SacBee Reports on Lara's Failure on SB 1146

Sacramento Bee offered their own report Senator Lara's SB1146 failure, as he faced a major setback in his attempt to curtail the First Amendment.

From the Sacramento Bee:

After intense opposition from the state’s religious schools, the author of a controversial bill that would have exposed private religious colleges in California to anti-discrimination lawsuits has agreed to remove a key provision.

Remove a key provision? The whole bill needs to be pulled, removed, taken away, never to see the light of day again.

Pushed by gay rights organizations, Senate Bill 1146 would have required religious schools receiving state money – including those that enroll students with Cal Grant scholarships – to comply with California’s anti-discrimination laws or risk private lawsuits.

Who is this "Gay rights" organization? Why do they engage in taking away people's rights?

In order to comply with the law, schools could have had to provide housing for same-sex married couples and allow students to use bathrooms based on their gender identity, something they said was a nonstarter because it violated religious beliefs.

Of course it was a non-starter! It's a non-starter based on biology as well as Biblical revelation.

The Association of Faith-Based Institutions, formed a little more than two weeks ago, had raised $350,000 from religious schools to fight the bill.

See what the movements and people of faith can accomplish?

Instead of backing down, the churches, charities, and all the Christian organizations need to double-down and expand their power for more liberty and opportunity for people of faith.

And stop the destructive LGBT perversions.

But on Wednesday, Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, removed the provision that would have allowed students to sue if they felt they had been discriminated against. Now the bill requires the schools to publicly disclose their exempt status from non-discrimination laws so prospective students are aware of the rules. The amended bill also requires colleges to notify the state Student Aid Commission, which oversees Cal Grants, each time a student is expelled for violating a school’s moral code of conduct.

What other business has to submit to such regulations. These are Bible colleges. What more do they have to announce to the world?

And the Sacramento Bee needs to look into the full story behind Antonio Villareal. He was provided a student handbook, but never bothered to read it. He should have known better, that he could not engage in homosexual behavior at William Jessup University.

He even acknowledged that "if I had known" about that code of conduct, he would not have enrolled.

And he should not have enrolled, and he definitely had not right to shame the university for expelling him.

“With SB 1146, we shed light on the appalling discriminatory practices LGBT students face at private religious universities in California,” Lara said in a statement. “These provisions represent critical first steps in the ongoing efforts to protect students from discrimination for living their truths or loving openly.”​​

The schools have said they are not opposed to the new provisions of the bill, and religious groups cheered the decision.

Religious groups have cheered, but they are not finished. There is more work to be done.

“Without a doubt, the unmodified version would have jeopardized Christian institutions and egregiously penalized all students of faith, especially Latino and African-American individuals,” the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference said in a statement.

This is a new direction for conservative activism in the state of California. Public interest groups are paying closer attention to how these destructive bills will hurt poor, working-class, and minority students.

So, the Progressive Left in the state of California wants to stop discrimination against homosexuals, but as a result they end up discriminating against minority students!

Ha!

Cal Grants were a key issue in the debate over the bill. Students can use the money, which is awarded based on financial need and academic merit, at any state school and some independent schools. To attend a private four-year college, eligible students can get up to $9,084 from the state each year.

Cal Grants are an acceptable use of  state funds, if they recognize academic merit.

Then again, if the state of California really cares about the cost of a college education, they should look into getting rid of the hyped-up taxpayer funded subsidies.

State law prevents discrimination based on sexual orientation and other factors in any educational program funded by the government, but the more than 30 religious colleges and universities in California are currently exempt. In its earlier form, SB 1146 would have removed that exemption, allowing schools who violate the law to be sued.

At this point, Christian colleges need to go one step further.

Sexual orientation is not a civil right or an identity.

It should not be treated as a separate, protected class.

Students can be sanctioned or disciplined for sexual misconduct.

Because of that, critics argued that religious schools would have simply stopped accepting Cal Grant students to avoid costly lawsuits and that the bill would have restricted school choice for low-income students. Cal Grant recipients comprise up to 30 percent of the student body at some religious schools and the schools say the majority of them are first-generation and minority students.

Mike McGetrick confronts Ricardo Lara

This line of attack is very smart. Christians, and their network of activists, are starting to push back ... punch back twice as hard!

“What about people that can’t write the check, and the state offers them assistance, but then they can’t pursue the education of their choice because they choose to go to a Christian university that practices biblical principles,” Assemblywoman Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, who opposed the bill, said Monday.

Good for Assemblywoman Grove!

But supporters of the bill said it was necessary to prevent discrimination against LGBT students on religious campuses.

How about ending the discrimination against Christians, and against men and women who simply respect the fact that it takes a Mom and a Dad to raise a family?

Jo Michael, the legislative manager for Equality California, a group that supported the bill, said students are reluctant to come forward but his organization was aware of a number of instances of discrimination.

“It’s tough to get individual stories about issues like this, because it’s a particularly painful experience and one that can be difficult to share,” he said.

It's not tough, as much as they do not have many stories to share.

But Anthony Villarreal testified before the Assembly Judiciary Committee that he was expelled from William Jessup University, a private Christian school in Rocklin, because he was gay.

LIE!

The school has disputed his claim and said he was expelled after being arrested for domestic violence, a violation of the school’s anti-violence policy.

YES!

Villarreal acknowledged the arrest but said there was no evidence of domestic violence and that no charges were pursued. He said that, as a result of the arrest, the school became aware that he was gay and living with his partner at the time in an off-campus apartment. He signed a disciplinary contract with the school that required him, among other things, to move out of his apartment and attend counseling.

The student handbook explicitly informed all students that engaging in same-sex conduct would lead  to expulsion. What's the problem?

After a protracted appeals process, he was given notice of expulsion Sept. 9, 2013. He said he considered suing the school but decided against it because the school was Title IX exempt.

Villarreal said that before his arrest and resulting disciplinary action, he had not experienced any discrimination at William Jessup. “If they don’t discriminate, then they shouldn’t fear any lawsuits,” he said.

Michael said that if a school wants to follow its own rules, it should do so without accepting public funds, including Cal Grant students.

How about respecting their rights?

“If a school wants to be able to go against California law, then the best way to do that is to make sure that they are operating as a totally private entity,” he said.

They are operating as a private entity. The students choose to accept the Cal Grants.

The schools say their campuses are already places of tolerance.

The true intolerance exists with the Left. If you do not agree with them, then they seek to shut you down!

“We love our students, we try to treat them incredibly fairly,” Barry Corey, the president of Biola University, a private Christian university in La Mirada, said. “Of course we work within our religious tenets, (but) we have LGBT students, we don’t deny admission, we don’t expel them for being gay.”

This line of thinking defines why the pro-family movement fails. No one is "gay" as much as they have feelings and engage in behaviors.

Same-sex conduct is destructive, and should not be treated as an identity.

Final Reflection

On the whole, this article was pretty balanced, giving both sides of the story.

Anyone with a discerning mind will see that the discrimination comes from Ricardo Lara and the Left-Wing LGBT bullies, not the Christian colleges.

Ricardo Lara should be ashamed of himself for offering such a distorted and abusive bill.

Instead of attacking freedom of speech and conscience, Lara should leave Christian colleges alone and get out of office!