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SB 48: California’s FAIR Education Act Is This Year’s Prop 8. Is It DOA?

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SB 48, California’s FAIR Education Act, is this year’s Prop 8. You have absolutely no idea how incredibly organized the anti-gay hate groups are on this issue, and we will lose if and when it gets to the ballot box (and it will.) Don’t take my word for it. Take the word of the head of Equality California (EQCA), Executive Director Roland Palencia. “The prospects are not good if this gets to the ballot,” Palencia said. “I am not under any illusion.”

Why?

Because, just like with Prop 8, the anti-gay hate groups, and religious and faith-based groups have all teamed up against SB 48 and are organizing around hate and under the false guise of “protecting our children!”

Via the Bay Area Reporter:

Right now the anti-gay groups that spearheaded Proposition 8 are gathering signatures to get the SB 48 referendum on the ballot next year. They have until October 12 to collect 504,760 valid signatures. According to EQCA and its coalition partners, much of that work is currently taking place in churches – no surprise there – but the prospect of hired signature gatherers sprouting up outside big box stores in the final push is very real.

We noticed something on the EQCA conference call, which included coalition director Andrea Shorter and communications director Rebekah Orr: there’s no robust unified strategy to keep the referendum from qualifying or what to do if it does. There needs to be one message to meet the opposition. If we’ve learned nothing else from the Prop 8 fiasco, it’s that our side was disorganized, afraid, and timid.

Palencia later clarified his comments, but still maintains – correctly – that any ballot fight over SB 48, which would require public schools to include factual, age-appropriate information about the contributions of LGBT people and people with disabilities, will be extremely difficult. Orr acknowledged that the coalition has yet to find the “silver bullet” on overcoming the fear factor that the homophobes are quite adept at instilling in straight parents, especially mothers.

Yesterday, The New Civil Rights Movement showed you this video of a California Pastor evicting gays and lesbians from a church meeting about SB 48. He actually told them to exit the building. He also claimed, “this is not about us hating anyone or being homophobic or guilty of bigotry.” Yeah, right.

But that was just the result of sinister forces hard at work.

Forces like The Watchmen Ministry, who are actively working against SB 48. How actively? They’ve even produced a secret set of videos training pastors how to get enough ballots signed to put a referendum of SB 48 on the ballot. No, seriously. Secret videos on YouTube, but not listed so you can’t find them through ordinary means. “This video is unlisted. Only those with the link can see it,” it says, right at the top of the page.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=whDKj_3UBnU%3Fversion%3D3%26hl%3Den_US

And then there’s the head of the certified anti-gay hate group, Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins — who is extremely anti-​science — but actually has the temerity to claim that SB 48 will take time away from the teaching of science. Which is a lie, just like all the other lies he’s told about SB 48. Like, it’s expensive. In truth, it won’t cost the state a dime. Fortunately, EQCA is calling Perkins for what he is: a liar with ties to the KKK. Watch:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=jiQ96NNRLwY%3Fversion%3D3%26hl%3Den_US

And then there’s Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel in Chino Hills, California. Pastor Hibbs apparently has made it his mission to stamp out California’s FAIR Education Act, SB 48. He says,

“The indoctrination of our children regarding gay and lesbian, transgender lifestyles and practices as it relates to state history, as it relates to US history, and as it relates to our own economy… This new teaching, frankly, comes against the very ministry of Jesus Christ, the word of God, and you and I.”

“If we don’t stop it, this will be the indoctrination of our children, on our watch…There’s no opting out for your student, they must take this course, there’s no getting away from it.”

Watch:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=wAdR6ChYLXM%3Fversion%3D3%26hl%3Den_US

And there’s Paulo Sibaja of the conservative “family” organization, Capitol Resource Institute. Back in July, GLSEN wrote, that “there are still some anti-LGBT activists who would like nothing more than to shove the LGBT Civil Rights Movement back into the closet.”

“Look no further than Paulo Sibaja, President of the socially conservative Capitol Resource Institute. CRI has recently submitted paperwork asking California voters to overturn the FAIR Education Act – a law passed by both Chambers of the California state legislature and signed by the Governor. Mr. Sibaja argues the FAIR Education Act “will teach children as young as five to not only accept but also endorse transgenderism, bisexuality, and homosexuality.” But you and I both know that nothing could be further from the truth! Much like teachers already do with the African-American Civil Rights Movement, and the Women’s Suffrage Movement, the FAIR Education Act ensures that students in California will be taught about the many contributions made to America by LGBT Americans such as Harvey Milk, James Baldwin, Virginia Woolf and Del Martin.”

