Subject: Fwd: Prop 22 Backers Call Gays & Lesbians "Evil"
From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2000 02:15:18 EST

From: "Sherry from No On Knight" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Fwd: Prop 22 Backers Call Gays & Lesbians "Evil"
Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2000 19:38:20 PST

An article for you all- please read and pass on to all that you care about 
and those that care about you.
Sherry

Contact: Tracey Conaty, Press Secretary
(415) 225-5786 or (415) 227-1020

NO ON KNIGHT/
PROP 22
PRESS RELEASE

PETE KNIGHT & PROP 22 SUPPORTERS SHOW TRUE COLORS;
GAYS AND LESBIANS CALLED "EVIL"

San Francisco, CA --- February 7, 2000 --- "Evil," "filth," "pornography,"
"Nazi Germany," "sacrificing babies," "recruiting," "not norm," were just a
few of the words said and comparisons made in reference to gays and lesbians
by backers of Prop 22. The comments were made yesterday at a California GOP
prayer breakfast that featured Prop 22 sponsor State Senator Pete Knight.
The Prop 22 campaign has consistently denied that it is anti-gay or opposed
to basic recognitions of gay and lesbian families. Yesterdays remarks laid
bare this lie.

Below are some of the statements made at the prayer breakfast (as reported
in the San Francisco Examiner):

"The last two stages of decadence of any nation that ever fell from within
was sacrificing their babies and homosexuality. I think you can understand
why we must support this legislation. Our nation is faced with a spiritual
deathWere talking about something that has destroyed national all through
biblical history."
--- Republican state party Chaplain Doc Burch

"Today there are minority groups all over the country that are screaming and
demanding and we as a people are giving in to their demands, one right after
another. I dont think we can continue to do that and maintain these United
States."
---- State Senator Pete Knight

According to the Examiner article, another guest speaker, Bill Bright,
compared the acceptance of gay people with Nazi Germany and the former
Soviet Union. In addition, he stated, "The number one enemy of everything
you and I stand for is the secular school, which denies the Bible, embraces
homosexuality and lesbianism and all the pornography and filth of another
kingdom."

No on Knight Campaign Manager Mike Marshall issued the following statement
in response:
"Yesterdays remarks by Pete Knight and his supporters removed the cloak of
moderation in which the Prop 22 campaign has tried to veil the measure. The
Knight campaign has consistently and disingenuously claimed that Prop 22 is
not about attacking gay and lesbian people and their families, is not
mean-spirited, and is not part of a larger agenda to deny gay and lesbian
people even the most basic of protections and recognitions. These claims are
in blatant contradiction to yesterdays tirade, Pete Knights voting record
in the California legislature, and to how laws like Prop 22 have been used
in other states as a legal framework to undermine anti-discrimination
measures and policies.

"The Yes on 22 spin doctors have kept Senator Knight under wraps for the
last several months. His statements yesterday and his record in the
legislature show his true anti-gay intentions. Its cynical and shameful. We
urge the voters of California not to support discrimination and intolerance,
which are the root  and the impact - of Prop 22. We call on Pete Knight and
the Knight campaign to stop trying to deceive California voters."

Moderate Republicans, including Ward Connerly, Congressman Tom Campbell, the
California Republican League, San Diego Mayor Susan Golding, Assemblyman Jim
Cunneen, oppose Prop 22.

The Knight Initiative, sponsored by right-wing State Senator Pete Knight, is
on the March 7, 2000 ballot. The Knight Initiative threatens hospital
visitation rights, inheritance rights and other equal rights and protections
that voters and private corporations have established for gays and lesbians
in recent years. It represents the latest political efforts by anti-gay
special interests to increase the rhetoric of hate and intolerance towards
gay and lesbian Californians and their families, and threatens all
California families with unnecessary intrusion into their private lives. The
Knight Initiative is opposed by Vice President Al Gore, presidential
candidate Bill Bradley, and Republican Congressman Tom Campbell, among
others.
###

