GAY RIGHTS AGENDA HAS MANY TRICKS.

Byline: TAD CRONN Local View

WHEN I was a boy, I got the chance to assist in a local magician's levitation trick. Since then, I've always loved a good magic act. One place I don't think magicians belong, however, is in politics. And unfortunately, there are far too many would-be David Copperfields in California politics for comfort.

Like cut-rate stage magicians, these conniving conjurers try to distract voters' attention with one hand while the other hand is up to no good.

Take SB 1437, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed on Wednesday. It's a typical example.

The bill, authored by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Los Angeles, purportedly was designed to prevent discrimination against homosexuals in schools by rewriting teaching materials to promote a favorable view of the gay lifestyle.

Mind you, this was the ``watered down'' version that was changed to try to get Schwarzenegger's approval. The original proposal would have rewritten the state's textbooks to include the sexual orientation of historical figures, even in reading materials provided to children as early as kindergarten.

Said Kuehl upon the bill's veto: ``This piece of legislation would have only modestly expanded existing statutes to bring us one step closer to the goal of safe schools for all children.'' That's the distraction, which was portrayed by much of the media as the whole story.

In reality, the bill was addressing a non-issue. There are already laws on the books that protect homosexuals' civil rights. Gay students have the same protections every student has: a hopefully observant teaching staff that will remove the bullies from the school population.

But if that fact might lead you to think the original bill was merely pointless, you would be mistaken.

Why would anyone care to point out the sexual orientation of Pocahontas or John Adams or any other historical figure? It's a fact which in 99.99 percent of cases would be completely irrelevant to what the person did.

By elevating the sexuality -- real or imagined -- of historical figures, textbooks would be treating that aspect of those figures' lives as paramount and virtuous. The goal is to hold up the gay lifestyle as a model to emulate.

And there are other ``gay rights'' bills that have been floating around this legislative session.

Kuehl's SB 1441, which was recently signed by the governor, would require ``any program or activity'' that receives any funding from the state to support homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality or lose its funding. That means, among other things, that religious schools whose students receive state scholarship money must either compromise their principles or reject those students.

Still on the governor's desk is also AB 606 by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, which would require the State Board of Education to come up with a pro-gay training curriculum that would be mandatory -- under the threat of losing funding -- in public schools.

Any reasonable person would conclude that the right to disagree with the ``gay rights'' agenda would be included under an equitable concept of ``diversity.'' But there are plenty of Penns and Tellers in the Legislature who would like to put religious freedom in a box and make it disappear.