UPDATE: The June 28th hearing has been POSTPONED. Please click here for more details!
Original post:
California Family Alliance has more info on how you can take action on SB 1146 before the Judiciary Committee hearing. Click here!
California lawmakers are not content with the overturning of Proposition 8, nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage, or even allowing boys to use girls’ restrooms in California public schools. They want to eliminate almost any institution that disagrees with their viewpoints regarding marriage and sexuality.
Enter SB 1146, which specifically targets those religious schools (essentially all of them Christian) that have maintained Biblical teaching regarding marriage and sexuality.
You’ve heard us talk about SB 1146 before, but we should note that it has been amended. Before, SB 1146 prohibited schools from integrating their religious faith throughout their curriculum, and doing things like prayer before classes, requiring theology courses, etc. The bill has been amended and does not focus on the religious life of the schools. Now, the Democrats have clarified what they were really concerned about all along: taking away the ability of Christian schools to maintain their distinctive beliefs regarding marriage and human sexuality.
If SB 1146 is passed, Christian schools would be unable to maintain married student housing open only to male-female married couples. They would be unable to bar a male student who “identifies” as a female from living in a women’s dormitory. They would be unable to counsel a same-sex-attracted student towards pursuing chastity. If they did any of these things, they would be subject to crippling lawsuits.
The only way to escape these edicts is to stop admitting students with Cal Grants. A Cal Grant is a state-funded scholarship open to lower-income students who achieve grades above a certain level. The Cal Grant program is a good deal for the state of California, because it is much cheaper for a lower-income student to go to a private school with a Cal Grant than to a CSU or a UC. Many Christian schools serve large numbers of Cal Grant students; for example, of its 3000 undergraduate and graduate students, Fresno Pacific University has 700 Cal Grant recipients. If Christian colleges are forced to withdraw from the Cal Grant program, many of them will face heavy financial challenges, and thousands of lower-income students throughout the state will be unable to attend the Christian school of their choice.
The next hearing is this coming up soon in the Assembly Judiciary Committee. California Family Alliance has information regarding how you can get involved in opposing SB 1146 directly.
