Date: Mon, 09 Dec 1996 01:05:28 -1000 From: Maggie Heineman Subject: Pennsylvania Expose -- 12/9/96 Pennsylvania Expose http://www.libertynet.org/~exposepa/ December 9, 1996 Number 14 CONTENTS * Elizabethtown UPDATE * PA NOW's Website * UPDATE from Lancaster, PA: The City Human Relations Ordinance * Political Activist Training Available * Community Activist Conference * [PAX Masthead] ================================================ Elizabethtown UPDATE By Tom Wilson, Chairman, Common Sense (toadman@paonline.com) December 3 The Elizabethtown Area School Board held a policy committee meeting last evening Dec 2. No new action was taken on the Pro Family Resolution pending a second reading at next weeks meeting. However we are now being entertained with the Sex Education Agenda. The board now wants the co-ed classes on sex education to be separated into all male and all female classes. This will require extra teachers and they are willing to pay for that but not for other needed teachers. The board asked the Superintendent to do research to find out how many schools in Pennsylvania DO NOT teach sex education classes in school. It is not mandatory in Pennsylvania. They also want to have information on how our teachers become qualified to teach these classes. It certainly appears they intend to remove this type on education from our curriculum so now our children will not only be sheltered from the reality of life by the PRO FAMILY RESOLUTION, but also have the privilege of being sex educated ON THE STREETS rather than in a classroom. Now, we shall see Act 2 of the Elizabethtown School Board as the Circus continues. In November The Elizabethtown Area School Board policy committee discussed an alternative to the Pro-Family Resolution adopted earlier last month by the entire board. However, the board will adopt the original resolution in next week. This is another loss to those of us interested in "quality public education for all children." The board's hidden agenda moves on. It is frightening to see 1300 citizens come to a meeting that generally draws 50 at most and express their anger with the board over the resolution and then see the board paying no attention to the citizens of the community. They move forward with their own agenda without regard to the community requests. At the November meeting, superintendant Dr. Baker advised the committee that "homosexual classes" were never taught at Elizabethtown, and that there was no intention to do so. Tolerance is the issue, and since there is existing legislation preventing discrimination Baker did not understand why they wanted to continue with the issue. She felt it would only lead to further specific issues which the board was unlikely to want to be involved with. She drew a standing ovation from the audience. Dr. Baker gave the committee an excellent opportunity to recommend rescinding the resolution, but the committee failed to do so and decided to send the policy to the board. As we wait for the Resolution to be adopted things are calm. Common Sense is working on its first publication and forum for January. The Resolution, (provided by Concerned Women of America): WHEREAS the traditional family, of one man married to one woman and their children through birth or adoption, has been the norm in all civilized societies throughout history; WHEREAS the traditional family bears the primary responsibility for the moral instruction of children; and WHEREAS the traditional family is under relentless attack by those who want to redefine family to include homosexual and lesbian couples and by those who want to indoctrinate children in pro-homosexual propaganda against their parents' wishes; therefore BE IT RESOLVED that Elizabethtown Area School District hereby endorses this Pro-Family Resolution and affirms that pro-homosexual concepts on sex and family as promoted by the National Education Association will never be tolerated or accepted in this school. ================================================ PA NOW's Website By Barbara Burgos Di Tullio, President, Pennsylvania NOW (panow@libertynet.org) The intermediate website for the Pennsylvania chapter of NOW is up and running. The address is http://www.libertynet.org/~panow. It contains chapter listings across the state, the PA NOW PAC endorsements, and links to National NOW and the Feminist Majority. The site was updated after the election, and soon a section will be created for PA Legislation affecting women and children. NOW would appreciate feedback from Pennsylvanians (see above email address). ================================================ UPDATE from Lancaster, PA: The City Human Relations Ordinance By Laura Montgomery Rutt Alliance for Tolerance and Freedom (lmrutt@lancnews.infi.net) After repeated requests to the city council president to create a committee to study the lack of enforcement of the sexual orientation and marital status sections of the City Human Relations Ordinance, a member of the council, Nelson Polite (D) has decided to move forward without the president's blessing. Polite