>From People for the American Way "An Abridged Guide to Right Wing Activity in 1993 at the Grassroots Level" Following is a state by state listing of anticipated Religious Right activity in 1993 at the grassroots level. ALABAMA In Birmingham, Gadsden, Huntsville, and Tuscaloosa the American Family Association ran a full page ad attacking the entertainment industry and seeking contributions from the public. Contributors can then be converted to members of a local chapter. Pro-choice groups expect 1993 to be "the worst year ever" for abortion rights. They expect anti-choice and Religious Right forces to push for bills mandating waiting periods for abortions and requiring clinics to maintain $1 million in malpractice insurance. Now pending before the state school board is a resolution brought by local activists that would ban yoga, deep breathing and meditation for the public schools on the grounds that they are religious practices. ALASKA In Anchorage, a local chapter of the American Family Association, with the support of the mayor of Anchorage, has begun to challenge a series of art exhibits and performances. ARIZONA Moderate Arizona Republicans are battling the Religious Right for control of the GOP Party. A Religious Right-affiliated candidate won election to the party chairmanship in Pima County, prompting the GOP National Committeeman for Arizona to warn that he may break from the party. With help from Lou Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition, a state-based organization is working to place a Colorado-style anti-gay initiative on the ballot. CALIFORNIA As many as 36 of 58 Repubican county central commmittees have been taken over by Christian Right forces, as part of a broad effort to seize control of state party apparatus. In the comng year those committees will be used to field candidates sympathetic to the Religious Right and to raise money for their election. Operation Rescue activists are stalking targeted ob-gyns and other individuals and businesses that provide abortion services, using such tactics as picketing and "Wanted" posters. {ed. note: the city of San Jose is one of about six cities nationwide targeted by Operation Rescue for extended anti-abortion protests this summer}. Lou Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition is planning an anti-gay proposition similar to Colorado's for the next state wide election. The final step in the four-year battle over Creationism in California schools will take place this year. Though a list of science textbooks was finally approved by the school board last year, now each school district will revise its own science curriculum and select which textbooks to purchase. In San Diego County, Religious Right forces, led by the Christian Coalition, have elected dozens of candidates to local school boards as well as to a number of planning boards. In the community of Vista, a 3-member majority has taken control of the 5-member school board and has begun to act on its pro-Creationism, anti-immigrant agenda. In communities across the state, Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition has scheduled a series of 2-day training sessions for Religious Right political activists. Graduates ot eh "Leadership Schools" will work to recruit and elect ideologically sympathetic candidates to public office. COLORADO Colorado has a growing number of Religious Right organizations, many based in the Colorado Springs area and many of which were active in the battle over the anti-gay ballot amendment this past November. The amendment has fast become a model for similar initiatives in as many as nine states around the country. Proponents of last year's failed state-wide educational voucher initiative have launched an effort to place the measure on the 1994 ballot. In Colorado Springs, Operation Rescue organized a "Just Say No to Homosexuals in the Military" rally. Operation Rescue claims to have targeted some 60 cities around the country for similar activities and has asked its members to contact local veterans groups without identifying themselves as Operation Rescue activists. CONNECTICUT Citizens for Excellence in Education is encouraging members across the state to organize against any Outcome- Based Education programs, claiming that the state's "educrats" are training teachers to sell the curriculum to school boards and citizens. FLORIDA In Jacksonville, the American Family Association has led a crusade against the Jacksonville Actors Theatre company, last year succeeding in getting it evicted from its space, visited by vice squad police and forced to defend its public grants. Take Back Tampa, the group that pushed for and won repeal of the city's human rights ordinance including sexual orientation, is now targeting Hillsborough County. In Clay County, two candidates backed by an active local right-wing group won seats in this fall's school board elections, adding two more such voices to a school board that recently banned two long-standing self-esteem programs. GEORGIA The Fulton County school board, scene of a battle over sex education last year, has a newly elected Religious Right majority. IDAHO Far Right organizations are working to place on the ballot a Colorado-style anti-gy initiative. In Meridian, after two incumbent school board members were ousted, the board has enacted a series of restrictions on academic freedom, including a "gag order" prohibiting teachers from responding to questions about AIDS. ILLINOIS Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition has scheduled two-day training sessions for Religious Right political activists. Graduates of