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| California bills that would make it a crime to preach anti-homosexuality, please pray Christians and non-Christians alike should be alarmed by the advance in California of a series of legislative proposals that target free speech and thought, according to Focus on the Family Action. James Dobson, the president of the action affiliate of Focus on the Family ministries, has issued an urgent call to the millions of radio program listeners to contact California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger before he is asked to sign the bills. "What all four bills will do, they will reinforce homosexuality, bisexuality and transgenderism in a positive light," Focus State Issues Analyst Mona Passignano told WorldNetDaily. So what's wrong with a positive light? Maybe nothing. But, she said, "They will keep people from saying anything negative about them." "You cannot preach the Gospel. If you want to preach about Romans 1, you can't. Someone could say, 'That makes me feel bad,'" she said. "You cannot preach what the Bible says. "If you're a Christian, it's got to be alarming. If you are not a Christian, it's got to be alarming," she said. "Because what comes next? "Is someone going to say, 'You can't drive a red car, that's the color of heterosexuals. You have to drive a purple car?" She said she explains the nuances that could become law by referencing "Nazi Germany." "It's just a historical fact, but you could make Germans feel bad every time you say Nazi Germany," she said. "The (California) bills say you can't say anything negative." Dobson, who founded Focus in California more than two decades ago, said if those proposals become law, the California Legislature will deliver the state's children "straight into the arms of the homosexual activist community." The four proposals are SB1437, SB1441, AB1056 and AB606. Some already have been approved by lawmakers, others await their final outcome. Among the new laws would be one to ban the state from doing business with any company or group that does not provide benefits to workers with "domestic partners" equal to the benefits offered workers with spouses, according to Concerned Women for America. Penny Harrington, who is the legislative liaison for Concerned Women for America of San Diego and Imperial Counties, noted there's no conscience clause, which usually is included to allow religious organizations to continue to be faithful to their beliefs. "It's pretty ironclad," she said. Another has a requirement for "sensitivity" training for foster parents, group home staff members and social workers about "challenges faced by gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender youth." It also leaves to social workers to decide whether children are old enough to "consider himself or herself affiliated with a particular religion." Perhaps the worst, Dobson said, is SB1437, which would ban any instructional materials or public school activities that "reflect adversely" on homosexuals and other alternative sexual lifestyles. "If these bills are signed into law, who knows what the liberal courts in California will be able to make out of this in the years to come? There goes the next generation of children," Dobson said. And he noted that churches where pastors do preach about Romans 1 would no longer to eligible to get fire or police protection, because the proposals forbid any organization that receives government funding from portraying homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality in a negative light. Americans must call or e-mail Schwarzenegger to let him know their concerns, Dobson said. "If people don't hit him hard in the next two or three days we're going to see this legislation and perhaps the other three bills the law of the land," Dobson said. Focus Action, begun in 2004, describes itself as a political action group dedicated to keeping the moral and cultural values that founded the U.S. |
