We have received the following letter from Ted & Helen Johnson concerning The Knight Initiative, which would ban same-sex marriage in California, and which is scheduled for the March 2000 election........

I see PFLAG doing something about this Initiative. I know the catholic bishops will discuss this issue in mid April. and I would like to flood them with letters from parents of gays and lesbians asking them to study this issue very carefully. I think they need to hear our stories. They need to know about our family values and our joys and sorrows. I think we need to start opening dialog with the leaders of all churches so they hear the parents' theology, for we are the only ones who know this theology from living it. It's not in scripture passages, it only written in the hearts and souls of parents who have experienced these wonderful children. I am sure all our stories have a common thread through them and weaving them together will make a strong statement to these leaders. I think we were given these children because God was challenging us to love. Part of loving is speaking out in a clear voice to educate. Christ used stories to teach us about love, and our stories are all about love.

We need to write to the leaders of all denominations and to our representatives to inform them that simple statements like this Initiative only give ammunition to the extremists. That being parents of gay lesbian transgendered children, our family values are being trod upon. Helen and I are trying to get the names and address of all the California bishops so we can tell our stories and try to move these men to a moderate or more loving and accepting position on this Initiative.

The Preacher's Son

We have two special guests scheduled for our May meeting. Marc Adams, author of The Preacher's Son, and his partner Terry Tuttle, have been on a decade-long lecture tour. Marc and Terry met and fell in love at Jerry Falwell's Liberty Christian University in Richmond, Virginia. After it was discovered they were gay, they were expelled from that school and have been a committed couple, speaking to students at fundamentalist Christian colleges about the difference between a gospel of hate and exclusion versus a gospel of love and acceptance. They want everyone to be aware of religious educational institutions and their legalized harassment, punishment, and expulsion of gay, lesbian and questioning students. (They state, "Catholic schools and seminaries are among the worst schools which terrorize their GLBT students. In fact this year we have experienced an onslaught of students from those types of schools.")

Although they travel as a team, Marc is the speaker. The Preacher's Son, soon to go into its 3rd printing, is a Lambda Literary Award Finalist and recipient of an Order of the Silver Pen Award.
In addition to the book, Adams and Tuttle, known as Windowbooks, also publish small tracts such as "The Big Lie," about the damage of reparative therapy and "Now That the Baby's Here," directed toward expectant or new parents, telling them that their baby may be GLBT.

The Windowbooks team logged 146 speaking engagements in 32 states including dozens of PFLAG chapters, several of which have sent us glowing reports of their presentations.

Join us on May 10 for this very special meeting! Check the web site or your local newspaper for further information.

Davis High Triangles

A club - not a GSA, but a revived version of the old Triangles Club - has formed at last at Davis High. Currently, there are five of members, and they're looking for new members and making plans for what they're going to do...They hope to have an e-mail address and/or web page soon.

Said the club's President, "I was kinda shocked when I went into the counselling officer to see what kinda resources they had for questioning youth and found nothing! so I decided to talk with Mr. DeCamp (teacher) about getting Triangles started again..."

The Triangles are trying to use our new Message board to contact other gay teens in Davis, as well as the surrounding communities.

Special Rights?

Opponents of the right to marry proposals state that gays are seeking Special Rights in seeking permission to marry. It's important to understand what "marriage" is...and what it is not. Most importantly, it's not about sex, and it is not what happens in the at the alter of a church or synagogue. It is a contract between the couple and the state, and occurs most often in back of the house of worship when the couple, their attendants and the person officiating at the "service" sign some papers.

Marriage is a powerful legal and social idea that protects and supports intimate family relationships by providing a unique set of rights, privileges, and benefits. Those who can marry often take these rights for granted, but for gay men and lesbians, these benefits are forever denied. Because lesbians and gay men cannot marry, they have no right to:

Accidental death benefit for the surviving spouse of a government employee;
Appointment as guardian of a minor;
Award of child custody in divorce proceedings; Beneficial owner status of corporate securities;
Bill of Rights benefits for victims and witnesses;
Burial of service member's dependents;
Certificates of occupation;
Consent to post-mortem examination;
Continuation of rights under existing homestead leases;
Control, division, acquisition, and disposition of community property
Criminal injuries compensation;
Death benefit for surviving spouse for government employee
Disclosure of vital statistics records;
Division of property after dissolution of marriage;
Eligibility for housing opportunity allowance program of the Housing,
Finance and Development Corporation;
Exemption from claims of Department of Human Services for social services payments, financial assistance, or burial payments;
Exemption from conveyance tax;
Exemption from regulation of condominium sales to owner-occupants;
Funeral leave for government employees;
Homes of totally disable veterans exempt from property taxes;
Income tax deductions, credits, rates exemption, and estimates; nheritance of land patents;
Insurance licenses, coverage, eligibility, and benefits organization of mutual benefits society;
Legal status with partner's children;
Making, revoking, and objecting to anatomical gifts;
Making partner medical decisions;
Nonresident tuition deferential waiver;
Notice of guardian ad litem proceedings;
Notice of probate proceedings;
Payment of wages to a relative of deceased employee;
Payment of worker's compensation benefits after death;
Permission to make arrangements for burial or cremation;
Proof of business partnership;
Public assistance from the Department of Human Services;
Qualification at a facility for the elderly;
Right of survivorship to custodial trust;
Real property exemption from attachment or execution;
Right to be notified of parole or escape of inmate;
Right to change names;
Right to enter into pre-marital agreement;
Right to file action for nonsupport;
Right to inherit property;
Right to purchase leases and cash freehold agreements concerning the management and disposition of public land;
Right to sue for tort and death by wrongful act;
Right to support after divorce;
Right to support from spouse;
Rights and proceedings for involuntary hospitalization and treatment;
Rights by way of dour or courtesy;
Rights to notice, protection, benefits, and inheritance under the uniform probate code;
Sole interest in property;
Spousal privilege and confidential marriage communications;
Spousal immigration benefits;
Status of children;
Support payments in divorce action;
Tax relief for natural disaster losses;
Vacation allowance on termination of public employment by death;
Veterans' preference to spouse in public employment;
In vitro fertilization coverage;
Waiver of fees for certified copies and searches of vital statistics.