Taxpayer funding for homosexual programs in schools:

Six-member conference committee keeps full $850,000 in Mass. FY 2009 budget. Passed overwhelmingly by House and Senate.

Homosexual lobby already bragging about their victory over parents. Massachusetts to lead America in state-funded GLBT activism in schools..

July 3, 2008

The six-member joint conference committee -- 4 Democrats and 2 Republicans -- completely ignored pleas from across the state by parents and citizens and kept the full $850,000 in the state budget for hardcore homosexual programs in the public schools. Most of the money will go to directly to the extremely radical Massachusetts Commission on Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Youth, and the rest will be indirectly funneled to that Commission via the Department of Education.

The conference committee included: Reps. Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop), Marie St. Fleur (D), and Vinnie deMacedo (R-Plymouth), and Sens. Steven Panagiotakos (D-Lowell), Stephen Brewer (D-Barre) and Michael Knapik (R-Westfield).  Although parents pleaded for them to cut the funding entirely, the committee could have easily cut it to $750,000 -- the level approved in the House version of the budget. But they chose to keep the entire amount intact.

To our knowledge, no other state in America (or anywhere in the world) funds homosexual activism targeting children to anywhere near this extent.

This morning at 9:30 am the committee formally submitted their budget. Before 1:00 p.m. both houses had overwhelmingly voted to approve it.  The House voted 133-19 and the Senate voted 29-5. (We will be posting the roll call as soon as it's available.)

Gay lobby bragging

The homosexual lobby wasted no time rubbing it in. On Tuesday evening they apparently got an advance copy of the committee's budget and immediately the homosexual newspaper Bay Windows wrote:

The final version of the budget was drafted by a conference committee featuring members of the House and Senate, who worked to iron out the differences in the budget bills passed by their respective chambers. LGBT advocates had two goals during the conference committee process: to convince the committee to adopt the HIV/AIDS funding level approved by the House, which was $500,000 higher than the Senate, and to adopt the LGBT youth programming budget passed by the Senate, which was $100,000 higher than the House. They succeeded on both fronts.

"In the end, we were optimistic throughout. ... It ultimately came down to prioritizing and making sure we showed from a community standpoint that our constituents and members care about these programs," said Matt McTighe, political director of MassEquality, one of the organizations pressing for the increases, along with the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus and Project ABLE (AIDS Budget Legislative Effort).

The final budget contains increases for every LGBT-related program. For the Department of Public Health’s (DPH) LGBT youth programs the legislature allocated $550,000, a $200,000 increase over the prior year. The Department of Primary and Secondary Education’s LGBT programs received $300,000, a $100,000 increase over FY08.

[MassResistance comment: note that both primary and secondary education is targeted. That means elementary schools!]

(Entire article here.)

Again, the special interests trump regular citizens. Our Massachusetts Legislature is a complete disgrace.

Just before the House vote, Republican Minority Leader Bradley Jones (R-North Reading) had an interesting observation, as quoted in State House News:

"[T]ruth be told, the full conference committee met once . . . I find that unfair, unnecessary and unacceptable. Member upon member would ask [a committee member] ‘How are things going? Where are you at?’ And he would do his best to try to explain what little information he might have gathered. It’s not the way to do things. I appreciate the pressure the chairman is put under by members, by the media, by the special interests. But we can do better, we should do better and we must do better . . . I hope the conference committee report is not accepted."

Unfortunately, Rep. Jones was mostly ignored.

The two budget items

The first item , 4590-0250, directly funds the Massachusetts Commission on Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Youth with a flat $550,000.  This will fund a LOT of hardcore homosexual activism.  (Among many other things, this Commission recently helped organized a "transgender pride" parade and has stated that "parents are the problem" because of their traditional values regarding homosexual behavior among kids.)

4590-0250 For school health services and school-based health centers in public and non-public schools; 100 provided, that no funds shall be expended in the AA object class; provided further, that services shall include, but not be limited to: (a) strengthening the infrastructure of school health services in the areas of personnel and policy development, programming and interdisciplinary collaboration; (b) developing linkages between school health services programs and community health providers; (c) incorporating health education programs, including tobacco prevention and cessation activities in school curricula and in the provision of school based health services; and (d) incorporating obesity prevention programs, including nutrition and wellness programs, in school curricula to address the nutrition and lifestyle habits needed for healthy development; provided further, that the services shall meet standards and eligibility guidelines established by the department in consultation with the department of education; provided further, that not less than $300,000 shall be expended for mental health and substance abuse services in schoolbased health centers; provided further, that not less than $550,000 shall be expended for the commission on gay and lesbian youth; provided further, that $150,000 shall be expended for the Childhood Obesity School Nutrition Project within the department to initiate or maintain school lunch programs focused on diminishing the epidemic of childhood obesity; provided further, that food service providers working with public schools wishing to institute or maintain a school nutrition program designed to reduce childhood obesity may submit an application to the department indicating the various nutritional and educational steps the school plans to implement with the grant, not to exceed $10,000 per school per year; provided further, that eligible programs shall focus on providing healthier choices for lunch programs and provide incentives and information to make healthier meal choices in the school lunch line; provided further, that 1 or more schools may be included in an application; provided further, that grant applications and other appropriate criteria shall be determined and reviewed by the department; provided further, that not less than $200,000 shall be expended for the North Quabbin Community Coalition for support and implementation of four model community coalitions and community capacity building activities; provided further, that not less than $15,000,000 shall be expended for school nurses and school based health centers; and provided further, that not less than $100,000 shall be expended to the H.E.L.P. program so-called, for black males health; and provided further, that not less than $75,000 shall be expended for a pilot program to provide community health services through the school-based health center at the Helen A. Bowditch Health Center at Elm Park school in the city of Worcester ......$17,457,134

The second item, 7010-0005, gives $300,000 to the Department of Education (D)E) to spend on homosexual activism in the schools, "in collaboration with the commission on gay and lesbian youth."

Note the phrase "suicide-prevention and violence prevention."  This is the phony and completely disingenuous argument that the homosexual lobby uses with the Legislature to get this money. When confronted with how the money is actually spent, the homosexual activists can't ever defend any legitimate claim to suicide-prevention or violence-prevention. But unfortunately, the emotional argument the activists pour on, coupled with both the shallow intellectual capacity and cowardice of most Massachusetts legislators, results in the homosexuals getting their way.

7010-0005 For the operation of the department of elementary and secondary education; provided, that the department, in collaboration with the commission on gay and lesbian youth established by section 67 of chapter 3 of the General Laws, shall allocate not less than $300,000 for programming to ensure public schools’ compliance with the board of elementary and secondary education’s recommendations for the support and safety of gay and lesbian students and the implementation of related suicide-prevention and violence-prevention efforts; provided further, that not less than $100,000 shall be expended for the operation of the student advisory council established pursuant to section 1E of chapter 15 of the General Laws; and provided further, that not later than November 17, 2008, the department shall submit a progress report to the secretary of administration and finance, the chairs of the house and senate committees on ways and means and the house and senate chairs of the joint committee on education on efforts by the department to further define and advance the strategic vision of the department, along with a detailed implementation plan for realizing that vision..................................$16,780,047

To read the entire 2009 budget presented by the joint conference committee, CLICK HERE (Adobe Acrobat format).