Subject: Stop KOPP's hatred!
From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 21 May 1996 10:10:31 -0400

May 21, 1996

What follows is State Senator Quentin Kopp's frightening response to the San
Francisco Chronicle's Editorial opposing AB 2248. Kopp co-authored this
dangerous bill which seeks to severely restrict AIDS education in
California's public schools. AB 2248 is up for a vote in the Appropriations
committee this Wednesday, May 22.

Kopp's homohatred and obvious lack of concern about the toll AIDS is taking
on teens must be challenged! He is a menace to our community!

Call, write, and fax him to tell him he is an absolute monster.

Senator Quentin Kopp (8th District)
363 El Camino Real, #205
South San Francisco, CA 94080
Phone: (415) 952-5666
Fax (San Francisco office): (415) 589-5953
Fax (Sacramento office): (916) 327-2186

===================

May 16, 1996

Editor
San Francisco Chronicle
901 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

Dear Editor:

Your editorial opposing Assembly Bill 2248 which requires parental consent
for mandated sex education (including AIDS) in public schools is wrong.

You assert that the existing requirement of parental notice "has worked
well." Has it? Let's examine the facts. Bruce Budnick's Everett Middle School
sixth grader was forced to listen to graphic descriptions of personal sexual
encounters, including instructions on how to utilize sexual devices for
pleasure with members of their own sex, presented by the school under the
auspices of "Hate Crimes." No parental notice was provided. A Santa Rosa High
School senior sat through a mandatory, yet crudely graphic, AIDS awareness
program in her Government/Economics class and wrote that the lay presenters
spoke of graphic sex acts in a crude almost joking manner," presented condoms
"like an advertisement for sex toys, rather than a device used to protect
against pregnancy and disease." She felt "abused and molested" and wrote, "my
innocence about sex was lost that day." any parental notice? Nope. Or how
about Maryann Harris, who found her parental notice buried in her son's
Rincon Valley Jr. High school newsletter (existing law allows this) and spent
three full days trying to uncover the curriculum content.

If schools were doing such a wonderful job complying with existing law,
perhaps AB 2248 would be unnecessary. They aren't. Most parents probably
think that since AIDS is a serious health threat the state-mandated AIDS
education in public schools must surely be taught by health professionals.
Not so. The well recognized and fundamental right of parents to control their
children's education takes a back seat to advocacy groups who are frequently
the schools' AIDS educators.

For example, San Francisco parents might be interested to learn that their
Board of Education has approved curriculum which trivializes child
molestation in the context of "man/boy love" by stressing the speaker refer
to it as "intergenerational sex" and then rationalize it on the grounds that
straight people molest children, too.

So, I am criticized for co-authoring a bill requiring parents to sign a
permission slip, (just like they must for a field trip) before their 12-year
old is taught how to use dildos and the best way to clean IV needles? Funny,
I thought schools wanted parents to learn more about their children's
curriculum and be active participants in education. I didn't know that for
issues which affect a child's social and moral beliefs, and perhaps directly
conflict with their religious upbringing, the schools know better and parents
need not apply. It makes you wonder what they are afraid the parents might
learn.

Sincerely yours,

Quentin L. Kopp
State Senator
I-San Francisco/San Mateo

====================

San Francisco Chronicle
Wednesday, May 15
Reprinted with permission.

Chronicle Editorial: No Time to Retreat On AIDS Education

One of the most unwarranted bills currently before the California Legislature
is a measure by Republican Assemblyman Steve Baldwin of El Cajon that would
require parental permission before any student in the public school system
could participate in AIDS education.

The bill also includes a gratuitous and disturbing provision that would
eliminate a state requirement that all HIV prevention efforts "emphasize
compassion for persons with AIDS."

Leaving aside for a moment the issue of the importance of instructing
students about AIDS to prevent needless deaths, procedures already in place
in no way leave out parents.

Current law requires school districts to inform parents about courses on AIDS
prevention and to give them the option of pulling their children out of class
on days that such instruction takes place.

As with other materials regarding sex, many schools invite parents to review
the materials-from books to charts to props and videotapes-before deciding if
they want their children included.

That process has worked well. Interested parents know what their children are
being taught, they can remove the youngsters from the classes if they wish
and schools are not bogged down in paperwork.

We respect the right of those parents to have their children learn about AIDS
at home, in church or other nonschool settings.

However, not all parents are paying close attention to what goes on in the
classroom. This legislation would rob many students whose parents-through
laziness or lack of caring, not because of any thoughtful objection to the
course-routinely fail to respond to school correspondence.

The fatal AIDS virus is spreading more swiftly than ever among American
youngsters, with half of all new infections occurring in people younger than
25. What could be clearer evidence that straightforward information about the
cause, effects and prevention of AIDS is desperately needed and that there
currently is a grave lack of such information and follow-up discussion?

The issue is not one of parental rights, as San Francisco Independent Senator
Quentin Kopp, a co-author of the bill, contends. Parental rights are already
established.

The issue is education's role in informing students with the goal of saving
young people's lives. Baldwin's legislation would seriously hamper those
efforts.

As Dr. Chuck Willbelsman, chief of the teen clinic at Kaiser Permanente in
San Francisco said, "This is opening the door to more irresponsible behavior
by students."

The state should be doing everything it can to eradicate AIDS, not promoting
legislation that champions ignorance.