Values voters in Calif. still fighting after setback

Conservatives and pro-family groups in the Golden State are filing paperwork with the state attorney general Monday to begin qualifying for a referendum on SB 777 -- one of four pro-homosexual measures signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger last week. They fear the measures will create major anti-family changes in schools if they go into effect.

SB 777 and AB 394 will require California public schools to teach and present positive portrayals of homosexuality and transgender lifestyles, and mandate anti-harassment training for parents, teachers and students as young as kindergarten age. The legislature and governor passed the bills despite Proposition 22 -- a voter referendum approved in March 2000 that established a legal and traditional definition for marriage. Lawmakers also ignored communications from voters opposing the measures.

With that in mind, pro-family activists, like Capitol Resource Institute's Karen England, have decided to bypass legislators and the courts all for the sake of the children who will be put at risk. "What this will do is very specific to SB 777. And if we're successful, this will tell the legislature, 'No, you may have voted yes for this, but we the people say no,'" she says.

Capital Resource Family Impact has launched a website, SaveOurKids.net, in an effort to collect the half-a-million signatures needed to turn the referendum into a valid ballot measure for the state's voters to consider. England says referendums are rarely used, and just as rarely successful, but conservatives do not intend to go down without a fight. Some state legislators have already signed on to help, as have several pro-family groups.

Sacramento-based Pacific Justice Institute will provide pro bono legal counsel during the referendum effort. England says a more comprehensive announcement of the groups in the coalition will be made next week. SB 777 is currently scheduled to go into effect January 1, 2008.