California Bans Traditional Family

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California Bans Traditional Family

Special Report - October 23, 2007
On the same day he vetoed a bill that would define marriage in California as the “union of two persons,” Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed four bills into law on October 12 favorable to the homosexual lifestyle. The first bill, SB 777 (sponsored by the openly lesbian State Senator Sheila Kuehl), is drawing particular outrage from pro-family groups for forcing public school teachers and textbooks to cast homosexuality and other “alternative” lifestyles in a positive light. California law already prohibits school districts from teaching anything that might reflect “adversely” on a number of protected groups. SB 777, however, revises that list to include “sexual orientation” and any other classification protected under the state’s hate crimes laws. This essentially means that students in any public school setting—including K-12 schools, charter schools, community colleges, and public colleges and universities—will be taught that alternative sexual lifestyles and behaviors are on equal moral standing with traditional families.

Many pro-family organizations are concerned that SB 777 could lead to the banning of gender-specific terms like “father” and “mother” in the classroom and in textbooks. In addition to opening the door for homosexual indoctrination in the public schools, the bill contains several troubling definitions. For example, the bill defines “gender” as including “a person’s gender identity and gender related appearance and behavior whether or not stereotypically associated with the person’s assigned sex at birth.” The measure defines religion as including “agnosticism and atheism” and “sexual orientation” as meaning “heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality.”

Governor Schwarzenegger signed three additional bills expanding homosexual rights. AB 394 requires the California Department of Education to ensure that school districts comply with the state’s anti-discrimination policy, which includes “gender identification” and “sexual orientation” as protected classifications. The bill also requires schools to display and distribute resources instructing parents and students against “bias-related discrimination and harassment.” Another bill, AB 102, revises California’s domestic partnership law in several areas, including providing a marriage-like option on the domestic partnership form that allows the parties involved to change their middle or last names. The final bill, AB 14, adds “sexual orientation” to a wide range of non-discrimination provisions already contained in California state law.

On the positive side, Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed AB 43, which would have changed the definition of marriage in California law from a union between a man and a woman to a union between two persons.