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Bye, Bye Hollywood Sign... at Least Temporarily [Updated]
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One Way to Take Care of Business
As parents take their children trick-or-treating tonight, savvy proponents of Prop 8 will be handing them a little election postcard reminding them to Vote "yes" on the initiative. And because the campaign is focusing on children and said nuggets are present at the moment of tonight's message, it's time to look at this summer's court case about the legal wording of the proposition ballot arguments.
Proponents wanted to say that gay marriage teachings would be required in schools on the ballot guide, but since that was false, Judge Timothy M. Frawley ruled on August 7th that would be a "false and misleading" statement:
Petitioners [No on Prop 8] also challenge the proponents' [Yes on Prop 8] argument that teachers "will be required" to teach young children about gay marriage. The Court agrees with Petitioners that this statement is false and misleading, and should be amended.As Petitioners have established, current state law does not require school districts to teach anything about marriage or same-sex marriage at any grade level. Moreover, for those school districts that choose to include instruction about marriage as part of a health education curriculum, Education Code § 51240 requires that they allow parents to excuse their children from any such instruction conflicting with the parents' religious or moral convictions. (Cal. Ed. Code § 51240.)
Nevertheless, the ballot arguments can be rewritten as an accurate statement of the law and therefore do not need to be deleted. The argument can be made not false or misleading by amending the language to provide that state law "may" require teachers to instruct young children about marriage, and that teachers "could" be required to teach young children there is no difference between gay marriage and traditional marriage. Accordingly, the Court shall issue a writ compelling Respondent to make the amendments set forth in attached Exhibit "A."
Alright, let's take it a step further: even if Prop 8 wins and gay marriage is eliminated, the state education code doesn't change. The fact is, gay marriage could be still taught in schools, even with gay marriage outlawed.
So how does the Yes on 8 campaign get away with saying children "will" be taught about gay marriage, a false and misleading statement (unless they can truly see into the future)? It's simple. Here in America we have the First Amendment and free speech--say as you will.
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wow... now that is disgusting behavior..
Unbelievable! Sounds like an act of desperation to me.
There's so much "false and misleading" here. And trickery. It's just absolutely despicable. This is a new low in the campaign. I'll end there, and head off to hang out on the porch and mingle with joyful kids who are trick or treatin'.
You know, to send positive messages about life. Not lies and messages of hate and discrimination.
I thought bible bangers didn't participate in Satan's holiday. I guess in this case they'll make an exception. Are they handing out hate-pops to the kiddies too?
Oh, and, if it does pass maybe I'll go getting a teaching gig just so I CAN teach kids about gay marriage. I already passed the CBEST.
Eat a bowl of dicks Yes on Prop 8 assfaces
What exactly was "traditional" marriage again? Your parents trading you for a couple goats and sheep, right?
Yeah, let's go back to not picking your future spouse--WAY lower divorce rate.
Actually traditional marriage, in a biblical sense, was marrying multiple times (if male) to many women simultaneously and taking your brother's wife should your brother die.
None of this applied equally to women.
This is disgusting. If I was out walking some kids and someone handed this to them, they'd be lucky if I didn't sock them in the mouth. What ugly, pathetic politics we're seeing these days.
Speaking of what your anticipated response would be to receiving this card, @Marshall, it's possible that this tactic could piss off a lot of parents.
I wish I had a kid to take around so when someone told me, "You know if Prop 8 doesn't pass, kids will be taught about gay marriage in school*" I could say, "Why yes, isn't that wonderful? I already teach my child that everyone has the right to be loved and respected for who they are."
*Even though Prop 8 failing would keep the status quo - that is, the way things are now - and I don't hear much complaining about what's been taught in schools for the last few months. So the destruction of society argument hardly hold water, for many reasons.