Newsgroups: bit.listserv.gaynet
Date:         Wed, 29 Jul 1992 14:55:35 -0400
From:         gaynet@ATHENA.MIT.EDU
Subject:      GayNet Digest Volume 5 Issue 586

In this issue:
                   Republican Campaign Discrimination
                     Real Life Soap-Need your Help
             Help us turn around the CA Board of Education
                      About Linda and the Beans...
                  TVC hate letter re Health Framework

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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 09:52:55 -0800
From: b_blumberg@macsch.com (Bryan J. Blumberg)
Subject: Re: Republican Campaign Discrimination

In article <9207290917.AA08561@Toto.MIT.EDU>, Randall C Gellens writes:
>Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 06:05 GMT
>From: Randall C Gellens <0005000102@mcimail.com>
>Subject: Re: Lt. Tracy Thorne
>
>(I do admit to feeling that it is a bit odd for gays to whine about being
>discriminated against by the Republican party (along with the pro-choicers)
>since that party has made it quite plain that they do not welcome gays,
>lesbians, or pro-choice people.

Well, yes, and no, Randall.

The Republican party was founded on the premise of supporting the
rights of the individual.  The Republican party originally stood
for less government interference and individual liberty.

What has happened over the last twelve years has been the rise
of Christian Fundamentalism in this country.  These people, while
a minority of the Republican party, are highly organized--they
meet every Sunday with greater regularity than perhaps any other
group of people.  They take advantage of their tax exempt status
as a religion and spend considerable time and effort doing political
organizing.  One thing they do is pass out voter registration
materials during services and have every member complete both
the voter registration process plus an absentee ballot request.

With all members of each church registered to vote, the church
merely needs to mail the absent ballot requests to the County Recorder's
office, and a slate sheet to all of the church members.  Shortly
thereafter, the church members receive their absentee ballots in
the mail and, with slate sheet in hand, they vote as a block.

What has happened to the Republican party has been that it has
been overrun.  Traditional Republican's are mostly pro-choice
and anti-discrimination, however, in order to get elected, they
must change their positions.  Even George Bush used to be
pro-choice until he became vice-President in 1988.  The rise
of Ross Perot is merely a symptom of the unhappiness in the
Republican party due to the Christian Fundamentalist take over.

Last week on Ted Koppel's Nightline--I missed the show, but a
friend told me about it--Koppel's guests were the Rev. Lou
Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition and a woman,
who's name and organization he couldn't remember.  She represented
the pro-choice / pro-gay segment of the Republican Party.
For the entire show, the two guests argued solely about
abortion and gay rights.

The woman accused Sheldon of single handedly being responsible
for the destruction of the Republican Party.  She said that
71% of Republicans were pro-choice and that Sheldon's group
was a splinter group that has taken over.  When she stated that
she supported gay rights Sheldon asked if that meant she
therefore also supported rights for people with pedaphaelia
and bestiality as a sexual orientation, too.  She said that
this is exactly her point of how Sheldon takes extreme cases
and uses distorition and fear to slander and entire group
of people.

Anyway, I'm sorry I missed the show, but apparently it gave
some insigt to why there are still some gay people involved in
the Republican Party.

By the way, I'm a California Democrat.

========================================
Bryan  J. Blumberg, The MacNeal-Schwendler Corporation
815 Colorado Boulevard, Los Angeles, California  90041-1777
(213) 259-4914, B_BLUMBERG@MACSCH.COM

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 09:49:12 -0700
From: Jessea N. R. Greenman <jnrg@ocf.Berkeley.EDU>
Subject: Real Life Soap-Need your Help

I'd been waiting for the flying fingers of our trusty and heroic
Bryan Blumberg to type these items in but he must be busy fighting
other firestorms, so here goes.
From yesterday's LA Times (i.e. 7-28-92), quoted without permission
under fair use doctrine.
"GUIDELINES ON HEALTH CURRICULUM ATTACKED"
Schools: Critics tell state board hearing that the proposal promotes
homosexuality and sexual activity.  Plan is sent back to a commission
with a list of suggested changes.

by William Trombley, Times Staff Writer

Sacramento- A parade of witnesses told a crowded State Board of Education
hearing Monday that proposed new curriculum guidelines for health
education promote homosexuality and also encourage students to be
sexually active.

Critics also attacked the guidelines for favoring school-based health
clinics and for urging teachers to encourage students' self-esteem
and to teach stress-management techniques.

The new curriculum approach was defended by the California Parent-
Teacher Association, the state association of health educators and
by many speakers who identified themselves as gay or lesbian or as
parents of gay or lesbian children.

The curriculum guidelines are important because they serve as the
basis for courses to be taught in the state's 1000 school districts
and for textbooks that the board will select later.

