Posted by
TheChair on Thursday, July 24, 2008 1:54:10 AM
Big Surprise! California's largest teachers' union, the California Teachers Association officially opposes
Proposition 8, the California Marriage Protection Act. It advocates for homosexual marriage. CTA's political
recommendations page is here
http://www.cta.org/issues/current/campaign/ . It's fuller explanations and endorsements are here:
http://www.cta.org/NR/rdonlyres/700D45BF-5ECE-4157-91D7-14D794EE093A/0/CTAPositionsinNovember2008Election71408.pdf).
In CTA's own words:
NO on Prop. 8 – Support Equality for All
• CTA believes that all people should be allowed equal protections under the law.
California’s Constitution should guarantee the same freedoms and rights to everyone –
no one group should be singled out to be treated differently.
• Equal protection under the law is the foundation of American society. In fact, teachers
focus on the guarantees of equal protection when teaching history or discussing the
Constitution. Prop. 8 mandates one set of rules for gay and lesbian couples and another
set of rules for everyone else. That’s not fair. California laws should treat everyone
equally.
• CTA policy states that “the legal rights and responsibilities of marriage and civil unions
belong to all adults, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability,
religion or socio-economic status.”
• Marriage equality is about treating everyone’s family fairly. The freedom to marry is
fundamental to our society. Gay and lesbian couples should not be singled out for unfair
treatment under the laws of our state. Committed and loving couples who want to
accept the responsibility that comes with marriage should be treated equally.
Action plan: 1. Contact friends, family and
neighbors who are public school teachers in California and call their
attention to this endorsement. Ask them whether they support it. If
not, ask them if they plan on withdrawing from the union. They should
still have the option of paying a shop fee to benefit from collective
bargaining. They are also protected by the
Beck Supreme Court
decision that allows them to withhold from the union a portion of their
dues that would go to political activities. 2. Consider withdrawing
your children from California public schools. I don't know that I can
afford to right now, but should Prop. 8 fail, I intend to move from
California. I have seen first hand what the law does to the culture,
especially to youth culture. I won't raise my youngest in this
atmosphere. The textbooks with two dads and two moms are almost upon us.
The CTA endorsement is boneheaded for many reasons of principle as well
as practice. Two spring to mind. First, Proposition 8 has nothing
whatsoever to do with "equal protection" of the laws. That is a legal
concept that depends on the compared parties being similarly situated.
I can think of no greater contrast than that between traditional,
heterosexual marriage to homosexual marriage. The first requires a man
and a woman. Society and the human race require such union to
perpetuate themselves. The second, by definition, requires that the
couple NOT consist of a man and a woman. Men and women are different to
such an extent that being married to and sexually united to the one,
can be nothing at all like being married to and sexually united with
the other. Heterosexual marriage propagates the race, enlarges the
economy, and increases human happiness. Homosexual marriage on its best
day can do none of that.
Second, I believe society and the human race are done harm by a
multiplicity of same-sex marriages. As tolerance for homosexual union
and marriage increase, as the law turns to bless what it once forbid,
we shall continue to see increase in homosexual identification, and in
homosexual behavior, union and marriage. Whether some are "born that
way," certainly all are not, and we know that because the homosexual
fertility rate should be expected to breed the trait of homosexuality
out of existence, or nearly so. But the percentage seems to maintain
itself. In other words, conversion is going on. So here's what is going
to happen, and it's drenched in irony so stark only a teachers' union
could miss it. By endorsing Proposition 8, CTA is supporting an
institution that will harm California's fertility rate and result in
less children attending California public schools.
CTA is killing the goose that lays its golden egg.