Friday, October 17, 2008

CA Teachers' Union Dues Promotes Same-sex Marriage

The California Teachers Assn. donated $1 million this week to defeat a ballot initiative seeking to ban same-sex marriage in California, joining the ranks of wealthy gay rights activists and Hollywood politicos as one of the major donors to the campaign.

-- From "Teachers union donates $1 million to oppose Proposition 8" by Evelyn Larrubia, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer 10/17/08

Until now, the largest donation the [same-sex marriage proponents] had received from a labor union was $500,000 from the Service Employees International Union.

"I think the California Teachers Assn. is well-known to be a political group, and it's not the first time it has not represented the true voice of its members," said Sonja Eddings Brown, spokeswoman for Protect Marriage California, the measure's backer.

She said she agreed that the issue is civil rights -- not those of gay couples, but rather those of children to be raised by a mother and a father.

The $1-million donation comes on the heels of an internal poll by opponents of Proposition 8 showing that the campaign to defeat the measure was in trouble. The teachers union had already contributed $250,000 to the campaign this summer.

[Proponents of traditional marriage] ads show what happened in Massachusetts, where gay marriage is legal and taught to second graders in public schools after a court battle in which parents lost the right to opt their children out of the lessons.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.