Pro-Family Groups Hail Veto of California's Sexual Indoctrination Bills
by Fred Jackson and Chad Groening
September 29, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Pro-family groups in California and across the United States are celebrating Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Thursday veto of two pro-homosexual bills. The bills were two of three pieces of legislation regarded by pro-family leaders as "sexual indoctrination bills," which would have, among other things, mandated pro-homosexual policy and curriculum changes in the state's schools.
Late yesterday, Scwarzenegger vetoed AB 606, a measure that would have required schools to enact policies promoting transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality under threat of having their state funding yanked; and AB 1056, which would have spent $250,000 to establish ten so-called "tolerance" schools promoting various kinds of sexual lifestyles. And earlier this month, the governor vetoed SB 1437, which would have changed school textbooks to require that they include positive presentations of transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality.
In statements on his action, Schwarzenegger said he rejected AB 606 because it was "irresponsible" to create a new state mandate on schools in light of existing laws regarding "discrimination and harassment" in school settings, and that he vetoed AB 1056 because it was "largely duplicative of current efforts to provide more avenues to teach about tolerance and human rights."
Reacting to news of the veto, California activist and grassroots organizer Randy Thomasson of the group Campaign for Children and Families (CCF) gave thanks to God "that children in California public schools will be protected from this direct assault for one more year." He congratulated "everyone who called and wrote the Governor" and who supported CCF in "this intense battle for children's minds and bodies."
Thomasson urges pro-family Californians to "Cherish the victory and pray to God that these sexual indoctrination bills never, ever return." The Christian activist notes that Democratic politicians and teacher unions "are relentlessly pushing to sexually indoctrinate kids," but he says Schwarzenegger's vetoes have delayed them for now, in response to election year pressure.
If the Governor is re-elected in November, Thomasson believes the three pro-homosexual bills will not be introduced. However, if Schwarzenegger is defeated, the CCF spokesman predicts that the liberal California State Legislature will likely bring the bills back.
California Families' Outcry Trumps Homosexual Activist Lobbying
Focus on the Family Action Chairman James Dobson is among the national Christian and pro-family leaders hailing the California official's action. "By vetoing these bills, Gov. Schwarzenegger has put parents, children, and teachers -- and their freedom of speech and religion -- ahead of the demands of homosexuals and their allies in the state Legislature, who tried to impose their agenda on public education," the Focus on the Family spokesman states. Dobson says his organization is pleased that the children of California have been spared the effects of these pro-homosexual bills. And his group is also pleased, the pro-family leader adds, that the Governor of California "has heard the outcry of countless parents who refuse to have their children subjected to propaganda contrary to their deeply held religious beliefs."
Karen England, Executive Director of Capitol Resource Institute (CRI), agrees that public outcry over what she calls "these outrageous attacks on students with moral beliefs" directly contributed to Schwarzenegger's decision to veto the bills. A Christian Newswire report quotes her as saying that the veto of these bills proves that "when citizens who care about protecting their religious and moral beliefs speak out, we can make a huge difference."
Meredith Turney, Capitol Resource Institute's Legislative Liaison, echoes this sentiment, noting that citizen activism in such matters is "extremely effective." She says Schwarzenegger's office received thousands of phone calls, e-mails, letters and faxes regarding the "triple threat" of the sexual indoctrination bills.
According to the CRI official, the priorities of the California legislature throughout the current session have been "completely out of order." Schools should be centers of learning, she asserts, but the State Legislature has instead "focused on advancing a radical social agenda in public schools."
For the moment, Turney observes, the current session's "triple threat" to California families has been defused. Hopefully, she says, in the next session the Legislature will make a priority of educating the state's students, rather than indoctrinating them.
Fred Jackson and Chad Groening, regular contributors to AgapePress, are with American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
