Bus my kid to a McCain rally!!!!!

A couple of days ago there was an item widely reported that in order to achieve a body-count barely exceeding embarrassment, the McCain campaign bussed in about 4,000 kids from local schools. Initially, I only focused on the obvious import, which was that McCain can't generate a legitimate crowd of supporters.

But then, I heard another pro-proposition 8 blurb here in California that really got me thinking at a different level. Some background: Several months ago, the California Supreme Court held that gay and lesbian marriages were legal and must be recognized by law here in California. This sparked the homophobes to scramble to get proposition 8 on the ballot here for the November election. The upshot is that a yes vote on 8 is for an amendment to our State Constitution declaring that the only recognizable marriage in California must be between a man and a woman.

In support of the proposition, the proponents have mounted this totally bogus campaign in which they claim that if Prop 8 does not pass, it will be mandatory that all school kids in California be taught that gay/lesbian marriages are just peachy. Along with that they feature a segment where a school class went the the lesbian marriage of their popular teacher.

I'm not up on the details of the class's attendance at their teacher's wedding. Was it totally voluntary with parental consent, or was the class "bussed" to the wedding without parental consent? If it was the former, I'm totally down with it as parent of now-grown kids; but if it was the latter, I would be offended and pissed off, EVEN IF I WAS THE BIGGEST SUPPORTER OF GAY MARRIAGE IN TOWN!

So, you see what I'm getting at, right! How can my kid get bussed to a McCain rally without my permission? Maybe they did get parental permission, and if they did, I'll back off. But if they didn't it is an egregious situation, and if I was one of those non-consenting parents, I would be raising holy hell. I'd rather send my child to a wedding between two loving people of the same sex than a rally of bigots and haters.

~ Tom