Disposti alleges fraud by ‘Stop 48ers’

BY THOM SENZEE

Imagine: You’re enjoying a local festival in Oceanside, and you see a large homemade sign with a nice lady asking passersby to sign a petition to help protect children from predators such as John Albert Gardner III, the man who raped and killed North County youth, Chelsea King. It’s the haunting image of Chelsea’s face on the jumbo-sized poster that draws you toward the woman’s table to sign said petition and advocate for the safety of children.

That’s exactly what happened to Max Disposti, a political activist and the executive director of the North County LGBTQ Resource Center, during Oceanside’s recent Harbor Days celebration.

“I thought it might be some kind of a revival of Chelsea’s Law, which didn’t end up passing last year,” Disposti told San Diego LGBT Weekly. “But what I found shocked me.”

The woman was collecting signatures to stop SB 48, a measure also known as the FAIR Education Act, which would require schools to teach students about the contributions to society of historically neglected minorities, including certain racial communities, LGBT people and the disabled.

As noted in Message from our Publisher (Page 5), the Stop SB 48 campaign is close to gathering enough signatures to put a proposition measure on next year’s ballot. If tactics such as those alleged by Disposti account for some of the signatures, legal actions may slow or even negate the Stop 48ers’ growing success in forwarding their cause.

“I’ve filed complaints with the state, the (Oceanside) city attorney and the D.A.,” Disposti said. “Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but this is fraud – and a crime.”

Proponents of SB 48 have their work cut out for them, as evidenced by the fact that, as of this writing, a Google search of “SB 48” yields more stop-48 results than pro-48 results.