Although the health framework document is 103 pages, and deals with
many subjects, much testimony centered on a few sentences that discuss
different kinds of families that exist in the United States.

'The traditional family, with two married parents and one or more
children, is one model,' the framework states.  'Others that are
part of contemporary society include blended families and families
headed by grandparents, siblings, relatives, friends, foster parents
and parents of the same sex.'

David Llewelyn, director of the Western Center for Law and Religious
Freedom, in Sacramento, objected that this language 'treats the
traditional family as the equal of these other kinds of families.'
instead of praising traditional families as the models to be emulated.

The Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, president of the Traditional Values Coalition,
said the proposed framework documents 'attempts to advocate and promote
homosexuality as an acceptable and healthy lifestyle.'

In an interview, Sheldon added: 'This is recruitment par excellence.
It is saying, hey, guys, same sex is viable, same sex is meaningful.
But parents don't want that taught.'

On the other side of the argument, Stanley Olsen, who described
himself as a retired Lutheran bishop with 'four heterosexual daughters,'
praised the guidelines because 'their goal is pro-family and pro-good
education.'

After listening to several hours of testimony, punctuated by occasional
cheers and catcalls, the board sent the guidelines back to the
state Curriculum Commission with a list of suggested changes in
structure and content.

Although the nature of the changes was not disclosed, this action
was treated as a victory by those who oppose the framework in its
present form and as a defeat for its supporters.

'That's a bad omen,' said Mike Hudson, vice president of People
for the American Way, a liberal constitutional rights organization.
'The Curriculum Commission heard all this testimony before and
decided not to make any changes.  This is a real slap in the
face for [state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill] Honig,his staff,
and the commission.'

Many speakers told of personal tragedies, perhaps none more moving
than Mary Griffith, representing a group called Parents and Friends
of Lesbian and Gay People.

Griffith said her homosexual son was afraid to admit his sexual
preference, dropped out of high school and killed himself by
leaping from a freeway overpass.

'To remain silent is to blatantly ignore suicide and mental health
risks,' she told the board members in urging them to retain the
sections of the framework that discuss homosexuality.

But Llewelyn said gays and lesbians who commit suicide do so
'because of personal guilt.'

Although the guidelines say that 'abstinence is presented as the
only 100% effective way to stop sexually transmitted diseases,'
it also urges full discussion of these diseases, including
AIDS, at appropriate grade levels.

This complies with requirements of state law.
END OF ARTICLE

This reporter stinks!  I was there.  No quotes from queers???
No story more moving than the mother's loss?  (I dearly love
Mary Griffith and respect her courage and commitment to our
cause, but how come the stories always focus on the pain
of the straight?  Lesbigays who had suffered hate violence,
discrimination, and attempted suicides also testified.)
Note there is only one woman quoted in the whole damn piece.
Note the reporter's reference to 'sexual preference.'

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 10:18:46 -0700
From: Jessea N. R. Greenman <jnrg@ocf.Berkeley.EDU>
Subject: Help us turn around the CA Board of Education

Please write to the Board members.  Tell them they must
keep in the three specific references to l/g/bi.  The
references are
p. 4 "Finally, a comprehensive approach includes all youth.
For the purpose of this framework, the term refers to all
youth regardless of gender, ethnic background, age,
sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, culture
primary language, disability, or any other human attribute."

p. 32 "Gay and lesbian youth often experience serious difficulty
coming to terms with their sexual identity.  According to a
1989 report of the Secretary's Task Force on Youth Suicide,
US Dept. of Health and Human Services, gay adolescents are two
to three times more likely than their peers to attempt suicide
and account for as many as 30 percent of completed suicides each
year."

p. 47 "One point to emphasize in this content area is that in
today's society the term 'family' must be considered in its
broadest sense.  The traditional family, with two married
parents and one or more children, is one model.  Others that
are part of contemporary society include blended families
and families headed by grandparents, siblings, relatives,
friends, foster parents, and parents of the same sex."

Write to the members of the California Board of Education:

Joseph Carrabino, Graduate School of Management, Suite 6350A,
UCLA, Los Angeles CA 90024.

Irene Cheng, Student Member (with voting rights), 2801 Mariposa
Drive, Burlingame CA 94010.

Kathryn Dronenburg, 5001 Ligia Place, El Cajon CA 92020.

Yvonne W. Larsen, POB 80456, San Diego CA 92138.

Dorothy J. Lee, 2248 Foster Avenue, Ventura CA 93001.

Frank R. Light, 1611 Calle de Andluca, La Jolla CA 92037.

S. William Malkasian, 3521 Welch Court, Sacramento CA 95821.

Marion McDowell, 896 Bauer Drive, San Carlos CA 94070.

