Whose Agenda Is the Scarier?

* I was saddened and appalled by the Nov. 22 Orange County Voices column “Gays’ ‘Agenda’ Isn’t as Scary as Foes’ Agenda.”

It’s become really sad to see a group of people so callously use a horrific incident such as the Matthew Shepard murder to further their own political agenda or try to justify their own immoral and destructive behavior.

The fact is the great majority of people still see homosexuality for what it really is.

This article, which appeared to be giving out dire warnings of hatred and prejudice (real or imagined), did its best to once again try to spread the lies and misinformation about a “pro-family” conspiracy designed to deny personal rights and freedoms.

The Traditional Values Coalition has neither caused nor condoned any murder or hatred, and it is the deceit of the worst kind to say that they have.

Biblical morality does not teach hatred of people who practice immoral behaviors. It teaches us to seek truth. And the truth was something in very short supply in this article.

T. RIGGS

Stanton

* There will always be a small minority willing to sacrifice the rights of many to protect the privileges of the few.

There will always be groups like the very small group of Faculty Assn. “leaders” in the South Orange County Community College District willing to use a hot-button issue like domestic partnership benefits (with its subtext of homophobia) to pull off a “win-at-all-costs” election.

My union leadership did that with the “Taxpayer Alert: Same-Sex Marriage” flyer Meg Robinson mentions in her article, “Gays’ ‘Agenda’ Isn’t as Scary as Foes’ Agenda.”

According to this small group of “leaders,” we had to “win at all costs.” No matter that this small group of leaders used union dues--including the dues of gay and lesbian faculty members--to fund an anti-gay flyer the rank and file termed “immoral.”

No matter that this “win-at-all-costs” election resulted in the creation of the notorious board majority that has so disrupted the functioning of our once-respected district. No matter that the beneficiaries of this union’s largess included Steven J. Frogue, a candidate openly opposed by many faculty as early as 1996 and the subject of an attempted recall in 1997-98.

No matter that the union leadership endorsed and funded these candidates without the consent of the membership. When my faculty association leadership said “win at all costs,” they meant it.

In the 1998 trustee elections, this same union leadership endorsed and funded--with the aid of the California Teachers Assn.--two candidates who were also endorsed by the Education Alliance, an ultra-conservative group.

That a local union and its state affiliate would choose to fund the election of candidates endorsed by an alliance whose members are openly anti-union and, less openly, anti-public education can only point to the seeming willingness of a very few to sacrifice public education itself in order to satisfy some narrow, selfish political, social and economic agenda.

BRENDA BORRON

Board Member

Elections Committee for the County of Orange

The Elections Committee for the County of Orange is a political action committee that supports gay rights issues.

* Meg Robinson got it wrong! In her Orange County Voices article, she states that “one of the reasons given by the Huntington Beach Union High School District’s teachers union to explain their decision not to endorse incumbent Bonnie Castrey was her ‘gay and lesbian baggage.’ ”

Given to whom? Certainly not to Robinson, who apparently thought it unnecessary to contact the District Educators Assn. before tarring us with the brush of homophobia.

The facts are these: Once the decision had been made by association leadership not to endorse Castrey for the first time in nearly 15 years, it was felt that in view of our long and previously friendly professional relationship we should inform her of our decision in a face-to-face meeting.

The meeting began with an observation that there were those in the community who had a number of concerns regarding decisions made by her and the board of trustees.

These included the hiring and subsequent replacement of [a] superintendent, the purchase of bleachers for Ocean View High School, the pool at Huntington Beach High remaining closed, and finally that a small portion of the community took issue with the way the Gay-Straight Student Alliance at Fountain Valley High was handled.

These were observations regarding the local political climate, not reasons for our not endorsing her.

Just as we were beginning to explain the substantive reasons for not endorsing her, Castrey got up, excused herself and left, thus never hearing why we, as an organization, thought it time for a change on the board.

Anyone who knows the least bit about the District Educators Assn. knows that charges of homophobia are absolutely laughable and untrue and that we stand for equal rights for all the members of our diverse community.

DAN SHEPARD

Past President, District Educators Assn.

Huntington Beach