Great Columbus Day news from GayPolitics.com…

May 22nd will now be known as Harvey Milk Day in California. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last night apparently signed a second bill passed by the state legislature to recognize the slain San Francisco Supervisor.

The first attempt to establish the day of significance was vetoed by Schwarzenegger, who at the time said it was more appropriate to honor Milk locally where he had the most impact. Since then the Oscar-winning movie “Milk,” a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom and his induction into the California Hall of Fame has elevated Harvey Milk’s status as a civil rights icon.

The signing has been confirmed by the Sacramento Bee. The haters over at SaveCalifornia.com who have been lobbying hard against the law are none-to-pleased, releasing the following in a news release this morning:

“Harvey Milk was a sexual predator of teens, an advocate of polygamous relationships, a public liar, and is in no way a good role model for impressionable schoolchildren,” said Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com. “Sadly, children in public schools will now have even more in-your-face, homosexual-bisexual-transsexual indoctrination. This provides the strongest impetus yet for loving parents to remove their children from anti-family public schools.”

“’Harvey Milk Day’ teaches children as young as five years old to admire the life and values and the notorious homosexual activist Harvey Milk” said Thomasson. “The ‘suitable commemorative exercises’ that are part of ‘Harvey Milk Day’ can easily result in cross-dressing exercises, ‘LGBT pride’ parades and mock gay weddings on school campuses — everything Harvey Milk supported.”

Schwarzenegger also signed a bill that would recognize gay marriages performed in states where it is legal. Take that Prop 8 supporters!

Senate Bill 572, which proclaims May 22 Harvey Milk Day, is now enroute to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger after passing 45-27 in the California Assembly.

“I am pleased my colleagues in the Assembly recognize and honor Harvey Milk´s contributions to our state,” said Senator Leno (D-San Francisco). “He is an inspiration to people worldwide who believe in fairness and equality and he fought for many of the issues we value today, including access to education, public transportation, affordable housing and protecting the environment.

“Although he vetoed a similar bill last year with the message that Harvey Milk should be recognized only at the local level, I am confident Governor Schwarzenegger now understands the historic and international nature of Harvey´s legacy,” said Senator Leno. “Last week the Governor contradicted his 2008 veto message when he and the First Lady announced that Harvey will be inducted into the California Hall of Fame, acknowledging that Harvey and the other inductees touched the ´lives of millions of people – not just in this state, but around the world.´”

SB 572 recognizes Harvey Milk´s life and contributions to the state with a day of special significance. Given California´s fiscal crisis, the bill has no cost to the state and state workers and school employees do not receive the day off work. The legislation is sponsored by Equality California and co-authored by 22 members of the Legislature, including members of the LGBT Legislative Caucus, Senator Christine Kehoe and Assemblymembers Tom Ammiano and John A. Pérez.

Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com and opponent of the measure, released the following statement:

“The Democrat politicians are telling school children to honor a sexual predator of teens, a homosexual sex addict who advocated polygamous relationships, and a public liar who justified his deceit… By passing ‘Harvey Milk Gay Day,’ these Democrat politicians have declared war on children’s innocence in exchange for political favors from homosexual groups.”

If you haven’t already, send a message to Governor Schwarzenegger asking him to sign the Harvey Milk Day bill.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is asking for feedback via Twitter on various bills including including AB 2567, which would designate May 22 Harvey Milk Day.

The bill encourages schools and other educational institutions to recognize Harvey Milk on that date through appropriate commemorative exercises. The bill however does not pressure educators to indoctrinate children into the “homosexual lifestyle,” nor does it teach cross-dressing or same-sex attraction, despite what others would have you believe.

Last year Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar measure, saying that Milk’s commemoration should be restricted to San Francisco only and not state wide. Recently however President Barack Obama awarded Harvey Milk with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a national honor, which certainly ups the stakes.

If you would like to encourage Gov. Schwarzenegger to pass the AB 2567, feel free to send the tweet below, courtesy of Change.org:

@Schwarzenegger: Sign the Harvey Milk Day bill! He gave his life, the least you can do is give him a day. #p2 #LGBT

As many had feared, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made dramatic cuts to AIDS-related services in an effort to make up for a $489 million shortfall in the final California budget.

Calling the revised budget “kind of like the good, the bad, and the ugly,” Schwarzenegger used line-item veto power to make steep cuts in child welfare, child healthcare, and programs for the elderly, in addition to HIV/AIDS services. Though the governor’s office cited an overall $52 million in cuts to HIV programs, the California Department of Public Health’s Office of AIDS estimated the total figure will likely climb as high as $80 to $85 million.

“There are no general funds remaining for care and support [this year],” Michelle Roland, chief of the Office of AIDS, said in a Tuesday conference call with care providers. Some care programs will receive only one-fifth the funding compared to the last year, she said.

Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation responded to the cuts.

“With a single stroke of his blue pencil, Governor Schwarzenegger has terminated the state’s AIDS programs and, along with it, the lives of some of the state’s most vulnerable citizens. The Governor’s heartless act is not only deadly, but guaranteed to cost California taxpayers millions more in the future. With HIV testing programs sidelined and the state’s ability to prevent new infections stymied, new infections in California will increase—each new infection can mean up to $600,000 dollars in lifetime health care costs. A 100% cut to the Therapeutic Monitoring Program is the definition of penny-wise and pound-foolish—with the ability to monitor the effectiveness of lifesaving AIDS drugs hampered, the state’s already cash-strapped AIDS Drug Assistance Program will only end up spending more for drugs.”

It’s a sad day in California. Thanks to cuts like these and other draconian measures taken in this economic free fall, California seems well on its way to becoming a third world country.