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Christian Action League of North Carolina
July 1, 2008
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 today 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 are expected to take up the measure on the House floor, when they convene at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow. If House members vote as the House Judiciary I Committee recommends, then the legislation will be sent to a Conference Committee, where an effort will be made to put the pro-homosexual language back in the bill. Should the House vote simply to concur with the Senate version, which excludes “sexual orientation” and “gender identity and expression,” then the threat will be removed and a good bill that doesn’t grant special protections will be ratified and sent to the Governor for his signature.
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Take Action Now: Contact your Representative right away – before 2:00. p.m. Wednesday and ask him/her to “Vote to Concur” with the Senate’s version of HB 1366 and resist all efforts to restore the pro-homosexual language in the bill.
If you don’t know who represents you in the North Carolina House, 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.
The vote is likely to be very close. So your phone call or email could make a significant difference.
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.