Benjamin Montoya, c/o PG&E, POB 77000, San Francisco CA 94177.

Joseph Stein, President of the Board, 46930 W. El Dorado Dr.,
Indian Wells CA 92210.

Gerti B. Thomas, Vice President of the Board, 555 Pierce St.
Albany CA 94706.

CALIFORNIA TEXTBOOKS ARE USED IN MANY STATES THROUGHOUT THE
COUNTRY.  This is not just a California issue.

P.S. I fervently hope that some of you good samaritan computer-philes
will save this info since I don't know how to save or re-send. If
for example, Ron Buckmire were to store it safely in QRD then
he and others could reaccess it as needed.  I don't have time
to re-type this, sob.

------------------------------

Subject: About Linda and the Beans...
From: Larry Bliss <BLISS%MAINE.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
Date:    Wed, 29 Jul 92 13:58:51 EDT

The posting about Linda Bean ... and the suggestion to boycott L.L.Bean...
contains major-league erroneous information.  Linda Bean IS one of the
most right wing candidates to come along, and she has personally funded
numerous conservative causes here in Maine and across the country.  B-U-T
Linda is only a member of the L.L.Bean Board of Directors because she
happens to be a Bean.  She does not control the company, and they have
publicly disavowed her candidacy AND her anti-abortion, anti-gay,
anti-poor, pro-military stands.  When her cousin (who actually RUNS the
company) was out of town, she brought a camera crew into one of the
L.L.Bean factories and shot a political commercial.  When he returned
and found out, he forced her to scrap the commercial, and the company
issued a press release disassociating itself from her candidacy.

So PLEASE don't confuse L.L.Bean with the super-right-wing Attila The
Hun mentality of Linda. (Incidentally, Linda's married name is Linda
Fokker, but she judiciously chose to use Bean in her campaign info.)

I hope this straightens things out a bit.

Larry ... from Maine
*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*

Lawrence Bliss, Director/Advising and Career Services   | Live your life
University of Southern Maine                            |     as an
96 Falmouth Street, Portland, ME 04103                  |   exclamation,
(207) 780-4199                                          |     not an
BITNET: BLISS@MAINE.MAINE.EDU                           |   explanation!
        Bliss%Maine.Bitnet@mitvma.mit.edu

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 11:14:39 -0700
From: Jessea N. R. Greenman <jnrg@ocf.Berkeley.EDU>
Subject: TVC hate letter re Health Framework

LONG QUOTED LETTER
"July 1992
TRADITIONAL VALUES
Dear Friend,

Do you want public school youth to be instructed in 'sexual outercourse'
techniques.

Sexual outercourse programs teach youth how to reach sexual climax
without having sexual intercourse.  The actual list of activities
is to [sic] offensive for me to enumerate.  But to give you an
idea of what I am talking about, two types of sexual outercourse
are mutual masturbation and oral sex.  I am sorry if this offends
you--but it is important for you to know the types of horrendous
things that are going to be taught to our children if we don't do
something about it.

Do you want the family to be redefined and taught as such to public
school youth?  The new definition of a family is any group of
persons who live together.

Our Sacramento lobbyist, Lance Fortin, who for the past 18 months
has been monitoring the State Health Curriculum Commission meetings,
tells me homosexual activists are creating the public policy decisions
for our youth.

These homosexuals have had strong influence over the proposed new '
health framework' being presented by the state Curriculum Commission
which advises the State Board of Education on textbook content and
teacher's classroom guidelines.

And one of the most troubling aspects is that they use government
schools [both words underlined] where--under the present system
most of our children are a captive audience--as a conduit for
societal change.

THEY'RE WORKING OVERTIME TO REDEFINE THE FAMILY AND IMPOSE THEIR
ANTI-MORAL LIFESTYLE ON CHILDREN THROUGH SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS.

This is an outrage.  I pray you will share my concern.  The mind
polluters must not grab control of our children.

But that is exactly what they want to do.

And, in spite of all our efforts, on some fronts they are still
winning.

Right now one of their principal targets is your children and
grandchildren.  And they're using our public schools [both words
underlined] - more correctly your hard earned tax dollars
through GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS - to tirelessly eat away at the
fabric of the family.

WHY?

If they can destroy the family unit they destroy the
heart of our nation's social structure, respect for law and
order and societal cohesion--all of which are provided for
in Scripture.

But even more tragically, they erode the spiritual battlements
of the home upon which America's survival depends.

It is clear to me that we are in a spiritual battle in which
the forces of darkness are attempting to use the government
structure to promote behavioral lifestyles and beliefs
that hinder people from knowing and accepting Jesus
Christ's salvation.

