Stop SB 48 has collected more than 415,000 signatures to put the repeal of the Fair Education Act, also known as SB 48, on the June ballot in California next year. The haters need a total of about 505,000 signatures by Oct. 12, and it looks like they may get them.
SB 48 spells trouble for LGBT mayoral candidates City Councilman Carl DeMaio and District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis. The largely Republican supporters of the repeal of SB 48 are against the concept of teaching the history and accomplishments of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans in public schools. SB 48 also prohibits discriminatory instruction and discriminatory materials from being adopted by the state Board of Education.
Republicans and conservatives have used the “homosexual agenda” as a wedge issue for decades now. In recent history, use of that so-called agenda took the form of anti-LGBT ballot initiatives meant to deny our community marriage and the rights associated with marriage. It was used to perfection in 2004 to help ensure that George W. Bush was re-elected to a second term.
Simply, these anti-LGBT initiatives are red meat for Republicans and measurably increase their voter turnout. Not to say that a significant number of Democrats don’t also vote for these initiatives, as illustrated by the Prop 8 result in 2008 when we elected our first African American president – overwhelmingly in our state.
All of this means trouble at the polls for DeMaio and Dumanis. Do you really think that someone who votes for the repeal of SB 48 is going to cast a vote for either of them? They don’t want LGBT history taught in schools, but they want the leader of San Diego to be gay or lesbian? Unlikely.
That means that every vote for repeal of SB 48 in San Diego will almost surely yield a vote against DeMaio or Dumanis. That means that the other two mayoral candidates, Congressman Bob Filner and State Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, may benefit from the bigots in San Diego. After all, they are both straight men.
All elections are about turnout. If the repeal of SB 48 makes the ballot, it means that it will bring out conservative votes in the primary that will vote for Fletcher when all is said and done, because Filner is a Democrat and DeMaio and Dumanis are gay and lesbian, respectively.
The more interesting question is how DeMaio and Dumanis will deal with the situation should it occur. Will they both come out against repeal? Will they try to dodge the issue by saying it has no relevance to the San Diego mayoral race?
I am sure both DeMaio and Dumanis are holding their breath, and hope that the initiative does not get enough signatures to be placed on the ballot, so they won’t have to deal with the anti-LGBT zealots in California. Unfortunately, it does not look like that is going to happen.
The fate of our LGBT mayoral candidates could be decided by Oct. 12, and that outcome will have nothing to do with the money they have raised or their competency as candidates, it will be all about bigotry and homophobia in San Diego. The terrible irony is it may all happen in October; LGBT History Month.
STAMPP CORBIN, Publisher
San Diego LGBT Weekly
I disagree. I know lots of conservative voters who like DeMaio and would even supports Dumanis (who is essentially a moderate conservative) who will also support SB 48.
What they object to is teaching history at public institutions by legislation and having little say in what is taught to their children.
The key word here is “public.” What is taught in school is about the most public matter you can think of.
This is in contrast to the *private* lifestyle of a candidate – a candidate who takes positions they support.
The private lifestyle of the candidate will, for the most part, not affect how they would vote for that candidate. It won’t affect how I vote, that is for sure.
Go Demaio!
Yesterday I received an unsolicited text from “StopSB48.com”. They are using spamming to get their message across, which should be illegal if it isn’t already. The text said “Stop homosexual and transgender training in schools”. First of all, that is NOT what SB48 is about, and second, why shouldn’t important historical events like the Stonewall riots be taught in schools? I don’t want to live in a country where hate and ignorance are passed off as Christianity. Please call the many contact phone numbers on their website to complain.
nathan voted 4 SB48. Bob would have 2. Non issue.
Things have change significantly since this article was published. I may be wrong but as I understand it, the organizers of the Stop 48 campaign are facing problems from multiple fronts from lying about getting signatures on the petitions to trying to hide their donations – http://www.americanindependent.com/197541/group-trying-to-repeal-cas-lgbt-inclusive-education-law-short-on-signatures-accused-of-violations
Unfortunately your analysis is flawed. If someone did not want African American history taught in schools, why would they want an African American mayor? They would not.
What you suggest is by being closeted, or keeping your private life out of the spotlight, prevents voters from discovering that DeMaio and Dumanis are the gay and lesbian candidate, respectively.
People who do not want homosexuality taught in schools do not want to hear on every news broadcast gay Mayor DeMaio or lesbian Mayor Dumanis, should they win the race.
The false information that SB 48 signature gatherers give only amounts to a misdemeanor and will have no affect on whether they reach their signature goal. Unfortunately, the law has no teeth.
Actually it would be placed on the November 2012 ballot because of a recent bill CA Gov. Brown signed. into law. The bill SB 202 which requires all statewide initiatives to be placed on November general election ballots.
I am not surprised at how many signatures that SB48 has collected. Our very own openly gay mayoral candidate Carl Demaio’s signature gatherers have been collecting signatures for SB48 since the day it came out. Paying his signature gatherers $5 per signature made them do and say anything to get that money!! I really wish this magazine had the courage to admit and print that Carl Demaio takes endorsements from anti-gay entities like Jerome’s, Rodger Hedgecock,etc. Please, do not make blanket statements for the entire LGBT Community especially regarding politics. Carl Demaio has done nothing for the LGBT Community but help SB48 gather signatures. He had nearly 500 people out in the front of every grocery store and they carried more than just Comprehensive Pension reform, they had lower auto insurance, lower gas prices, and SB48!