As we noted back in August, the Religious Right was completely freaking out about legislation that would have would declared May 22 of each year to be Harvey Milk Day:
“What significant contribution did Harvey Milk bring to the state of California – other than encouraging gay people to come out of the closet?” asked Benjamin Lopez of the Traditional Values Coalition.
“This is yet another example of them trying to normalize and force acceptance of the gay lifestyle upon people,” he said.
“This bad bill will teach impressionable schoolchildren the anti-religious, homosexual-bisexual-transsexual agenda of Harvey Milk,” warned Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families. “If signed into law, AB 2567 will mean an official day commemorating homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality in California government schools….This will harm children as young as kindergarten.”
“The Democrats are so cocky, they have no qualms about pushing sexual indoctrination upon children in an election year. For the love of God, parents and their children, we implore Governor Schwarzenegger to veto AB 2567,” Thomasson said.
And since succumbing to right-wing pressure seems to be the order of the day for “maverick” Republican candidates, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has decided to follow suit and thus vetoed the bill:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed a bill that would have made the birthday of gay political icon Harvey Milk a statewide “day of significance.”
In his veto message issued Tuesday, the governor said that while he respected the measure’s intent, he thinks Milk’s “contributions should continue to be recognized at the local level.”
Conservative groups had lobbied Schwarzenegger not to sign the legislation, sponsored by Assemblyman Mark Leno of San Francisco.