Prop. 22 praised at GOP breakfast
By Robert Salladay
EXAMINER CAPITOL BUREAU
Monday, February 7, 2000
)2000 San Francisco Examiner
URL:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/hotnews/stories/07/
gop.dtl
BURLINGAME -- After listening to a passage from Corinthians about the
greatness of love, California Republicans sat down to a prayer breakfast and
a warning: Gay marriage is an evil akin to Nazi Germany and the "filth and
pornography of another kingdom."
The Sunday breakfast at the state GOP's convention here featured evangelist
Bill Bright, co-founder of the Campus Crusade for Christ, and state Sen.
Pete Knight, R-Palmdale, sponsor of an initiative on the March 7 ballot that
attempts to ban gay marriages.
Knight has kept a low public profile in supporting Proposition 22, leaving
much of the work to a team of Sacramento consultants and his chief of staff.
But Sunday he spoke of being branded as "bigoted, racist and mean-spirited,"
someone who puts "forth divisive issues and wedge politics. You name it, and
I'm it."
"Go for it!" a man yelled from the audience gathered in front of Knight,
many of whom then laughed and applauded.
"Fifteen or 20 years ago, nobody would have thought about debating this
issue," Knight said. "Today there are minority groups all over the country
that are screaming and demanding and we as a people are giving in to their
demands, one right after the other. I don't think we can continue to do that
and maintain these United States."
At past conventions, the prayer breakfast has been a source of controversy
and embarrassment for the state Republican Party as it tries to attract more
minority voters and throw away a patina of intolerance.
Last September at a GOP convention breakfast in Anaheim, state party
Chaplain Doc Burch offended ethnic and religious groups by telling a joke
that cast Egyptians as adulterers, Syrians as thieves and Jews as cheap
barterers.
This Sunday, Burch made jokes about public school officials allegedly taking
teenagers into a "gay and lesbian and homosexual recruiting office" where
they are asked, "Have you ever had a sexual feeling you didn't understand?"
"I never had one I did understand," Burch dead-panned. "Every hairy-legged
boy I've ever known was hornier than a two-peckered goat, and you're asking
him if he's ever had a sexual feeling he didn't understand? It's insanity,
and that's what we've done to our kids."
The audience roared with laughter, but state GOP Chairman John McGraw, who
was sitting next to Burch, just forced a thin smile and rubbed his forehead.
The state party endorsed Prop. 22 at its last convention, so there wasn't
much discussion about the initiative outside the prayer breakfast. A group
of Republicans, including anti-affirmative action leader Ward Connerly and
moderate members of the Legislature, have come out against the measure.
But the vast majority of convention delegates at the breakfast and the
convention seemed enthusiastic about Prop. 22. Many of them signed petitions
signaling their public support of the 14-word measure which reads: "Only
marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."
Knight said if the initiative doesn't win by 60 or 70 percent, gay-rights
groups will put an initiative on the November ballot attacking marriage.
"They will see there is a crack in our armor, that we as a people can be
beaten," he said.
Burch said being gay is "not norm" and then admitted he and his wife had a
relative who is a lesbian. He put his hand on Knight's shoulder and made
reference to Knight's son, who also is gay and has denounced the initiative.
"He loves his kinfolk just exactly like we love ours. It has nothing to do
with that," Burch said. "We will continue to love them. But we will continue
to stand for what we believe is right. We're not out to bash anybody. We're
talking about issues, we're talking about morality, right and wrong. We're
talking about something that has destroyed nations all through biblical
history.
Burch finished up: "The last two stages of decadence of any nation that ever
fell from within was sacrificing their babies and homosexuality. No
exceptions to that in all recorded history."
Bright warned the crowd that immorality is like an infection of cells that
must be fought. He asked the crowd of about 200, dining on a breakfast of
quiche and bacon, to fast in support of Prop. 22.
Nazi Germany and the former Soviet Union "expelled God" and paid the price,
Bright said. And then he warned of the same phenomenon in the United States
with its acceptance of gays and lesbians.
"(God) doesn't tolerate the way we are living today, embracing all kinds of
evil," Bright said. "I commend Sen. Knight for the marvelous and courageous
stand he is taking and the vicious attacks from those who hold a different
view. I think you can understand why we must support this legislation. Our
nation is faced with a spiritual death."
Bright added: "The No. 1 enemy of everything you and I stand for is the
secular school, which denies the Bible, embraces homosexuality and
lesbianism and all the pornography and filth of another kingdom."
Burch wasn't the only one joking at the prayer breakfast. Jo Ellen Allen, an
Orange County Republican, read a passage from the Bible and then offered a
joke about the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.
The April bloodshed left 12 students, a teacher and two gunman dead.
Allen read a mock letter: " "Dear God, why did you let the children die at
Littleton? Signed, A Concerned Parent,' And God wrote back: "Dear parent,
I'm not allowed in the public schools anymore. Signed, God.' "
A few people in the audience laughed.
The prayer breakfast clearly attracted many of the most ardent of Christian
Republicans. One man sitting in the back loudly added the words: "Born and
unborn!" at the end of the Pledge of Allegiance's dictum of "liberty and
justice for all."
Then he sat down and shared a laugh with another conventioneer about a
bumper sticker he had purchased: "Will work for ammo."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

TJ Michels
No On Knight / No on Prop 22
www.NoOnKnight.org
505 Howard St. San Francisco, CA 94105
[email-masked]
T 415.227.1020 / F 415.227.1029

--------- End Forwarded Message ---------

Sherry L. Wright, San Diego Field Coordinator
No on Knight/Prop 22
office 619.291.1886
pager  619.898.4450
PRINT YOUR OWN POSTER AT http://www.NoOnKnight.org

**the main dangers in life are the people who want to change everything- or 
nothing.   *Nancy Astor

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