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Homosexual Bills Threaten Freedom, Children in California 7/31/2002 Homosexual Bills Threaten Freedom, Children in California If it is true that “As California goes, so goes the nation,” then pro-homosexual bills currently wending their way through Sacramento indicate that America and its youth are headed for big trouble. Pro-family advocates cite three bills in particular, which they say would: Battle-weary family defenders are fighting hard in California to expose and derail down the homosexual juggernaut in an atmosphere of growing apathy and relentless media bias in favor of the “gay” lobby. AB 1080: Attacks Businesses, Marriage and Conscience The text of the bill, as currently amended, reads, “A state agency may not enter into any contract for the acquisition of goods or services with a vendor or contractor who does not offer benefits to employees with domestic partners that are equal to benefits offered to employees with spouses, and benefits to the domestic partners of employees equal to benefits offered to spouses of employees.” Penny Harrington, legislative liaison for Concerned Women for America of San Diego and Imperial Counties, summarized the effects of AB 1080 as follows: This measure is particularly egregious in that it appears to contain no conscience clause exempting an employer who has deeply-held moral or religious beliefs. It’s pretty ironclad. With few exceptions, like a public health emergency or a sole bidder, the contract for goods or services will go only to a contractor or vendor who has elected to provide domestic partner benefits. This makes it pretty difficult for people of faith who want to provide services, because state contracts are quite lucrative. AB 1080 will be heard Monday, August 5, in the California State Senate Appropriations Committee. Harrington said that once a bill gets through its policy committees and to Appropriations, change seldom occurs. She said the good news is that because AB 1080 “was gutted and completely changed” after it had already passed the Assembly [as a Cal Grant bill], if it clears the Senate on Monday, it will have to go back to the Assembly for concurrence — thus delaying its passage and providing further opportunities for pro-family groups to oppose it. AB 2651: FOSTER PARENT FOUL-PLAY According to Harrington, “A recent amendment has also removed one of the only positive provisions, which was to have required the foster care system to make every effort to place children in homes where they could continue to practice their faith. Now, it will be up to social workers to determine whether children are old enough to ‘consider himself or herself affiliated with a particular religion.’” AB 2651 also calls for “Educating gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender youth in foster care about their sexuality and sexual health, including prevention of HIV or AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.” In a letter to the Appropriations Committee last month, Traditional Values Coalition chairman and founder Rev. Louis P. Sheldon and legislative analyst Benjamin Lopez asked if “medical information [would] be given to foster youth as a precaution” on such homosexual acts as rimming, “whereby one partner licks the anus of another, [resulting] in the ingestion of fecal matter, which leads to intestinal disease or infection.” The letter went on to discuss the dangers of other homosexual perversions, such as “fisting” and “golden showers.” Said Lopez: AB 2651 is a heavy-handed attempt to dictate the views and beliefs of foster parents, forcing them to accept blatant homosexuality and transgendered lifestyles as a condition to serving as foster parents. Liberal Democrats who dominate the legislature are hell-bent on criminalizing the religious beliefs of Christians while sanctioning sexual ‘lifestyles’ in the law. The real people that suffer from this bill are the foster children who are going to find themselves without any more normal foster parents because of this bill. SCA 9: DEMOCRAT DP BILL DISGUISED AS TAX BREAK Even though the measure was introduced by homosexual activists at the San Francisco Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center in April, some Republican senators were apparently blinded to its pro-“gay” incrementalism due to its appeal as a “tax benefit.” As a result, on May 30, six Republicans joined 22 Democrats in voting for the bill, allowing it to pass by a margin of only two votes. The bill now requires a super-majority (2/3) vote to pass on the Assembly floor. The nation’s largest homosexual and transsexual pressure group, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), says SCA 9 “would afford domestic partners the same tax benefits as married spouses.” Speier stated, “We can no longer define family in the traditional way and the state should not be judging individuals’ living arrangements.” Senate Constitutional Amendment 9 is supported by homosexual activists and opposed by more than a dozen pro-family organizations. Thomasson says, “SCA 9 must be defeated, or significantly amended with the ‘Protect Marriage, Protect Co-Owners Plan’ to turn this bad bill into a good bill. Republican legislators have been presented with the Protect Marriage, Protect Co-Owners Plan to significantly amend SCA 9 to remove the marital benefit for unmarried persons who live together.” OTHER BILLS Other bills scheduled to be heard in Appropriations next week include AB 2216, which would give a surviving domestic partner the right to inherit a specified share of a partner’s separate property if a partner dies without a will and AB 2197, which would expand eligibility for Medi-Cal benefits to include HIV-positive individuals who are not considered disabled. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO CIVIL UNIONS? However, the issue is far from dead. During a “town hall” meeting last year at the San Diego Lesbian and Gay Men’s Center, Koretz vowed to keep re-introducing civil unions legislation each year until it passes. The concept of such a bill, he said, would be to “provide legal protections that are similar in nature to marriage at all levels of the law but without some of the traditional concepts of marriage, particularly the more conservative religious elements. It would affect everything that we can affect at the state level.” CCF’s Thomasson summarized: “If Davis wins again for governor, expect civil unions to be signed into law, period.” |
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