And there’s right wing extremist Randy Thomasson, of the infamous group, Save California, who in May started, “Protect Your Children From Harvey Milk Gay Day In Schools.” Thomasson calls the FAIR Act “the most in-​your-​face sexual brainwashing yet.”

Thomasson writes, falsely,

“On July 14, 2011, Democrat Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 48 into law. This means that, beginning in January 2012, children as young as kindergarten in California K-12 government schools will be forced to admire “gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Americans” as their personal role models. It’s because SB 48 mandates that the unnatural and unhealthy lifestyles of both historical and contemporary persons who engaged or currently engage in homosexuality, bisexuality, or transsexuality be positively portrayed to impressionable children through “instruction in social sciences.” It’s the most in-your-face sexual brainwashing yet. And there’s no opportunity for parents to opt-out or opt-in their precious boys and girls.

“SB 48 is the EIGHTH SCHOOL SEXUAL INDOCTRINATION LAW on the books.”

Thomasson’s group adds,

RESCUE YOUR CHILD:
Parents, you only have one shot at raising your child. Don’t delay.
Click here to visit our website RescueYourChild.com where you will:

1) See all 10 reasons to rescue your children, plus understand the 8 bad laws
2) Learn how to afford a solid private school or church school
3) Discover how manageable, inexpensive and rewarding homeschooling can be

And includes a link to this flyer (image, partial, above.)

And, of course, there’s Stop SB 48 itself. One-stop anti-gay, anti-education, anti-fact shopping.

So, will SB 48, a law that merely is dedicated to telling the truth about the LGBT community, along with the African American community, the disabled, and other minorities, actually go into effect in January?

Was Prop 8 stopped? No.

Did Maine’s marriage equality law ever go into effect? No.

“The FAIR Education Act would ensure that LGBT people are included in instructional materials, which studies have shown is linked to greater student safety and lower rates of bullying,” writes Equality California. “The FAIR Education Act would require that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans are included and recognized for their important historical contributions to the economic, political, and social development of California. Specifically, this legislation would add LGBT to the existing list of underrepresented cultural and ethnic groups, which are covered by current law related to inclusion in textbooks and other instructional materials in schools. This inclusion will help to ensure that students get a fair and accurate picture of the people and events that have shaped our society, and that fair and accurate portrayals of LGBT people are no longer” excluded from classroom discussions. The FAIR Education Act will bring classroom instruction into alignment with non– discrimination laws passed by the California Legislature and adopted by the State Board of Education a decade ago, by prohibiting the adoption of discriminatory instructional materials and textbooks.”

Right now, it’s up to you. Don’t let it be up to the Tony Perkins, Randy Thomassons, and Paulo Sibajas of this world.

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OPINION

Noem Defends Shooting Her 14-Month Old Puppy to Death, Brags She Has Media ‘Gasping’

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2 hours ago

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April 26, 2024

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Republican Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota, a top potential Trump vice presidential running mate pick, revealed in a forthcoming book she “hated” her 14-month old puppy and shot it to death. Massive online outrage ensued, including accusations of “animal cruelty” and “cold-blooded murder,” but the pro-life former member of Congress is defending her actions and bragging she had the media “gasping.”

“Cricket was a wirehair pointer, about 14 months old,” Noem writes in her soon-to-be released book, according to The Guardian which reports “the dog, a female, had an ‘aggressive personality’ and needed to be trained to be used for hunting pheasant.”

“By taking Cricket on a pheasant hunt with older dogs, Noem says, she hoped to calm the young dog down and begin to teach her how to behave. Unfortunately, Cricket ruined the hunt, going ‘out of her mind with excitement, chasing all those birds and having the time of her life’.”

“Then, on the way home after the hunt, as Noem stopped to talk to a local family, Cricket escaped Noem’s truck and attacked the family’s chickens, ‘grabb[ing] one chicken at a time, crunching it to death with one bite, then dropping it to attack another’.”

READ MORE: President Hands Howard Stern Live Interview After NY Times Melts Down Over Biden Brush-Off

“Cricket the untrainable dog, Noem writes, behaved like ‘a trained assassin’.”

Except Cricket wasn’t trained. Online several people with experience training dogs have said Noem did everything wrong.

“I hated that dog,” Noem wrote, calling the young girl pup “untrainable,” “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with,” and “less than worthless … as a hunting dog.”

“At that moment,” Noem wrote, “I realized I had to put her down.”