the "Leadership Schools" will work to recruit and elect ideologically sympathetic candidates to public office. INDIANA In Lafayette, the Christian Coalition sponsored a series of newspaper ads and a petition drive to pressure the city council to place an anti-gay initiative on the ballot. IOWA In Des Moines, the American Family Association ran a full page ad in the Des Moines Register attacking the entertainment industry and seeking contributions from the public. The Christian Coalition and other Religious Right forces have taken control of at least seven of the 17 seats on the state's Republican party State Central Committee, and last year claimed 40 of the 46 delegate seats to the Republican National Convention. KANSAS In Sedgwick, Johnson, Douglas, and Shawnee counties, Religious Right and anti-choice forces have wrested control of the county Republican party. Across the state, and particularly in Wichita, Religious Right activists from Concerned Women for America, Eagle Forum and several local groups are opposing an Outcome Based Education reform program called Quality Performance Accreditation. LOUISIANA Moderate Republicans estimate that Christian Coalition forces control more than half of the party's central committee. Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition has scheduled two-day training sessions for Religious Right political activists. Graduates of the "Leadership Schools" will work to recruit and elect ideologically sympathetic candidates to public office. MAINE The Christian Civic League is collecting signatures for a statewide Colorado-style anti-gay initiative. MARYLAND Concerned Women for America is continuing its battle in Frederick County against the elementary school textbook series "Impressions.' MASSACHUSETTS In Framingham, local Citizens for Excellence in Education forces are working to replace a comprehensive sex-education program i the schools with the abstinence-only program "Sex Respect." MICHIGAN National and state Religious Right groups continue their attack on the state's acclaimed health education program, the Michigan Model for Comprehensive Health Education. Right-wing forces are working to place a Colorado-style anti-gay initiative on the 1994 ballot. Anti-choice legislation is expected with the governor and both chambers of the state legislature hostile to abortion. Michigan activists are working on an educational choice initiative to allow public funding of religious schools. MINNESOTA The anti-choice group Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life has reportedly taken control of the state's GOP apparatus. In the coming year, they are expected to tighten that grip, and work to field candidates sympathetic to their issues. An effort is under way to place a Colorado-style anti-gay initiative on the ballot next year. MISSOURI In St. Louis and Kansas City, the American Family Association ran a full-page advertisement in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Kansas City Star attacking the entertainment industry and seeking contributions from the public. In Columbia, the Christian Coalition and Citizen Alert are seeking repeal of the city's anti-discrimination ordinance that includes sexual orientation. MONTANA Montana Right to Life is pursuing legislation to restrict abortion rights. NEBRASKA In communities across the state, right-wing activists are organizing a grassroots effort to block state board of education adoption of a multicultural curriculum. NEW HAMPSHIRE Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition has scheduled two-day training sessions for Religious Right political activists. Graduates of the "Leadership Schools" will work to recruit and elect ideologically sympathetic candidates to public office. NEW JERSEY Religious Right and anti-choice groups are expected to pursue restrictions to abortion in the wake of the Casey decision. NEW MEXICO Citizens for Excellence in Education is encouraging members across the state to organize against any Outcome Based Education programs, claiming that the state's "educrats" are training teachers to sell the curriculum to school boards and citizens. NEW YORK Having engineered a series of "stealth campaigns for New York City's May school board elections, Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition has now taken aim at the city's 51 city council races this year. The Christian Coalition has scheduled two-day training sessions for Religious Right political activists. Graduates of the "Leadership Schools" will work to recruit and elect ideologically sympathetic candidates to public office. NORTH CAROLINA In Charlotte, the American Family Association ran a full-page advertisement attacking the entertainment industry and seeking contributions from the public. In Cumberland County, a local censorship group has initiated a lawsuit for a new vote on a library bond issue passed last November. An affiliate of James Dobson's Focus on the Family is urging its members to investigate their local schools' sex education programs and to oppose those that discuss birth control and disease-prevention. OHIO In Cincinnati, the city council adopted a human-rights ordinance that included gays and lesbians. "Pro-family" groups have promised to put the ordinance back on the ballot in 1993. In Akron, Cleveland, and Dayton, the American Family Association ran full page ads attacking the entertainment industry and seeking contributions from the public. The Pro-Family Forum is gearing up for a state anti-gay referendum. OKLAHOMA The Oklahoma State Supreme Court denied the anti-choice coalition's referendum a place on the November