CRI

Attack on Religious Liberties and 

Non-Profits Bill Passes CA Senate 

The following statement can be attributed to Karen England, Executive Director of Capitol Resource Institute, in response to the passage of Senate Bill 323 on the floor of the California State Senate.

 

Today the Senate passed SB 323, the bill revoking the tax exempt status of non-profit youth organizations, including private schools, should they not hire, or allow as leaders, persons whose sexual conduct is against the beliefs of such institutions.

 

Last week, the Boy Scouts of America compromised their constitutional right to choose who they may allow as members into the organization. The BSA council voted to allow homosexual boys into the membership but did not change the policy regarding homosexual adult members. Immediately after the vote was announced, Equality California released a statement rejecting the Scouts failure to embrace full equality.

 

Today the bill's author, Senator Lara, says the Scouts did not go far enough and demands that homosexual adults be allowed as leaders into the youth group and seeks to use the coercive power of government by revoking the tax-exempt status of any non-profit youth organization that does not comply with his views.

 

Senator Lara did not speak for us all today when he claimed SB 323 brings our laws in line with our values. This bill is about government vilifying our values and abusing its power to penalize, through taxation, those who hold different beliefs and values.  SB 323 is an unprecedented intrusion by the government and a far reaching assault on freedoms of association, speech, and religion.  

In Case You Missed It: Attack on CRI's City on the Hill
Equality California, co-sponsors of Senator Lara's SB 323, which seeks to revoke the tax exempt status of non-profit youth organizations who choose not to allow homosexuals to become members or hold positions of leadership, has revealed in a newsletter its intent to see the demise of Capitol Resource Institute's City on the Hill Youth Leadership program.

 

The newsletter (see full text of the letter below) singled out City on the Hill stating, "Anti-equality lobbyist group Capitol Resource Institute's "City on the Hill" program is also in jeopardy of losing their funding due to their discrimination against LGBT young people. Do we really think that organizations that treat youth this way should continue to receive tax breaks?!"

 

City on the Hill, a program that invites teens to spend a week learning how the legislative process works is clearly in the sights of the homosexual activists.  EQCA is attempting to use government to bully organizations like ours into allowing LGBT students to attend and staff the overnight program that CRI has sponsored for 25 years.

 

"Of course, I can't allow a boy who believes he's a girl to be roommates or shower with the girls who come to this camp and vice versa," said Karen England, Executive Director of Capitol Resource Institute. "We will then have to close our doors and not be able to serve the youth of this state." 

 

The EQCA statement flies in the face of Senator Lara's disingenuous statement at the hearing on SB 323 where he stated that the bill was only targeted at the Boy Scouts.  This bill is not just about the Boy Scouts - this is about silencing anyone who disagrees the LGBT agenda.

 

Capitol Resource Institute is committed to fighting SB 323 - not just for the Boy Scouts, but for all non-profit organizations in California, large and small, that must be protected against such bullying and who value their Constitutional Freedoms of Speech, Religion and Association.

 

CRI needs your help today to continue to fight this tyranny and to protect Californian's rights to Freedom of Association, Freedom of Religion, and Freedom of Speech for non-profit organizations, large and small.  

  

The radical activists are not just after the Boy Scouts - they are after all of our children by attacking traditional morality and those with a biblical worldview.  

 

Please make your most generous donation today and help us stop SB 323.

 

 I will donate $323.00 to stand with CRI and the Boy Scouts

 

 I will donate $32.30 to stand with CRI and the Boy Scouts

 

I will donate online today!

 

I will mail a check to:

CRI

660 J Street, Suite 250

Sacramento, CA 95814

All donations are tax-deductible

    Email from Equality California

 Yesterday, The Youth Equality Act passed California's Senate Governance and Finance Committee with a vote of 5-2. This bill, authored by Sen. Ricardo Lara and sponsored by Equality California, will remove tax exemptions for any youth groups, including the Boy Scouts of America, that discriminate against members and leaders on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. As both the Executive Director of Equality California and an Eagle Scout, I was moved at the opportunity to give testimony in the hearing - and even more moved by our success.

 

You helped make this victory possible in part through your emails, phone calls and visits with your elected officials in Sacramento. But passing this bill is going to require a huge effort, because legislation effecting tax codes require a hefty two-thirds vote.

 

Today, I'd like to thank you for your efforts and ask you to answer another call to action. We need your financial support to help us get this legislation passed.

 

Our opponents are already trying to confuse the issue with misleading rhetoric about religious values and free speech and, in the hearing yesterday, even characterized gay men as pedophiles. We can't let their fear-mongering tactics scare people from the facts.

We've all heard the outrageous stories of young gay people being thrown out of scouting, humiliated in front of their peers. Anti-equality lobbyist group Capitol Resource Institute's "City on the Hill" program is also in jeopardy of losing their funding due to their discrimination against LGBT young people. Do we really think that organizations that treat youth this way should continue to receive tax breaks?!

 

California is well within its rights to take away special tax exemptions from organizations that discriminate against youth and that is what this bill will accomplish.

 

We owe it to all Californians to stop subsidizing intolerance with public money. And with your help, we will. Please consider making a donation of $50, $100 or a symbolic $323 to Equality California today to support us in this important fight.