That's why you and I must moount a frontal assault on the
proposed actions within the state Health Curriculum Commission
of the State Board of Education.[ note: it is NOT the state
Health Curriculum Commission, but the State Curriculum Commission;
each year it deals with a different subject matter area, not
just health.]

WE CAN AND MUST STOP THIS SINISTER EFFORT NOW!

{several paragraphs here on his interpretation of the historical
reasons for the decline and fall of American morality, starting
with Hubert Humphrey in 1967{
 "Some slept or turned a blind eye [to these moral slippages]...
THEN quietly, the sleeping army aroused itself. Strong evangelical
leaders emerged and noble, brave pro-family organizations began
to form.  In some cases we stopped the assault against the
family in its tracks.  In other situations their progress
was slowed as God raised up a growing army of concerned
friends like you.

In California we successfully passed a law which mandates the
teaching of abstinence and respect for mongamous heterosexual
marriage in our public school classrooms.  But though that law
is still on the books it has never been fully enforced or
implemented by the educational community.

We've been in Sacramento monitoring the Health Curriculum
Committee and addressing the issue even in its earliest
stages.  That's why I'm here to report to you and ask for
your help.

On May 29, under the pretense of "tolerance" and the acceptance
of "diversity" in sexual preference and practices, the commission
called for a redefinition of marriage and acceptance of dysfunctional
homosexual practices as acceptable "diversity."

[whole following paragraph in bold] They stipulated in their
report that "the term 'family' now applies to many situations
including household [sic] headed by partners of the same sex."
In other words advocacy of domestic partnership.

What blatant promotion of deviant sexual behavior!  It flies
in the face of Judeo-Christian morality.  It insults our intelligence.
And very candidly it angers and disturbs me for the following
reasons.

First, they seek to do this under a {rest of sentence underlined}
cloak of quiet secrecy from the politically uninitiated.

Second, the entire premise does not stand the test of logic.  It's
like addressing teen alcoholism by providing alcholic beverages
or drug addiction by providing drugs along with adult or peer
role models.

Third, their methods are unthinkably unethical and without
accountability to our citizens and taxpayers.  Since most
parents are more or less forced, due to lack of resources to
place their children in the government school system--this
is ethically wrong and totally unacceptable.

Fourth, under the pretense of protecting sexually active teens
from disease they actually promote promiscuous sexual activity
among teens.

That's why teen pregnancies have increased almost exponentially
in the last few years.

Yet, community leaders pontificate and wring their hands and
[oops, strike that last word, 'and'] because [remainder of
sentence underlined] the result is the recently heralded
increase in the incidence of HIV virus among U.S. teens.

Fifth, the so-called Health Framework thus becomes one of the
most dangerous opponents of family and traditional values.

And it redefines marriage and ridicules as politically incorrect
Bible Believing Evangelicals who accept, practice and teach
their children the validity of Biblical morality.

What can we do about it?  How can we put a stop to this.

Our present efforts will be directed at one-on-one encounters
with the members of the State Board of Education.

Second, quite frankly, the most effective thing we can do
now is to PRAY that God will move the hearts of each
Board member.

It's time for some serious spiritual warfare using God-given
weapons which "are not carnal, but mighty through God for
the pulling down of strongholds" (II Cor.10:4)

We need your financial help, your prayers, your encouragement,
your
participation as we deal with this serious issue.  You can
help make a difference.  I'll be there every step of the way
fighting this battle through the lobbying process with
key leadership in Sacramento.

And if this action by the state curriculum commission stirs
your righteous indignation as it does mine, [rest underlined]
I know you'll want to help.

Thanks for caring as I do about the moral downslide taking
place in our State and government schools.  Please help with
the most generous gift you can afford.  I've enclosed
a special response envelope...

Sincerely, Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, Chairman, Traditional Values Coalition.

P.S. Don't let the enemy destroy the spiritual future for your
children and grandchildren.  With your prayerful help we can
and we will change this situation.

TVC, 100 S. Anaheim Blvd., Suite 350, Anaheim CA 92805; 714-520-0300.
TVC, 1127 11th St., Suite 521, Sacramento CA 95814; 916-444-5375.
END OF LETTER
The TVC may still use an 800 number: 1-800-A-Family.
Lou Sheldon's home address may still be 2737 Savoy Pl., Anaheim CA 92804.


Shameless and urgent plug for us:  GLAAD/SFBA can use yourfinancial
help, too.  We are tax-deductible, and you can designate contributions
for Project 21 (our textbook equity campaign).  GLAAD/SFBA,
514 Castro St., Suites A&B, San Francisco CA 94114.

Jessea Greenman, Co-Chair, GLAAD/SFBA and co-founder of Project 21.

------------------------------

End of GayNet Digest
********************
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