California Pro-Family Forces Rally Against Homosexual Education Bills
by Bill Fancher
June 13, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Yesterday in Sacramento, California, more than 4,000 parents, grandparents and children rallied at the State Capitol against three bills that opponents see as sexual indoctrination legislation designed to promote homosexuality to school children.
Rally speakers thanked Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for promising to veto one of the bills, SB 1437, and urged him to pledge to do likewise with the remaining two pieces of legislation, AB 1056 and AB 606. One of the speakers, California activist Randy Thomasson of Campaign for Children and Families (CCF), told rally attendees that their government leaders need to hear the people's voices and that each citizen must stop being a spectator and "become a player in the battle for children's hearts, minds, and souls."
Parental rights do not end at the schoolhouse door, and California parents have to let their governor know how they feel about bills that "teach schoolchildren to see alternative sexual lifestyles as okay, as natural, and maybe even for them," Thomasson asserted. The pro-family activist went on to lead the crowd in loud chants that were "surely heard in the Capitol Building behind us," he says.
Immediately after the rally, the pro-family attendees entered the Capitol en masse to lobby the offices of Governor Schwarzenegger and key legislative officials. Thomasson says the massive crowd was made up of pro-family Californians, mostly Russian and Ukrainian immigrants, who "have the will power to do what's right" and who are willing to put feet to their faith.
Pro-family, Christian and conservative forces across the state and the nation remain hopeful that California's governor will keep his promise to veto SB 1437, which many believe is aimed at giving homosexuals more power in the state's education system. Opponents of the legislation hope Schwarzenegger will reject the remaining two bills as well, one of which would provide $250,000 to promote homosexuality in schools, and the other of which would withhold funding from districts that refuse to promote a homosexual agenda.
Pro-family analyst Bob Knight of the Culture and Family Institute (CFI) says homosexual indoctrination in California's schools would suffer a broken back if the governor follows through. Schwarzenegger "did a good thing when he vetoed the marriage bill, where the legislature tried to legalize same-sex 'marriage,'" Knight says, "and if he goes ahead and vetoes all three of these radical homosexual education bills, I think that will give a lot of people reason to look at him again."
Many conservatives had written Schwarzenegger off as a liberal Republican, which has cut deeply into his support, the CFI spokesman observes. He believes a veto of SB 1437 would go a long way toward mending fences and that the governor realizes it.
"This radical step by the California legislature to insist that textbooks be rewritten, even for kindergarteners, to promote homosexuality is a step too far, and I think the governor recognizes that," Knight asserts. "Parents don't want their children inundated with the idea that homosexuality is just like race or ethnicity and that famous figures in history were good because they happened to be gay or lesbian," he adds.
Knight credits parents across California with keeping up the pressure on Schwarzenegger and other state officials. The pro-family leader encourages these parents and other concerned citizens to keep up their push to combat homosexual indoctrination and prevent it from being mandated by liberal state legislators.
Bill Fancher, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
