FLASHREPORT

TRUE LIES - STARRING GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

An exclusive column penned for the FlashReport by Meredith Turney with Capitol Resources Family Impact.

They say that true character is seen under pressure. Perhaps the inverse is true for politicians. When it comes to the pressure of facing the electorate during voting season, some politicians will adopt the character or policies that will get them elected. But when the pressure of re-election is lifted, these officials’ true character is unmasked. Governor Schwarzenegger’s signing of SB 777 is the most glaring example of this sad truth.

During last year’s legislative session the governor was wary of signing any legislation that would anger specific voting blocks that could help him win re-election. Such was the case with SB 1437, a bill almost identical to this session’s SB 777. Authored by Senator Sheila Kuehl, SB 1437 prohibited classroom instruction, curriculum and school-sponsored activities that would “reflect adversely” upon homosexual, bisexuals, transsexuals and transgenders.

Thousands of California citizens contacted the governor’s office and demanded his veto of this radical bill. In an election year, the governor was inclined to listen. In his veto message the governor stated that SB 1437 was unnecessary because it attempted to “offer vague protection when current law already provides clear protection against discrimination in our schools based on sexual orientation.” The governor further stated that the term “reflects adversely” was “extremely vague, and potentially confusing.”

2007 brought another attempt by Senator Kuehl to pass her indoctrination bill. This time, Governor Schwarzenegger would not be held accountable to the people at the ballot box. When first introduced, SB 777 contained almost identical language to the previous version’s language. But as the session progressed, the language was amended to make it more amenable to the governor’s demands. The term “reflects adversely”—which supposedly provoked the previous veto—was replaced with “promote a discriminatory bias against.”

While the terminology may be different, the effect of the law is the same. No school instruction or activity may “promote discriminatory bias against” homosexuals and other controversial lifestyles. When implemented, the law could demand equal time for teaching on the homosexual lifestyle for children as young as five. After all, it promotes a bias against homosexuals to not include them when traditional families are discussed.

During the few, brief committee hearings on SB 777, the bill’s proponents maintained the position that the law would merely “streamline” anti-discrimination laws. They assured lawmakers and the public that the law would not impact curriculum. Last week, the proponents of the law, homosexual rights group Equality California, admitted that the law will in fact impact classroom teaching materials. In their 2007 legislative scorecard, the group says that SB 777 "prohibits curriculum that is discriminatorily biased against LGBT people and other protected groups." 

The important question to ask is whether Governor Schwarzenegger and his staff were aware that SB 777 would impact curriculum. If not, then the governor and his staff were duped. If so, then the governor should apologize to the public for his mistake and endorse the SB 777 referendum.

When asked about Equality California’s recent admission about SB 777’s true agenda, Sabrina Lockhart, a spokeswoman for the governor, told news site World Net Daily that it is a "technical bill" intended to clarify anti-discriminations laws. “It simply takes anti-discrimination language used in other areas of [state law] such as employment and puts that in the education code,” she said.

This contradicts the governor’s position just last year when in his veto of SB 1437 he stated that the “Education Code already specifically protects against discrimination to groups based on their sexual orientation and includes programs, instructions and instructional materials.” Thus, SB 1437 and SB 777 are redundant.  We now know that SB 777 goes much further than “streamlining” law and is instead an outright attempt to undermine the traditional values (i.e., bigotry) of the majority of California parents. 

Governor Schwarzenegger, either you were told “true lies” about SB 777 or you are now telling “true lies” to the public. And while politicians may not have “Total Recall” of their actions, the public certainly does.