Massachusetts parents Robb and Robin Wirthlin (Video: YouTube)
In their ongoing effort to perpetuate the myth that same-sex marriage will be taught in California schools, the Yes on 8 campaign have introduced a couple of new props to the mix. They’ve also launched a new ad, Everything To Do With Schools (seen above) that began airing yesterday.
California’s leading educators, including the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, aren’t buying it.
But first, let’s meet Robb and Robin Wirthlin of Lexington, Massachusetts. They maintain that their local school district forced their son to listen to a reading of the illustrated children’s book King and King, the story of a prince who marries another prince.
According to Robb Wirthlin of Massachusetts, speaking in the pro-8 ad, “We tried to stop public schools from teaching children about gay marriage, but the courts said we had no right to object or pull him out of class.”
In an extended four and a half minute video at ProtectMarriage.com, Robin Wirthlin claims, “Lexington Public Schools has come out with a new curriculum where they will teach about homosexuality and gay marriage in every topic, in math, in reading, in social studies, in spelling, there will be terms and concepts of homosexuality promoted in every subject at every level, from kindergarten on up. Parents will have no right to object, and schools will roll this forth whether they like it or not.”
The Massachusetts couple unsuccessfully sued claiming their parental rights and religious freedom had been violated. They lost in the First Circuit Court of Appeals in 2007, and the US Supreme Court, earlier this year, declined to hear their case.
Now, the Wirthlins of Lexington, Massachusetts are not only enjoying a trip to sunny California, but ProtectMarriage has decided to put this little dog and pony on a bus tour up and down the state, so the Wirthlins can tell Californians all about the horrors of Massachusetts law and make believe Massachusetts law will have some impact in California schools if Prop 8 is defeated.
According to a ProtectMarriage press release, the tale of the Massachusetts couple proves “that children in Massachusetts are already being taught about gay marriage in public schools.”
While the Wirthlins seem like a nice couple, they can only speak of their experience with Massachusetts law, because California law is entirely different.
Today the Vote No on Prop 8 campaign reported the comments of California’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, current President of the State Board of Education Ted Mitchell, former State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin and former President of the State Education Board, Reed Hastings.
The four said the latest Yes on Prop ad is “clearly false.”
From California-based Vote No on Prop 8:
“The Yes on 8 ads are alarming and irresponsible,” O’Connell said. “Our public schools are not required to teach about marriage. And, in fact, curriculum involving health issues is chosen by local school governing boards. No matter how you feel about marriage, we can all agree discrimination is wrong. That’s why I’m voting no on 8.”
“That ad is wrong. Not one person with any credibility has said otherwise,” Eastin said. “Prop. 8 is about one thing, pure and simple, and that’s taking away civil rights. Prop. 8 isn’t about reading school books or teaching, it’s about treating people differently – that is the one and only thing on the ballot.”
“Prop 8 has nothing to do with education, and the proponents know it,” Eastin continued. “Not one word in Prop 8 mentions education and no child can be forced, against the will of their parents, to attend any health-related class. California law prohibits it.”
President of the California State School Board, Ted Mitchell, said: “Let me be clear, there is nothing in California state law that would require the teaching of marriage and that will not change. These ads are ridiculous and they are an insult to California’s voters.”
“There’s one thing educators agree on: nothing in Prop 8 has anything to do with schools or children,” said Reed Hastings, former president of the California State Board of Education. “Prop 8 is about eliminating rights for our friends, families and colleagues, and that’s why I urge all Californians to vote no on Prop 8.”[ … ]
The California Teachers Association and the California School Boards Association both maintain that Prop 8 has nothing to do with teaching in public schools. In addition, education leaders across the state have endorsed the NO on Prop. 8 campaign, including Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education President Monica Garcia, Davis Joint Unified School Board President Sheila Allen and San Francisco Board of Education Vice-President Kim-Shree Maufas.
An opinion piece in this morning’s Los Angeles Times further clarifies the issue of the children and California law.
From the Los Angeles Times:
With the defeat of this proposed ban on gay marriage, [the backers of Yes on Prop 8] say, schools would begin indoctrinating children as young as kindergartners to be wholehearted supporters of such marriages. The ads point to the case of a Massachusetts teacher reading the picture book “King and King,” about a gay royal wedding.
[ … ]
This is emotional stuff for many parents. But the dry reality of California education law tells a different story. Under SB 71, which passed in 2003, the Legislature set out the framework for comprehensive sex education, which includes the brief reference to marriage from which these dire Proposition 8 warnings are drawn: “Instruction and materials shall teach respect for marriage and committed relationships.” Schools aren’t required to teach comprehensive sex education, but if they do, this is one of many rules they must follow. The law also gives schools the option of discussing gender, sexual orientation and family life, though that’s not required as part of the more comprehensive program.
Most important, the law contains paragraph after paragraph guaranteeing parents the right to review the material being taught and to have their children excused from all or any part of it.
(Emphasis: mine)
It’s clear that the Yes on 8 campaign is not at all interested in the truth, and has once again resorted to scare tactics to convince California voters to support their ballot initiative.
If you value the truth and you don’t like out-of-state special interest groups trying any tactic imaginable to influence your vote, Vote NO on Prop 8.
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Clearly, the right-wing revel in examples that allegedly support their propositions, no matter how mind-numbing dumb or out-of-context they are. The Wirthlins are probably a bunch of gay-hating “Christians”.
I am not 100% familiar with their individual conflict/case but would love to know the real facts behind their campaign. Like your Blog and am posting a link on mine.
Hi Tom!
Here’s a bit about the Wirthlins from Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders and more about the Supreme Court’s rejection of the case at Bay Windows.
Their bus tour destination are, if I recall, only to Christian churches.
The Real Wirthlins – Religious Fundamentalists with brutal tactics
Robb and Robin Wirthlin aren’t who they present themselves to be. __
The Wirthlins moved into the Lexington school district already aware of the “Window and Mirrors” curriculum that was put in place so that second graders, who talk about and paint pictures of their families constantly, would see all students and their own families represented in materials. Not just traditional family children, but children from single parent families, interracial parent families and split-home, divorced families.
Imagine if every racist could prevent their child from hearing about interracial marriage, if every anti-semite could prevent books about Jewish families, if every anti-muslim could prevent books about muslim families. That is what the Wirthlins asked the court to allow them the freedom to do. This is an issue about civil rights, not equality for gay and lesbian Californians.
This is an issue about saving our constitution from religious activism of the Mormon Church.
Did you know the Wirthlin’s son Joey, already knew a classmate, Jessica Soens, who had two mommies. This was not sex ed, this was anti-bias material representing all families, single parent families, interracial families, jewish and muslim families. That was all it was, according to Pam Hoffman of LexingtonCares.org. The Wirthlins moved into the district in order to challenge the curriculum and drug an unsuspecting second grade teacher, Mrs. Kramer, through the courts, devastating her
life.
The King and King book, though not a good book, was at the school since 1999 as part of an anti-bias diversity program. It had nothing to do with gay marriage. __The Wirthlins knew all this. They just wanted a fight. This is their Mormon Missionary Work.
Please pray for and remember the 52,000 California children of same-sex couples, the 140,000 California children of gay and lesbian parents and the countless children realizing they might be gay or lesbian when you are casting your vote against prop 8.
And remember the second grade school teacher Heather Kramer, so brutally attacked by the Wirthlins and the Parkers.
Read more at: _http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=3414
Save OUR California Constitution from the Mormon Church!