“It was not a pleasant job,” she added, “but it had to be done. And after it was over, I realized another unpleasant job needed to be done.”

The Guardian reports Noem went on that day to slaughter a goat that “smelled ‘disgusting, musky, rancid’ and ‘loved to chase’ Noem’s children, knocking them down and ruining their clothes.”

She dragged both animals separately into a gravel pit and shot them one at a time. The puppy died after one shell, but the goat took two.

On social media Noem expressed no regret, no sadness, no empathy for the animals others say did not need to die, and certainly did not need to die so cruelly.

READ MORE: ‘Assassination of Political Rivals as an Official Act’: AOC Warns Take Trump ‘Seriously’

But she did use the opportunity to promote her book.

Attorney and legal analyst Jeffrey Evan Gold says Governor Noem’s actions might have violated state law.

“You slaughtered a 14-month-old puppy because it wasn’t good at the ‘job’ you chose for it?” he asked. “SD § 40-1-2.3. ‘No person owning or responsible for the care of an animal may neglect, abandon, or mistreat the animal.'”

The Democratic National Committee released a statement saying, “Kristi Noem’s extreme record goes beyond bizarre rants about killing her pets – she also previously said a 10-year-old rape victim should be forced to carry out her pregnancy, does not support exceptions for rape or incest, and has threatened to throw pharmacists in jail for providing medication abortions.”

Former Trump White House Director of Strategic Communications Alyssa Farah Griffin, now a co-host on “The View” wrote, “There are countless organizations that re-home dogs from owners who are incapable of properly training and caring for them.”

The Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson blasted the South Dakota governor.

“Kristi Noem is trash,” he began. “Decades with hunting- and bird-dogs, and the number I’ve killed because they were chicken-sharp or had too much prey drive is ZERO. Puppies need slow exposure to birds, and bird-scent.”

“She killed a puppy because she was lazy at training bird dogs, not because it was a bad dog,” he added. “Not every dog is for the field, but 99.9% of them are trainable or re-homeable. We have one now who was never going in the field, but I didn’t kill her. She’s sleeping on the couch. You down old dogs, hurt dogs, and sick dogs humanely, not by shooting them and tossing them in a gravel pit. Unsporting and deliberately cruel…but she wrote this to prove the cruelty is the point.”

Melissa Jo Peltier, a writer and producer of the “Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan” series, also heaped strong criticism on Noem.

“After 10+ years working with Cesar Millan & other highly specialized trainers, I believe NO dog should be put down just because they can’t or won’t do what we decide WE want them to,” Peltier said in a lengthy statement. “Dogs MUST be who they are. Sadly, that’s often who WE teach them to be. And our species is a hot mess. I would have happily taken Kristi Noem’s puppy & rehomed it. What she did is animal cruelty & cold blooded murder in my book.”

READ MORE: ‘Blood on Your Hands’: Tennessee Republicans OK Arming Teachers After Deadly School Shooting

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OPINION

President Hands Howard Stern Live Interview After NY Times Melts Down Over Biden Brush-Off

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6 hours ago

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April 26, 2024

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President Joe Biden gave an nearly-unannounced, last-minute, live exclusive interview Friday morning to Howard Stern, the SiriusXM radio host who for decades, from the mid-1990s to about 2015, was a top Trump friend, fan, and aficionado. But the impetus behind the President’s move appears to be a rare and unsigned statement from the The New York Times Company, defending the “paper of record” after months of anger from the public over what some say is its biased negative coverage of the Biden presidency and, especially, a Thursday report by Politico claiming Times Publisher A.G. Sulzberger is furious the President has refused to give the “Grey Lady” an in-person  interview.

“The Times’ desire for a sit-down interview with Biden by the newspaper’s White House team is no secret around the West Wing or within the D.C. bureau,” Politico reported. “Getting the president on the record with the paper of record is a top priority for publisher A.G. Sulzberger. So much so that last May, when Vice President Kamala Harris arrived at the newspaper’s midtown headquarters for an off-the-record meeting with around 40 Times journalists, Sulzberger devoted several minutes to asking her why Biden was still refusing to grant the paper — or any major newspaper — an interview.”

“In Sulzberger’s view,” Politico explained, “only an interview with a paper like the Times can verify that the 81-year-old Biden is still fit to hold the presidency.”

But it was this statement that made Politico’s scoop go viral.

READ MORE: Justices’ Views on Trump Immunity Stun Experts: ‘Watching the Constitution Be Rewritten’

“’All these Biden people think that the problem is Peter Baker or whatever reporter they’re mad at that day,’ one Times journalist said. ‘It’s A.G. He’s the one who is pissed [that] Biden hasn’t done any interviews and quietly encourages all the tough reporting on his age.'”

