Why, Oh Why, Do they hate Ronald Reagan So ?

(soap box warning.. skip it, if you are not in the mood.)

1978.
Jimmy Carter was in the White House, spinning a little peace in the Middle East out of the malaise. The Sex Pistols crashed and burned in the USA, and it was the summer of Grease, Close Encounters and all time moopah favorite " fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life" Animal House. It was also the year of the Briggs Initiative, aka: California Prop 6. Yes, another one of those.


Grand Wizard of Orange County, California State Legislator John Biggs started this initiative that would have "banned gays and lesbians, and possibly anyone who supported gay rights, from working in California's public schools." Work through that one you limited Government assholes. Big brother , coming into your bedroom OR into your reading materials to find out if you could keep a job or not. Like Broadway just a little too much, and your out of here. Briggs and his fellow Christian Anita Bryant were all over the airwaves and up and down the state,spewing their hate/ saving the children of the Golden State . As late as September of that year , they were winning. 61% of Californians polled were in support of the initiative.

Enter Harvey and Ronnie

Harvey Milk was an unknown member of the San Francisco board of supervisors at the time, Ronald Reagan was Governor of the state.  Milk, along with others started the " Come out, Come out , where ever you are " campaign to get gay and lesbian Californians up and down the state to just come out to their friends and neighbors. In a TRUE grass roots effort, neighbors just talking to neighbors, the numbers AGAINST the ban started to drop. But, not enough. Local , powerful gay and lesbian Republicans formed The Log Cabin Republicans in order to fight the Briggs bill, and got the GOP Governor and future Republican god Ronald Reagan to pen an op ed opposing the initiative. From wiki:

Reagan issued an informal letter of opposition to the initiative, answered reporters' questions about the initiative by saying he was against, and, a week before the election, wrote an editorial in the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner opposing it.
The timing of Reagan's opposition is significant because he was then preparing to run for president, a race in which he would need the support of conservatives and moderates who were very uncomfortable with homosexual teachers. As Lou Cannon (Reagan biographer) puts it, Reagan was “well aware that there were those who wanted him to duck the issue” but nevertheless “chose to state his convictions.” Extensive excerpts from his informal statement were reprinted in the San Francisco Chronicle of September 24, 1978. Reagan's November 1 editorial stated, in part, “Whatever else it is, homosexuality is not a contagious disease like the measles. Prevailing scientific opinion is that an individual's sexuality is determined at a very early age and that a child's teachers do not really influence this.”

With Governor Reagan's help, the would be law, went down to defeat.

Fast forward 32 years and bring in the stupid.

Unelected King of the United States Senate, and all around douche bag, South Carolina's own, Senator Jim DeMint is digging up the zombie corpse of The Briggs Initiative and adding his own 2010 Christianist spin on it:

In addition to reiterating anti-choice talking points on abortion and backing "traditional marriage," according to the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, the senator went further and "said if someone is openly homosexual, they shouldn't be teaching in the classroom and he holds the same position on an unmarried woman who's sleeping with her boyfriend -- she shouldn't be in the classroom."


This was a week ago, and today, The American Family Association came out in full support of Senator DeMint.

"Common sense and clear thinking dictates that if we love America’s teenagers, we will resolve to put healthy, mature role models in front of them right at the time when they are making sexual decisions of enormous and lasting impact. I’m happy to openly, publicly and unreservedly declare that Sen. DeMint is right. We should see to it that our teachers provide the kind of examples for our youth that are worthy of imitation in every way, including sexual expression. If we love America’s students, and love America and want only the best for her, we can do no less." - American Family Association radio host Bryan Fischer.


Ok, teabaggers, let's work through this one. I get it, you hate the homos. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt, old news.. BUT, this new one " unmarried woman who is sleeping with her boyfriend", is a real game changer. Number one, it's just women. Hmmmm.. in the demented world of Mr. DeMint, maybe there are no male teachers, BUT , if there are, they are free to just go from flower to flower, you know, boys will be boys. I would like to ask Mr. DeMint who exactly will be checking on the virtue and purity of his teachers. The Principal, speculum in hand, greeting his teachers, every Monday morning... yep, you can teach today, " NEXT".


Any of you reading this who vote for a single Republican candidate this fall are supporting this. Do not kid yourselves with the " oh, we just want lower taxes" bullshit. The thirty pieces of silver burning a hole in your pocket after the Bush Tax Cuts are upheld for the  Koch Brothers richest 2% of Americans WILL embolden these Dark  Age creeps to go even farther. 
" I'm not gay or unmarried , why should I care? ",Fear not little lady, or randy husband ( keep in mind what Senator O'Donnel wants to ban first.) They are coming for your birth control next. Sex with out babies is a sin, and a big no no in Senator DeMint's world.
 So, privatized Social Security? Your parents will be living with you, and you will have A LOT more babies..... I'm thinking you may need a bigger house.