SAVECALIFORNIA.COM NEWS RELEASE
October 11, 2009 -- For Immediate Release
SaveCalifornia.com's SB 572 Veto Request Letter
Background for Governor's action on 'Harvey Milk Day' for schools
Sacramento, California -- With today being the Governor's deadline to sign or veto "Harvey Milk Day" (SB 572) for California schoolchildren, SaveCalifornia.com is publicly releasing its final veto request letter:
October 9, 2009
The Honorable Arnold Schwarzenegger
Governor of California
State Capitol, First Floor
Sacramento , CA 95814
RE: SB 572 Veto Request
Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,
As advocates for children and families, we strongly support the right of parents to exempt their children from sexually-explicit and controversial instruction and activities in public schools. There are several reasons why you should again veto "Harvey Milk Day" for schoolchildren:
1. No parental permission: SB 572 contains no exemption process for parents, which is why the overwhelming number of California parents oppose the bill. In addition, most parents oppose the notion of public schools promoting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender agenda under the guise of "Harvey Milk Day." What's more, four out of five Californians, according to the March 2009 KPIX-TV poll (attached), do not believe Harvey Milk deserves a statewide "day of significance."
2. Affects five year olds: Harvey Milk Day would promote the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender agenda of Harvey Milk to up to six million children in California public schools, children as young as kindergarten. These children aren't old enough to be taught about sex, but now they'll be taught about same-sex "marriages," cross-dressing, and homosexual desires?
3. Overly broad: SB 572 is written so broadly, the pro-Harvey Milk "suitable commemorative exercises" could include gay-pride parades on campus. The "exercises" are not defined, so the sky is the limit. Under SB 572, what will children in government schools be taught and how will children's minds be "exercised?" The answer is whatever Milk believed or is said to have believed. There is no definition or limit to SB 572's "exercises," which could include on-campus gay-pride parades, cross-dressing contests and mock gay weddings, or anything else Milk supported.
4. A dishonorable personal life: The indisputable and very negative facts about Harvey Milk were reported by gay journalist Randy Shilts, author of The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk (1982). This uncontested biography reports that:
1) Harvey Milk was a sexual predator of teenagers
2) Milk advocated having multiple sexual relationships at the same time
3) Milk promoted lying to get ahead.
Therefore, because SB 572 requires schoolchildren to admire the life and values of Harvey Milk, elementary and secondary schoolchildren could be taught that adult-child homosexual "sex" is OK, having multiple sexual relationships at the same time is OK, and telling a very public lie is good if it "gets you ahead." This instruction, whether taught directly or indirectly, is definitely not supported by parents.
A SEXUAL PREDATOR OF TEENS
Randy Shilts' authoritative book detailed Milk's sexual relationships with a 16-year-old, a 19-year-old and other young men:
"...sixteen-year-old McKinley was looking for some kind of father figure...At 33, Milk was launching a new life, though he could hardly have imagined the unlikely direction toward which his new lover would pull him." (pages 30-31)
"It would be to boyish-looking men in their late teens and early 20's that Milk would be attracted for the rest of his life." (page 24)
" Harvey always had a penchant for young waifs with substance abuse problems." (page 180)
" Harvey confided one night that at twenty-four, Doug was the oldest man Harvey had ever started an affair with." (page 237)
ADVOCATED MULTIPLE SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS AT THE SAME TIME
Explaining Milk's many flings and affairs with teenagers and young men, Shilts writes how Milk told one "lover" why it was OK for him to also have multiple relationships simultaneously:
"As homosexuals, we can't depend on the heterosexual model...We grow up with the heterosexual model, but we don't have to follow it. We should be developing our own life-style. There's no reason why you can't love more than one person at a time. You don't have to love them all the same. You love some less, love some more -- and always be honest with everybody about where you're at. They in turn can do the same thing and it can open up a bigger sphere." (pages 237-238)
PUBLICLY LIED FOR YEARS ABOUT HIS MILITARY CAREER
In his political campaigns, Milk repeatedly and publicly claimed he was kicked out of the military for his homosexuality. This lie was told over and over to deceive and create undeserved sympathy:
"He had not suffered this disgrace, he told a later campaign manager, but he knew the story would make good copy. If anyone said something to Harvey about his fondness for such stunts, he would gesture wildly as launched into a lecture. 'Symbols, symbols, symbols,' he insisted. Sure, he had not been kicked out of the military...The point of the story was to let people know that service people routinely do get kicked out. Besides, he once confided, 'Maybe people will read it, feel sorry for me, and then vote for me.'" (pp. 78-79)
Governor, out of respect for parents' wishes to supervise their children's upbringing, please veto SB 572.
Sincerely,
Randy Thomasson
President
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SaveCalifornia.com is a leading West Coast nonprofit, nonpartisan organization representing children and families. We stand for marriage and family, parental rights, the sanctity of human life, religious freedom, financial freedom, and back-to-basics education.
