid drinking set:  

No SB 48 repeal, but children can still escape 'LGBT' role models

In light of the failure to qualify a ballot measure to circumvent a controversial state law, SB 48, which requires homosexual-bisexual-transsexual role models in California K-12 schools, SaveCalifornia.com -- which fought against this anti-family bill and has been continually urging parents to remove their children from the state government school system due to SB 48, seven other sexual indoctrination laws, and nine other major concerns -- hopes that even more parents and grandparents will now take action to protect their vulnerable children.

SB 48, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2011, mandates that children from kindergarten through 12th grade, in all "instruction in social sciences," admire "the role and contributions of...lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans."

"Parents and grandparents who don't want their children and grandchildren sexually indoctrinated with unnatural and unhealthy 'lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender' role models must decide now to exit the immoral, imploding, dysfunctional government school system and place their children in church schools or home schools," .  .  .  .  Because of SB 48 and seven other homosexual-bisexual-transsexual indoctrination laws, California K-12 government schools have become radical sexual indoctrination agencies."

Needless to say, Thomasson includes a pitch for sending money to his organization.  Also not surprisingly, Thomasson is an advocate of the "ex-gay" myth and supports the uniformly discredited use of "reparative therapy" to "change" gays.  Given Thomasson's irrational homophobia, one cannot help but wonder if he's not actually a self-loathing closet case.

New Faces of Hate

I noted yesterday that the number of hate groups has been on the rise, with ten (10) new anti-gay hate groups being registered by the Southern Poverty Law Center which also tracks the KKK, neo-Nazi groups and white supremacy groups. The entire list is here and it includes some names we've seen before who are finally being properly recognized for the anti-gay virulence. It's important to remember that mere statement of religious belief doesn't land one on this list. No, it takes persistent dissemination of lies, knowing using of discredited junk science and the deliberate distribution of anti-gay falsehoods to make the list. Joe Jervis has this to say about these nasty organizations at Joe.My.God:

Among the ten groups added today to the Southern Poverty Law Center's list of 27 anti-gay hate groups are three names that are very familiar to us here on JMG. Eugene Delgaudio (Public Advocate), Randy Thomasson (Save California), and Linda Harvey (Mission America). We can only hope that our relentless coverage of these evil, horrible people had some tiny role in their elevation to the most ignominious list in American culture. Congratulations you three pigs, you're now in the history books alongside the Ku Klux Klan.

California "Family Values" Leader - Gays Are "Less than Animals"

If one wanted any proof of the level of hatred and intolerance that passes now as normal discourse among Christianists and those in the Republican Party who give them the equivalent of political fellatio, one need look no farther that recent statements made by professional leech - I mean Christian - Randy Thomasson about LGBT studies at the collegiate level. While Thomasson was stupid/crazy enough to flat out describe gays as "less than animals," his mindset is in may ways the norm among Christianists and their evangelical allies in the Tea Party. Thomasson's latest gig living off the dissemination of anti-gay hate is Save California the mission of which is to protect and retain Proposition 8. Blogger Jeremy Hooper at Good As You looks at Thomasson's vile statements which were repeated in a piece on World Net Daily, a/k/a Wing Nut Daily. What triggered Thomasson's anti-gay screed is the fact that colleges and universities are increasingly offer classes and minors/majors in Queer Studies. Here are highlights from Wing Nut Daily quoting Thomasson:

California State University Fullerton became the latest CSU school to offer a Queer Studies minor this fall, and SaveCalifornia.com President Randy Thomasson, a prominent pro-family voice in the Golden State's Proposition 8 battle to protect marriage as the union between one man and one woman, argues there's an agenda behind the increasingly common courses.

Thomasson contends that the Queer Studies program is not education at all but a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT, indoctrination program that hides the facts about homosexual behavior and only serves the purpose of promoting unhealthy lifestyles.

"Teaching young adults who have already been taught lies about sexuality as children this non-academic 'academic' minor will train them to be homosexual-bisexual-transsexual activists that attack everything good and sacred in our culture,"

"This is not a true study [that sets out] to discover the unnatural, unhealthy behavior of homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality," Thomasson added. "Indeed, this is training up an immoral army of soldiers to attack real marriage, the natural family, and to rope more children into sexual darkness."

"This philosophy essentially turns man into an animal, but less than an animal, because beasts follow God's natural order of sexuality."

"There is no 'gay gene,' but there are thousands and thousands of former homosexuals who have left that lifestyle for good. Homosexuality is a behavior, bisexuality is obviously a choice, and transsexuality is obviously unnatural ('sex changes' require a scalpel)."

He explains that there is a common denominator found in individuals who practice homosexual behavior. "Many have been molested in their youth, or have had an estranged emotional relationship with their father or mother," said Thomasson, who used Chaz Bono as one example.

The Dangers of [Harvey] Milk

Nearly three decades after Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone were fatally shot by a fellow city lawmaker inside San Francisco City Hall, the California legislature is about to pass a bill that would declare May 22 of each year to be Harvey Milk Day, a day of "special significance" in which schools would be encouraged to commemorate his life. Milk joined the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1978 after losing two previous bids for office. The rookie lawmaker sponsored and passed a local gay rights initiative and helped defeat a 1978 ballot initiative to ban gays and lesbians from teaching in California public schools. Moreover, Milk exhorted gays and lesbians to fight oppression of all kinds.