ballot. Religious Right forces are expected to continue to press their case, either in the legislature or on the 1994 ballot. OREGON The state is described by most analysts as a key battleground for the GOP. The Oregon Citizens Alliance has led an effort to seize voting control of the state's Republican Central Committee. But, in the words of one moderate Republican leader, "Corporations adopt strategies to avoid hostile takeovers from competitors, and so can we." The Oregon Citizens Alliance's Scott Lively says his group is rewriting the anti-gay ballot measure rejected by voters in 1992. The toned-down version will be on the ballot in 1994. In December of 1992, a Eugene-based group began sending teenagers into video-rental outlets to rent R- and NC 17-rated videos. The youth pastor who drove the teens to the stores reported that he instructed the children to "Tell [the clerks] you're my kids, tell 'em I'm out in the car, tell 'em whatever you need to tell 'em to get away with it." PENNSYLVANIA In communities across the state, local right-wing groups will sponsor candidates in school board elections to be held in spring and fall of 1993. Earlier this year, Citizens for Excellence in Education President Bob Simonds toured the state to organize support for these candidates. At one speech, he said, "We want to put Christians on the school boards. We can change the system." Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition has scheduled a dozen two-day training sessions for Religious Right political activists. Graduates of the "Leadership Schools" will work to recruit and elect ideologically sympathetic candidates to public office. SOUTH CAROLINA Religious Right activists increased their clout on the 12-member Greenville County School Board when they elected a fourth and fifth school board member with ties to the Religious Right. Following the election, some new board members reiterated their plan to address so-called "New Age" material in the classroom, echoing long-standing campaigns of Radical Right groups to eliminate allegedly "New Age" and "secular humanist" books and programs from the schools. In Senaca, Religious Right forces now hold 4 of 10 school board seats. SOUTH DAKOTA This year's state legislative session produces a number of significant restrictions on abortion rights. The state's Far Right is organizing for further measures next year. TENNESSEE In Nashville, the American Family Association ran a full page ad attacking the entertainment industry and seeking contributions from the public. Anti-abortion candidates who won seats in the state senate make it likely that Tennessee will adopt more restrictions. TEXAS Religious right activists are battling moderate Republicans for control of the Republican party. In Harris County (Houston), moderate Republicans recently formed a separate party committee to compete with the regular GOP organization controlled by the Religious Right. Religious Right forces ran a number of candidates for school board in January's election. In Austin, a longstanding battle over sex education in the schools, led by a local Citizens for Excellence in Education chapter, is expected to continue unabated in 1993. UTAH State legislators plan to propose a restrictive abortion law modeled after the Pennsylvania law upheld in Casey. The Coalition for Religious Liberties, which includes groups such as United Families of Utah and the Eagle Forum, are working with state legislators to rewrite the Utah Constitution's provisions for separation of church and state. VIRGINIA Since its founding in 1989, the Christian Coalition has taken a particular interest in its home state, using sophisticated campaign techniques to defeat Democratic state legislators. In this year's state legislative elections, the Coalition is expected to continue these efforts. Several Religious Right-linked politicians are beginning to organize for possible campaigns for Virginia's statewide races this year and next, including Michael Farris, former legal counsel for Concerned Women for America and currently president of the Home School Legal Defense Association, and Iran-Contra mastermind Oliver North. WASHINGTON A number of organizations are reportedly working to place on the ballot a Colorado-style anti-gay initiative. The state GOP has long been a target of the Religious Right. The Religious Right controlled the state's platform process last year, resulting in planks calling of the teaching of Creationism and a ban on yoga in the public schools. WEST VIRGINIA In Huntington, the city council recently rejected a proposed ordinance offering protections from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. A new proposal is expected this year, and the Religious Right forces are likely to weigh in. WISCONSIN Citizens for Excellence in Education's Bob Simonds recently toured the state in support of a number of Religious Right school board candidates. At one event, he described his 3-to-5 year plan to"take over Wisconsin public schools," the cornerstone of which is an effort to elect Christian conservatives on each school board. When you have 3 members of 5 on your board, you will be able to choose your superintendent, curricular program, anything you want." WYOMING In Cheyenne, Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition has schedule a two-day training session for Religious Right political activists. Graduates of the "Leadership Schools" will work to recruit and elect ideologically sympathetic candidates to public office. *!*!*!*!* "The Reality Check is In the Mail." Anonymous Jessea NR Greenman crsdept@nature.berkeley.edu