Date: Tue, 1 Nov 1994 19:57:22 -40975532 (CST) From: "Al Geiersbach" {Braces indicate added notes 11/1/94 by poster} TRADITIONAL VALUES COALITION The Tradition Values Coalition (TVC), founded in 1983, is an Anaheim, California-based organization led by the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon. Emphasizing a state and local grassroots approach, TVC works to "educate and inform its member churches on legislative action relating to issues of pro-family concern. " The group's efforts have included extensive lobbying, publishing, and support for like-minded political candidates. As part of its campaign, TVC has opposed church-state separation . Among other causes, TVC has advocated: --restoring organized prayer to public schools; --installing the teaching of creationism as part of science curricula; --the repeal of civil rights protections for gays and lesbians; --"reparative therapy" for gays and lesbians. Sheldon describes the "battle" against homosexuality as the centerpiece of his program. He expresses his vision this way: "Don [Wildmon] has got pornography; Randy [Terry] has got abortion, Phyllis [Schlafly] and the Concerned Women for America have religious liberties; Jim [Dobson] has family values; the Christian Coalition does candidates: and I've got the homosexuals." LOU SHELDON Sheldon, TVC's chairman and founder, was born in 1934 to an orthodox Jewish mother and a Protestant father. He became a Christian as a teenager. After attending Michigan State University and Princeton Theological Seminary, he served as a pastor in various Presbyterian pulpits for 25 years. Since establishing TVC, Sheldon has been described by USA Today as "one of the most powerful men in California." He has been dubbed "the California Falwell, but says, "Falwell fired a round but where was the infantry to come in once the enemy was hit? That's what I want to do is create an infantry of people [sic] " TVC'S OPERATION TVC has offices in Anaheim and Sacramento, and in Colorado, Nebraska and Washington, D.C. Sheldon's son Steve is the group's executive director; daughter Andrea is TVC's Washington-based Director of Government Affairs. The group claims active chapters in approximately 20 states and affiliation with 25,000 churches, including 6,500 in California. It issues two regular publications: a bi-monthly newsletter, _Traditional Values Report_, and a church periodical, _Action Alert_. TVC also distributes several books and videos, including the 35-minute video, "Gay Rights/Special Rights: Inside the Homosexual Agenda"; education activist David Harmer's book _School Choice: Why We Need It/How We Get It_; and the video, "The Big Lie," billed as an "expose of the falsehood behind the phrase 'Separation of Church and State.'" Additionally, Sheldon has appeared with David Barton at an August 1993 conference sponsored by the Traditional Values Coalition of Oregon. {NOTE: as of Nov 1994, he has been in Milwaukee, WI, once for a rally, and is reportedly coming back in Nov '94 for a "summit" meeting with many other national leaders, presumably to plan a campaign to revoke Wisconsin's protection of civil rights for gays and lesbians.} TVC AFFILIATES TVC is a non-profit, 501(c) (4) enterprise with several affiliated organizations that are largely active in California. These include Traditional Values Lobby (also known as California Educators for Traditional Values), the American Liberties Institute ("a research organization that traces the development of biblical concepts pertaining to the founding of the United States and the Constitution") -- which does business as the California Coalition for Traditional Values -- and California Business for Traditional Values. According to the Institute for First Amendment Studies, TVC has also established a National Task Force for the Preservation of the Heterosexual Ethic in America. At least two complaints have been filed with the Internal Revenue Service alleging that Sheldon's organizations are violating tax laws by channeling tax-deductible contributions into political activities, according to the _Sacramento News & Review_. The IRS has refused to comment on the allegations. In 1991, TVC was fined $2,000 by the California Fair Political Practices Commission for improperly giving money to an anti-gay group that was attempting to defeat a 1990 "domestic partners" proposition in San Francisco. FIGHTING GAYS Sheldon's campaign against homosexuality has demonstrated little restraint or civility. He has called homosexuality "the most pernicious evil today. We must stop it before it spreads throughout the nation like a cancer." On another occasion, he stated, "Gays and lesbians live perverted, twisted lives that feed upon the Unsuspecting and the innocent, like our children." "They Want Your Children," reads an April 1991 fundraising letter. Sheldon's early forays in his battle against gays and lesbians included a campaign to prohibit gay teachers from the classroom. In 1986, he reportedly supported an anti-gay initiative drafted by followers of conspiracy theorist Lyndon LaRouche that could have led to the isolation or quarantining of people with AIDS. In 1989, the TVC leader helped effect the repeal of gay and lesbian rights ordinances in Concord and Irvine California. In 1989 and 1990, he convened anti-gay conferences in California and Washington, featuring such homophobic speakers as then-Congressman William Dannemeyer and Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, a psychiatrist who claims to "cure" homosexuality. Sheldon elicited significant attention in his 1991 fight against Assembly Bill 101, a California bill that would have introduced the phrase "sexual orientation" into California's civil rights laws. Most observers agree that Sheldon and TVC were instrumental in convincing Gov. Pete Wilson to veto the bill. TVC is currently organizing anti-gay rights initiatives in California and Arizona. Sheldon's influence appears to be growing (he participated in meetings between top religious right leaders and President Bush for instance), as is opposition to his efforts -- particularly among gay and lesbian activists and their supporters in California. At a September 1993 Sheldon address to a San Francisco church, protesters vandalized church property and pelted congregants with rocks and eggs. CALIFORNIA POLITICS TVC is part of the informal but potent coalition of religious right groups active in California politics: these groups include the Christian Coalition, Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, Operation Rescue, and Citizens for Excellence in Education. TVC and its compatriots suffered a setback when Proposition 174, a private school voucher referendum they had vigorously backed, was defeated by a 70-30 margin in the November 1993 election. However, religious right activists and sympathizers control nearly 40 of the 58 GOP county central committees, and have elected hundreds of "pro-family" candidates, mostly to local offices and the state legislature. Sheldon's efforts in this regard includes the dissemination of California voter guides. A 1986 guide, published by TVC front California Coalition for Traditional Values and distributed in conjunction with Citizens for Excellence in Education, advertised seminars featuring R.J. Rushdoony. More generally, Sheldon has brought to the public arena a tough-talking, absolutist rhetoric. "We were here first. You don't take our shared common values and say they are biased and bigoted," he says. "We are the keepers of what is right and what is wrong." {NOTES:} Bruce Mirken's "God's Right-Hand Man" in the December 5, 1991, _Sacramento News & Review_ remains the best starting place. The _San Francisco Chronicle_ published a three-part series on the religious right from September 13-15, 1993, the first part of which featured Sheldon. _The Public Eye_ (March 1993) noted Sheldon's support for a Lyndon LaRouche anti-gay proposal, and the Coalition for Human Dignity's _The Dignity Report_ has tracked TVC and its spin-offs in the northwest. Ed Foster's "Group urges banning laws that protect gays" in Phoenix's _Arizona Republic_ of December 23, 1993, depicts TVC's initiative in that state. Sheldon's bimonthly _Traditional Values Report_ is helpful in its coverage of the group's lobbying efforts. Project Tocsin provided information regarding Sheldon. -- from _The Religious Right: The Assault On Tolerance & Pluralism In America_, A Publication of the Anti-Defamation League, 1994, second printing.}