This past May, Kerry Eleveld brought us all up-to-speed on Sharon's shenanigans at the UN. Now, the fight has apparently moved into Sharon's backyard, as the MCCC community college system (the nation's largest) considers adding "gender identity" and "gender expression" to its nondiscrimination policy.

I first became aware of Sharon Slater and her Family Watch International during the Question One contest in Maine. An entity calling itself "Family Watch Maine" made an appearance on a website titled "Marriage Facts Maine Coalition" and since the name sounded strangely familiar, I asked the folks at Sharon's FWI office if they were involved. Yes, they were, according to Lynn Allred, their Communications Director. Sadly, all communication ended when I asked Lynn if she could direct me to anyone who was, you know, actually residing in Maine while representing their Gilbert, AZ-based organization.

We've been here before with the Illinois Civil Unions bill. If Sharon pursues this and manages to enlist local Mormons in Arizona to broadcast her appeal to ward email lists, I'd like to offer her my assurance that we'll also see a repeat of this headline in the days ahead: Update On That Mormon Email: LDS Backs Away

And the opening graf will read something like this:

The leader of a right-wing organization, who made a name for herself by pushing abstinence-only based programs in Africa and has ties to the virulently antigay Ugandan pastor, Martin Ssempa, is stepping up efforts to block nondiscrimination policies on Arizona's community college campuses.

Does the country really need reminding that most of these actors are Arizona Mormons and that Sharon Slater is one of several reasons why?

[1] This "Urgent Alert" arrived by way of an über-Mormon Arizona source that justifies my reading of the generic "church, community or political group" language as a wink-and-nod reference to LDS ward email directories.

x-posted at Main Street Plaza

Update: FYI for anybody in AZ who might wander by:

http://www.facebook.com/...

That link has date, time, place, and all the other info for attending the board meeting and also contacts and content for sending emails to the board.