runs the Personnel Committee. Mr. Polite said that as a 73-year-old African American, he knows personally about discrimination and abhors it. The committee met Wednesday, November 13th, with over 60 additional people attending. It is presumed that almost all were supporters of the enforcement of the ordinance, which has been codified into law. Journalists from both Lancaster papers attended, plus a writer for "Crossroads" (a central PA gay magazine), reporters from WGAL-TV8 in Lancaster, Andrew Park (from the Center for Gay and Lesbian Law and Public Policy), and Kirk Clay (from People For the American Way). Both papers published excellent articles about the meeting, and the TV station did an excellent piece on the 11:00 news and the morning news. Andrew Park added a dimension to the meeting that was both important and informative; his presence and statements during the public forum were very helpful and much appreciated. So far, no one has spoken up in opposition to enforcement of the ordinance, and more than a dozen clergy members and houses of worship have given their support. The strategy to concentrate first on building support within the faith-based community has not only succeeded, but given us much-needed support from members of city council who attend some of these churches and may not have chosen to support its enforcement otherwise. Those supporting the enforcement of the ordinance include Lancaster Area NOW, The Alliance for Tolerance and Freedom, Lancaster ACLU, The Pink Triangle Coalition, Cedar Grove Presbyterian Church, Leacock Presbyterian Church, Peacemaking Committee of the Donegal Presbytery (PCUSA), The Lancaster Peace and Justice Coalition, Lancaster Chapter of the Nat'l Conf. of Christians and Jews. Also supporting enforcement are clergy from Temple Shaarai Shamoyim, St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Christ United Methodist Church, East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church, Grace Lutheran Church, First Reformed Church, St. Andrew United Church of Christ, Vision of Hope Metropolitan Community Church, Unitarian Universalist Church of Lancaster, the chaplain of Lancaster General Hospital, plus a retired professor from Lancaster Theological Seminary and several retired clergy. Several community leaders have also encouraged City Council to act, including a school board member, the CEO of the Lancaster Urban League, and the past president of the Lancaster City School Board. ================================================ Political Activist Training Available By Mort Metersky, Southeastern Pennsylvania Interfaith Alliance The Southeastern Pennsylvania Interfaith Alliance is planning political activist training. The Christian Coalition wants to train ten activists per precinct in the next four years, and we need there to be some balance. If you are interested in being trained or conducting training call 215-672-4598. ================================================ Ramifications of Welfare Reform By Ed Schwartz, Institute for the Study of Civic Values (edcivic@libertynet.org) Welfare "reform" will be a major issue in this country for the forseeable future, and no single change in the past year will have a greater, tangible impact on our communities. And it won't be good.... We've maintained a welfare reform page for some time. It's widely used, since it pops up high on the search engines when someone looks for "welfare reform." It's updated to reflect current developments. There's a link on the page called, "The People Speak," where users can send comments via email back to me. There's fascinating testimony here on all sides of the issue--and some poignant personal stories. I've just added several more today. The welfare reform page is: http://libertynet.org/~edcivic/welfref.html ================================================ Community Activist Conference -- SAVE THE DATE By Laura Montgomery Rutt The Pennsylvania Alliance for Democracy announces a statewide conference for community activists, May 3-4, 1997 in State College, PA. This conference will provide opportunities to network with organizations that have similar goals and missions. This is a common sense collaboration of groups that will help activists mobilize the mainstream in their communities. Participants can also assist others by providing information about threats to democracy and religious liberty in communities across the state. A wide variety of workshops will focus on: *Organizing Your Communities *Mobilizing Your Allies *Educating Decision Makers *Networking Advocates The keynote speaker is Chip Berlet, from Political Research Associates. ================================================ [Masthead] Pennsylvania Expose Copyright (C) 1996 Pennsylvania Alliance for Democracy PO Box 366 Harrisburg, PA 17108 President, Clark Moeller * * * Permission to reproduce, unaltered, in whole or in part, with copyright notice. * * * Editors Maggie Heineman, maggie@critpath.org Barbara Purdom, purdom@critpath.org Design, Layout & Editing Joseph Bordo starwalker@earthlink.net