Call your Senator in the North Carolina General Assembly and express your opposition
Christian Action League of North Carolina
In what was a surprise move to pro-family advocates, the pro-homosexual bullying bill, HB 1366 – School Violence Prevention Act appeared at 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday’s agenda for the House Judiciary I Committee. The Committee took up the legislation on Tuesday and voted to recommend that the House not concur with the Senate’s version of the bill, which excludes the objectionable language of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity and expression.”
Our good friends from the North Carolina Family Policy Council give a good synopsis of the legislation:
“Under the guise of protecting public school students and staff from bullying and harassment, the House passed HB 1366—School Violence Prevention Act during the 2007 Session. The bill would force schools to recognize special rights based on a student’s or staff’s real or perceived “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression.” Not only would this bill create protected status in North Carolina’s public schools for homosexuality, bisexuality, cross dressing and other alternative sexual behaviors, it also would require our public schools to teach that these behaviors are normal and perfectly acceptable. An amendment to remove this objectionable language from HB 1366 was defeated by one vote on the House floor last year prior to the bill being passed by the House. When the bill was taken up in the Senate, that chamber stripped the pro-homosexual language from the bill and sent HB 1366 back to the House, minus the “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression” language. Instead of making a motion to accept the Senate’s version of the bill, the primary sponsor of HB 1366, Rep. Rick Glazier (D-Cumberland), asked the House to send the bill to the House Judiciary 1 Committee, presumably to keep the bill alive for the 2008 Session where proponents would try to get the controversial language back into the bill.”
House members took up the measure on the House floor on Wednesday and voted 60-56 not to concur with the Senate’s version of the bill. This means the Senate and House leadership will now appoint conferees from both chambers to a Conference Committee in an effort to hammer out an agreement between the two chambers on the bill. Whatever agreement is reached will then be reported out of the Conference Committee and both the House and Senate will vote on the agreement.
During debate on HB 1366, Rep. Rick Glazier vowed to work diligently to put the objectionable language back in the bill. Glazier often says that the legislation would not create a specially protected class by law when it enumerates certain groups on the basis of their actual or perceived “sexual orientation” or “gender identity or expression.” He argues that one section of the bill reads: “Nothing in this act shall be construed to create any classification or preference beyond those existing in present statute or case law.” Nevertheless, another section of the bill negate this by placing “sexual orientation” or “gender identity or expression” on an equal basis with recognized protected classes such as race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender and the disabled. The legislation, unfortunately, speaks with a “double tongue.”
The best that we can hope for now is for the Senate to hold the line and not agree to the pro-homosexual language being placed back in the legislation.
If HB 1366 – School Violence Prevention Act succeeds, it will be the first time in North Carolina history that homosexuals are recognized by law as a specially protected class.
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Take Action Now: Contact your Senator right away and ask him/her to resist and reject all efforts to restore the pro-homosexual language to the bill.
Note: The Christian Action sent an Urgent Action Alert on this matter to everyone on our email list, Tuesday night. However, due to technical difficulties, that alert failed in cyberspace and did not get out as needed. This makes the need to respond now all the more urgent. Call or write an email today. If you must, call them at home!!!!!! But call or email without delay. Share this email with your Pastor, church leaders, and other friends sympathetic with stopping the homosexual agenda.
If you don’t know who represents you in the North Carolina Senate, go to the following link on the N.C. General Assembly web site and follow the prompts under Representation: http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/GIS/Representation/ It will give you their name and contact information.
Pray: “The legislation with the objectionable is so egregious that I do not believe it would be inappropriate to ask for God’s intervention and pray for its failure” said Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League. “All who believe in the cause of righteousness should earnestly contend with heaven about this matter,” he added.