Posted on 01/14/2002 4:12:27 PM PST by gohabsgo
Colorado SpringsIn a nationwide radio broadcast Monday, Focus on the Family President James C. Dobson, Ph.D., joined by Family Research Council President Ken Connor and Alliance Defense Fund President Alan Sears, called on Christians to register opposition to a proposed piece of legislation in California that would change the nature of marriage in California and across the nation.
Assembly Bill 1338, sponsored by Assemblyman Paul Koretz (D-West Hollywood), would establish civil unions for homosexual couples as equal to traditional marriage, and according to the bill's author, would affect 1,500 state laws that currently apply only to heterosexual marriage. The California Assembly plans to vote on the bill this month.
Dobson, heard by 7.5 million listeners each week, told his audience the bill would overturn the will of Californians.
In March of 2000, 61 percent of California voters supported Proposition 22, declaring that marriage should be exclusively between a man and a woman. He added that what is happening in California will eventually travel to other states, and that the California Legislature is now "completely out of control" when it comes to issues affecting families.
"The California Legislature has been captured, almost without opposition, by those who hold a gay and lesbian philosophy and by a governor Gray Davis who has signed into law a host of pro-homosexual bills revolutionizing that state," Dobson said. "The result is a tsunami, a tidal wave, of anti-family and immoral legislation that is rapidly forcing the citizens of California to accept and live by an alien system of values that would never be approved if put to the voters."
"There is a point where we need to say, 'Enough is enough,' and we are there," he said. "I think this Legislature not only wants to change the culture of California and do it very radically and very quickly but also, by extension, the culture of the United States."
Sears, a former federal prosecutor and the administrator of the legal-defense organization known as the Alliance Defense Fund, said the creation of civil unions would not only reconfigure the face of marriage, but would also punish those people who do not willingly go along with its demands. "(The bill) says that clergy cannot be forced to perform a civil union, yet religious organizations who employ (people) in non-clergy positions must recognize civil unions, provide for them in health insurance and other benefit packages, and those who dont comply will be punished," Sears said. "The (homosexual) agenda is not about tolerance; it is about silencing and forcing compliance with the rigid demands of the homosexual lobby."
Dobson, Sears and Connor predicted that the enactment of civil unions would lead to the legal recognition of group marriage and other non-traditional relationships.
"If marriage means everything, it means absolutely nothing," Dobson said. More information about AB 1338 is available on the Focus on the Family Web site at www.citizenlink.org.
Next, it goes to the Senate. If it passes there, it'll then go to the Governor. But a lot of things can happen.
If it DOES go to the governor, I suspect Davis will veto it because he won't want the conservatives coming out in November. However, I'm confident it'll be re-introduced in January if Davis OR Riordan win in November and it'll pass with huge numbers and be signed into law.
What can we do?
There is only one thing we can do to stop gay marriage in California: ELECT BILL SIMON AS GOVERNOR
Bill Simon is running against Riordan for the Republican nomination. He has coming out against AB1338 (Riordan SUPPORTS gay marriage and Bill Jones has "not taken a position".
Bill Simon is a true conservative and deserves our support. But it's not enough to nominate him in March. We have to get out and work for him in November. Because if Davis wins re-election, he will sign gay marriage next year. If Riordan wins the primary and, amazingly, wins the general, he will sign gay marriage next year.
Bill Simon will not. Bill Simon will work to address the REAL problems in California: the Davis-propagated energy crisis; our failing, money-wasting public schools; our economic decline; our poor business climate; the dire problems in our agriculture community due to energy prices and wacko environmental regulations. Bill Simon has conservative, common sense, compassionate solutions to real problems.
Bill Simon is our only hope. He needs ALL conservatives to get out and vote for him on March 5 ... and work hard for him before November. He is a true leader in the character of Ronald Reagan, an inspiration, and a man of deeply held principles; and he has the intelligence and presence to win.
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