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All too typically, the fundies are going crazy and the spittle is flying as the wingnuts do everything but writhe on the floor in a convulsion. Randy Thomasson, of Campaign for California Children and Families (has he ever had a real job?), and Benjamin Lopez of the Traditional Values Coalition have been leading the homophobic minions of Daddy Dobson et all bloviating over this development. In their view, gays are simple supposed to disappear from sight and, better yet, cease to exist. Both Right Wing Watch and the Sacramento Bee have quotes of statements made by these self-proclaimed "loving Christians." Here are some highlights from the Bee:

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"What significant contribution did Harvey Milk bring to the state of California – other than encouraging gay people to come out of the closet?" asked Benjamin Lopez of the Traditional Values Coalition. "This is yet another example of them trying to normalize and force acceptance of the gay lifestyle upon people," he said.

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Randy Thomasson, of Campaign for California Children and Families, which opposes AB 2567, said the bill is a new tactic in a long push to portray homosexuality in a positive light to kids. "Harvey Milk Day is the equivalent of having Gay Day at every school in the state," he said. "We're going to be forcing young children to be grappling with these sexual lifestyles," agreed Meredith Turney of Capitol Resource Family Impact, which also opposes AB 2567.

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Characterizing Milk as a civil rights leader based on issues surrounding homosexuality insults decades of struggle by racial minorities, Lopez said. "They've definitely hijacked the Freedom Train of the late '60s to benefit their own sexuality and their own cause," he said.

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Meanwhile, because of Milk's contributions as a gay rights pioneer, the non-religious fanatics at Time magazine selected him nearly a decade ago as one of the world's 100 most important people of the 20th century.

Kern County, California Supervisors Reject Anti-gay Marriage Proposal

The county supervisors for Kern County, California, where Kern County Auditor-Controller-County Clerk Ann Barnett announced her office would cease doing civil marriages for anyone following the May 15, 2008, California Supreme Court ruling that struck down bans on gay marriage, have rejected a proposed ordinance to ban gay marriages. The proposed ordinance was championed by Randy Thomasson of the Campaign for Children and Families, who Pam Spaulding has properly called a "wingnut media whore." Like Janet Folger, Mr. Thomasson holds himself out as an expert in many spheres even though he only holds a bachelor's degree in Radio/TV/Film, with a minor in Broadcast Journalism. Now he is pretending to be a constitutional scholar and attorney, apparently. Fortunately, even the conservatives on the county commission realized that adopting the ordinance would lead to litigation the County could not win. Here are some highlights from the Bakersfield Californian (note how the wingnuts believe that they are above the law):

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County supervisors rejected two gay marriage proposals Tuesday, one banning the unions in Kern, the other asking San Bernardino County to deputize people to perform civil ceremonies here. County Counsel Bernard Barmann said the anti-gay marriage ordinance proposed by a conservative coalition would violate the California constitution.

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Pastor and Kern High School District Trustee Chad Vegas said the sin of gay marriage is “self-evident” and supervisors should not be swayed by Barmann's opinion that their oath to uphold the state constitution required them to block the ordinance.

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“What some are asking us to do today we are not able to do,” said Supervisor Mike Maggard. “We would lose (in court). The county’s coffers would be open. We would have to pay plaintiff’s fees.” Randy Thomasson of the Campaign for Children and Families, which drafted the ordinance, hoped passage in Kern would help an effort to pass a statewide gay marriage ban in November.

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Following the decision, Thomasson issued a press release saying if Kern County supervisors had been at the real Alamo, “they probably would have turned tail and ran.”

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As for the County Clerk, unfortunately, the supervisors did not issue an ultimatum telling her to either do her job or resign. As public employees people like Ms. Barnett to understand that they are to comply with legal procedures and services to ALL members of the public and if their sensibilities are so fragile, then they need to find alternate employment. It's always about THEIR rights and to Hell with everyone else's.

Anti-gay Hysteria in California

I have posted in the past about the Christianists’ unhinged reaction to California SB777 which was signed into law and is aimed at making non-discrimination laws applicable in California public schools. Now they seem to be outdoing themselves in terms of hysteria and the dissemination of wild untruths based on this article from World Net Daily (not an exactly balanced news source to start with) that makes all kinds of wild and untrue allegations about the law’s effect. Note the comments of Randy Thomasson who has made a career out of frightening the sheeple so that they will give money to his organization and make it so Randy doesn’t need to ever get a real job. Likewise, Phyllis Schlafly, the mother of a gay child (I guess as a result of her poor parenting skills if you believe the reparative therapy propaganda) cannot pass up the opportunity to chime in. Here are some highlights (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=55808):

Only months after a new state law effectively banned "mom" and "dad" from California schools, 600,000 students soon could be following them out the door 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."

"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.

Members of the coalition include the Exodus Mandate, which advocates Christian education for children, as well as Eagle Forum, whose president, Phyllis Schlafly, said there has been a great campaign to reform public schools, but it's been unsuccessful.

"Second, the open collaboration between homosexual activists and many school districts, together with the overall level of crime and violence in the public schools, makes the public schools an unsafe place for our children," he said.