ARTICLES
June 2001 ARTICLES
Contents © 2001
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
The Battle Has Just Begun
Family Group Targets State Legislators
By Allyson Smith
Fewer than six months after she was elected to her first term in the California state assembly, Gloria Negrete McLeod, whose 61st district covers Montclair, Chino, Chino Hills, Ontario, and parts of Pomona and Upland, has been selected as the first of several politicians to be targeted for their support of pro-homosexual legislation in full-page newspaper ads placed by the Campaign for California Families. The ads are being run in districts that last year voted overwhelmingly in favor of Proposition 22, the "Protection of Marriage Initiative," but whose state representatives have supported pro-homosexual bills in the current legislative session designed to thwart the initiative
The professionally-produced advertisement, which ran April 16 through 18 in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, claims that McLeod's support for bills AB 25 and AB 1338 is in direct opposition to the majority of her constituents who voted in favor of Proposition 22. "Last year, 74.9 percent of voters in the 61st Assembly District voted to protect and define marriage as only between a man and a woman," reads the advertisement, "-- that's more than voted for Gloria Negrete McLeod. McLeod has been asked to sign a pledge protecting marriage on behalf of the voters in her district. So far, she's refused.
"AB 25 robs marriage of its value by giving 14 marriage rights to homosexual 'domestic partners,'" continues the advertisement. "In addition to undermining marriage between a man and a woman, AB 25 is unnecessary because most of its provisions can already be accessed through inexpensive legal forms.AB 1338 equates a homosexual partner with a married spouse in all areas of the law. It forces Vermont-style 'civil unions' on California, essentially legalizing homosexual 'marriage.' This bill makes a mockery of marriage by making a wife and a 'spouse' in a 'civil union' morally equivalent in the eyes of the law." (AB 1338 was dropped for the year shortly after the ad was published.)
The advertisement notes that "assemblywoman Negrete McLeod has been applauded by homosexual activists who are pushing for gay marriage and transsexual role models for our children. She has told homosexual activists 'I can be with you' on homosexual curriculum in the schools and other issues favored by the radical lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender agenda."
"McLeod was the first one and there are going to be a lot more. The battle has just begun," CCF executive director Randy Thomasson told me in a May 7 telephone interview. "McLeod voted for AB 25 in the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee. She said this is a civil right, so that means she believes in a right to homosexual marriage. She voted in favor of AB 25 but abstained on the [transgender rights bill]," continued Thomasson. "She also abstained on the parental notification bill. That tells me she's scared, she is uncomfortable. People are rising up and she doesn't want the pressure. She'd rather abstain."
McLeod explained her position to me during a May 8 telephone interview. "I voted for AB 25 because it contains civil rights," she said. "I represent everyone, not just Christians. I did not vote for [the transgender rights bill.]" When asked if she would continue to support AB 1338 had it not been dropped for the year, she said, "1338 is not an issue."
I asked: "do you believe in a right to homosexual marriage?" McLeod responded, "I think that's an issue I want to discuss in person. I don't think it's pertinent. That discussion needs to be done face-to-face, one-to-one, not over the phone." When I asked about her refusal to sign the Campaign for California's Families' Marriage Protection Pledge, McLeod said, "The only thing I've signed is the oath I took to uphold the. California state constitution. When we take an oath, it says we're not only going to represent green-eyed people with spikey hair. If we represent, we represent."
Prior to her vote in favor of AB 25 on April 18, McLeod said, "I received a lot of negative letters [about the measure], but I also had a lot of letters for the bill in favor of it, not just from people in my district but from throughout the state." People who support AB 25," she said, "represent a cause that is a 'cause celebre.'"
She concluded, "I voted for the issue based on what I believe."
Pro-lifer Judy DeVries, a McLeod constituent who directs Project Jericho in Montclair, told me on May 9 that the assemblywoman "ran [her campaign] as a Nell Soto type who we thought was a Catholic Hispanic and therefore pro-life. She hit all the Catholic churches with fliers. We voted for her thinking she was going to represent us, knowing what we voted on Proposition 22, and then she turns around and slaps us in the face with AB 25, totally contrary to what her district voted."
I subsequently called McLeod's offices to confirm her religious affiliation. When asked, "Is McLeod Catholic?" a Sacramento office staffer said she could not answer the question. "We don't discuss religion here," she said. A staffer at McLeod's district office said, "she prefers not to state her religion. That's a personal request of hers." The staffer did admit, however, that "a majority of her family" is Catholic.
In addition to the Campaign's advertising effort, a local petition effort is also underway to get McLeod to honor the will of her constituents by supporting Proposition 22 and opposing AB 25 and other similar legislation. Chino businessman Gary Edwards launched the local petition effort in order to help voters understand what their representatives are doing in Sacramento. "If we don't challenge individual legislators and find out what they're doing in committee or on the assembly floor, people won't know," said Edwards. "So we're taking the fight to where they are in order to stop future bad legislation and try to reverse bad legislation that's already in place."
Copies of the petition are available for downloading at www.chinoreportcard.com