Popular Information founder Judd Legum in March documented The New York Times’ (and other top papers’) obsession with Biden’s age after the Hur Report.

Thursday evening the Times put out a “scorching” statement, as Politico later reported, not on the newspaper’s website but on the company’s corporate website, not addressing the Politico piece directly but calling it “troubling” that President Biden “has so actively and effectively avoided questions from independent journalists during his term.”

Media watchers and critics pushed back on the Times’ statement.

READ MORE: ‘To Do God Knows What’: Local Elections Official Reads Lara Trump the Riot Act

“NYT issues an unprecedented statement slamming Biden for ‘actively and effectively avoid[ing] questions from independent journalists during his term’ and claiming it’s their ‘independence’ that Biden dislikes, when it’s actually that they’re dying to trip him up,” wrote media critic Dan Froomkin, editor of Press Watch.

Froomkin also pointed to a 2017 report from Poynter, a top journalism site published by The Poynter Institute, that pointed out the poor job the Times did of interviewing then-President Trump.

Others, including former Biden Deputy Secretary of State Brian McKeon, debunked the Times’ claim President Biden hasn’t given interviews to independent journalists by pointing to Biden’s interviews with CBS News’ “60 Minutes” and a 20-minute sit-down interview with veteran journalist John Harwood for ProPublica.

Former Chicago Sun-Times editor Mark Jacob, now a media critic who publishes Stop the Presses, offered a more colorful take of Biden’s decision to go on Howard Stern.

The Times itself just last month reported on a “wide-ranging interview” President Biden gave to The New Yorker.

Watch the video and read the social media posts above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Doesn’t Care if Pregnant Women Live or Die’: Alito Slammed Over Emergency Abortion Remarks

 

 

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CNN Smacks Down Trump Rant Courthouse So ‘Heavily Guarded’ MAGA Cannot Attend His Trial

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April 26, 2024

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Donald Trump’s Friday morning claim Manhattan’s Criminal Courts Building is “heavily guarded” so his supporters cannot attend his trial was torched by a top CNN anchor. The ex-president, facing 34 felony charges in New York, had been urging his followers to show up and protest on the courthouse steps, but few have.

“I’m at the heavily guarded Courthouse. Security is that of Fort Knox, all so that MAGA will not be able to attend this trial, presided over by a highly conflicted pawn of the Democrat Party. It is a sight to behold! Getting ready to do my Courthouse presser. Two minutes!” Trump wrote Friday morning on his Truth Social account.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins supplied a different view.

“Again, the courthouse is open the public. The park outside, where a handful of his supporters have gathered on trials days, is easily accessible,” she wrote minutes after his post.

READ MORE: ‘Assassination of Political Rivals as an Official Act’: AOC Warns Take Trump ‘Seriously’

Trump has tried to rile up his followers to come out and make a strong showing.

On Monday Trump urged his supporters to “rally behind MAGA” and “go out and peacefully protest” at courthouses across the country, while complaining that “people who truly LOVE our Country, and want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, are not allowed to ‘Peacefully Protest,’ and are rudely and systematically shut down and ushered off to far away ‘holding areas,’ essentially denying them their Constitutional Rights.”

On Wednesday Trump claimed, “The Courthouse area in Lower Manhattan is in a COMPLETE LOCKDOWN mode, not for reasons of safety, but because they don’t want any of the thousands of MAGA supporters to be present. If they did the same thing at Columbia, and other locations, there would be no problem with the protesters!”

After detailing several of his false claims about security measures prohibiting his followers from being able to show their support and protest, CNN published a fact-check on Wednesday:

“Trump’s claims are all false. The police have not turned away ‘thousands of people’ from the courthouse during his trial; only a handful of Trump supporters have shown up to demonstrate near the building,” CNN reported.

“And while there are various security measures in place in the area, including some street closures enforced by police officers and barricades, it’s not true that ‘for blocks you can’t get near this courthouse.’ In reality, the designated protest zone for the trial is at a park directly across the street from the courthouse – and, in addition, people are permitted to drive right up to the front of the courthouse and walk into the building, which remains open to the public. If people show up early enough in the morning, they can even get into the trial courtroom itself or the overflow room that shows near-live video of the proceedings.”

READ MORE: Justices’ Views on Trump Immunity Stun Experts: ‘Watching the Constitution Be Rewritten’

 

 

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