Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 20:20:32 -0500 From: "David B. O'Donnell" [ Originally submitted to GLB-NEWS by TomSwann@aol.com. Please remember=20 to send Press Releases to GLB-PRESS only. ] Stonewall Democratic Club=20 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date:=09=09January 10, 1996 Contact:=09Eric Bauman, Stonewall Democratic Club =09=09818-780-4590, Fax: 818-786-6981 =09Republicans Take Control of Assembly: Far Right Agenda Debuts Stonewall Invites Log Cabin Members to Admit Failure and Join the Democrati= c Family Los Angeles, CA=97Last week Republicans in the Assembly finally learned to count and installed a right-wing idealogue, already under an ethics cloud, as Speaker of the Assembly and Chair of the now all powerful rules committee. The Republicans have wasted no time introducing elements of their radical right agenda.=20 Their first action was the introduction of anti-gay amendments to a bill, AB 1982, by Assembly Member Pete Knight. The amendment would prevent California from recognizing same-sex marriages performed legally in Hawaii and other states. Knight said "I don't believe that California should be in the business of legitimizing same-sex marriages....The legal and financial benefits of traditional marriage are designed to....for raising kids. Since homosexuals and other same-sex couples can't produce offspring together, they must view marriage as just a reservoir of economic perks." Knight's bill already has the backing of the Assembly Republican Caucus, and has 29 Republican co-sponsors.=20 Next on the agenda is a woman's right to choose. Republican Assembly Member Bruce Thompson is calling for the elimination of court-ordered state funding for abortion, and for deep cuts in the Office of Family Planning. "The plan is to make sure the money does not go for state-funded abortions. That's the bottom line," Thompson said according to the L.A. Times. Thompson is in line to become chair of the budget committee, the committee that will also determine funding for AIDS programs.=20 The Office of Family Planning's services include sex education, teenage counseling, and HIV testing. Republicans are also targeting the state health department's program for prenatal genetic testing, which allows poor women an opportunity to determine if their fetuses have genetic abnormalities. In keeping with blocking recognition of same-sex marriages, state-funded abortions for the poor, and sex counseling and HIV testing, Assembly Republican Mickey Conroy obtained committee approval of a new law to allow the paddling of juveniles. The law would allow a Judge to order a bailiff to whack children up to ten times with a half-inch-thick wooden paddle. Conroy said at a press conference, "I'm just giving a tool to the Judge for a child he feels needs a little rod." This bill is expected to pass the full Assembly in the next couple of months.=20 These actions are only the beginning of the new Republican-controlled Assembly's plan of action. Pringle has already said that his plans include radically overhauling family planning, including curtailing condom distribution in schools, and abolishing the board which has been responsible for cleaning up Southern California's air. Pringle has also said he favors restrictions on personal injury lawsuits and wants to "restructure" taxes for businesses. Pringle has also discussed modifying the consenting adults law which allow adults to do whatever they wish behind closed doors.=20 Stonewall President Eric Bauman said, "This is the party that Log Cabin Republicans want lesbians and gays to support, showing its true colors. As I have said for months, we (the lesbian and gay community) are at the top of the Republican hit list, and women and immigrants are next on the list. Gay Republicans talk about how they are changing their party, but action speaks louder than words. Allowing gay Republicans to hold a workshop at a meeting is meaningless in the face of the radical agenda we now face in California. Clearly, radical Republicans have taken control of our state and are trying to advance an agenda that endangers gays, women, immigrants, people of color, and poor people. The only remaining political protection gays and other unpopular minorities have in California is the narrowly Democratic-controlled State Senate, under the leadership of Senator Bill Lockyer. With Wilson in the Governor's office, Pringle in charge of the Assembly, and the religious-right extremist Rob Hurtt as the Senate GOP leader, our community faces its worst year in recent memory."=20 Bauman said he would provide voter registration forms to gay Republicans wishing to join the Democratic Party, and would openly welcome ex-Log Cabin members to join Stonewall Democratic Club where they can be members of the only political party that openly embraces lesbians and gays and our civil rights and public policy agendas.=20 Stonewall Democratic Club is California's oldest and largest lesbian and gay Democratic Club. Stonewall's members are active in both the California and National Democratic parties, chairing committees and holding office within the party, as well as actively supporting the candidacies of Democrats.=20