SAVECALIFORNIA.COM NEWS RELEASE
May 14, 2009 -- For Immediate Release
California State Senate Passes 'Gay Day' for Public Schoolchildren
Democrat-controlled body pushes homosexual lifestyle as K-12 role model
Take action: Urge Governor Schwarzenegger to veto SB 572
Sacramento, California -- SaveCalifornia.com, a leading California organization protecting parents' rights and children's innocence, is very concerned that the California State Senate has passed SB 572 to institute "Harvey Milk Day" -- essentially "Gay Day" -- in every California public school, affecting children as young as five years old, with no parental consent required.
Thursday morning's vote was 24 to 14 (three more than needed for passage). The "yes" votes came from all 23 Democrats present and voting, with the additional "yes" vote of Republican Abel Maldonado. The rest of the 14 Republican senators voted "no," although not one Republican rose up to speak against it.
"SB 572 could mean homosexual-bisexual-transsexual pride parades in public schools every May 22," said Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, which has been generating citizen phone calls and emails against the bill. "SB 572 pressures elementary, junior high and high schools to 'conduct suitable commemorative exercises' in support of the radical sexual agenda of Harvey Milk. Where are the boundaries? Where are the definitions? This in-your-face, anything-goes, homosexual-bisexual-transsexual indoctrination is definitely not what parents want for their children."
A statewide poll by Survey USA in early March found that a large majority of Californians oppose creating "Harvey Milk Day." When asked, "Do you think Harvey Milk's birthday should? Or should not? Be recognized statewide as a 'day of significance?'" 69 percent answered "should not" and only 19 percent answered "should." A majority of Democrats, independents, Republicans, liberals, moderates and conservatives each held that "Harvey Milk Day" should not become a statewide "day of significance," in schools or otherwise.
"Sadly, the California Legislature seems hell-bent on promoting the homosexual lifestyle as a role model for children," said Thomasson. "It's absurd -- the government school system teaches children not to smoke or use drugs, yet SB 572 would teach children as young as kindergarten that homosexuality is good and healthy and maybe even for them. That's just not true. Homosexual and bisexual behavior causes up to 82 percent of all HIV transmissions in California." (Source: California Department of Public Health, Office of AIDS, HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report March 2009)
Last year, the same bill (then numbered AB 2567) passed the Democrat-controlled Legislature, but was vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. "Governor Schwarzenegger should veto SB 572. This inappropriate bill tramples parental rights and has nothing to do with academic excellence," Thomasson said. "It's telling that SB 572 is supported by the anti-family teacher unions, which hold so much power and have so much disdain for protecting the children they claim to serve."
The Legislative Counsel's Digest for SB 572 states, "This bill would provide that the Governor proclaim May 22 of each year as Harvey Milk Day, and would designate that date as having special significance in public schools and educational institutions and would encourage those entities to conduct suitable commemorative exercises on that date."
The text of SB 572 states that "On Harvey Milk Day, exercises remembering the life of Harvey Milk and recognizing his accomplishments as well as the contributions he made to this state" should be conducted; specifically, "all public schools and educational institutions are encouraged to observe...and...conduct suitable commemorative exercises."
Under SB 572, what will children in government schools be taught and how will children's minds be "exercised?" The answer is whatever Harvey Milk believed or is said to have believed:
- Religion is dangerous: "More people have been slaughtered in the name of religion than for any other single reason. That, my friends, that is true perversion." (Harvey Milk, speaking at a homosexual rally in 1978. Source: http://thinkexist.com/quotes/harvey_milk/)
- All doors of sexual experimentation must be opened: "If a bullet should go through my head let that bullet go through every closet door." (Harvey Milk. Source: www.sacbee.com/111/story/1112044.html)
- If have homosexual feelings, you must declare yourself gay or lesbian: "Milk believed strongly that coming out was the responsibility of every gay man and woman." (Source: http://everything2.com/node/153707)
- Gay and lesbian marriages are good and natural: "So much of the spirit represented with the Supreme Court's decision last week is the spirit of Harvey Milk and his legacy manifesting today in real change." (San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, shortly after the California Supreme Court created "same-sex marriages" in May 2008. Source: www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/22/BA3B10PV5C.DTL)
SB 572 comes on the heels of school sexual indoctrination laws signed into law in 2007. When fully implemented, SB 777 and AB 394 will teach children in California government schools to support homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality via instructional materials, programs and activities, and school "safety" guidelines. In addition, the California State School Board in 2008 implemented SB 71, requiring public schools that provide sex education to promote unmarried sexual activity with no restraints other than mutual consent.
"SB 572 instituting an official 'Gay Day' in public schools will further motivate parents to remove their children from the anti-family public school system," Thomasson said. "We're encouraging parents to visit RescueYourChild.org to learn how to rescue their children while they still can. With public schools becoming sexual indoctrination centers, homeschooling and church schools are no longer parental options, they're parental imperatives."
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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.
