BREAKING NEWS-Discrimination In City Council Race Leaves Christian Candidate Out of Candidate Forum Being Held At Gay-Friendly Church

The James Hartline Report - Breaking News!
- On The Frontlines Of The Culture War-
January 9, 2008 (12:30pm.pst)

Discrimination In City Council Race Leaves Christian Candidate
Out of Candidate Forum Being Held At Gay-Friendly Church

San Diego Christian City Council Candidate James Hartline Is Denied
Participation In Campaign Event That Will Feature Gay Candidates At
Kensington Community Church

(JHReport) San Diego, California is a city that has been overrun with scandals, corruption, federal court indictments and city councilmembers who have been convicted on bribery charges in recent years. Now voters in the midst of the 2008 elections can add illegal discrimination to the litany of political problems which are plaguing the City of San Diego. At the center of these new and troubling allegations is Kensington Community Church, a large, gay-friendly church that will be the location for a significant San Diego City Council candidate forum on January 16, 2008.

Kensington Community Church, a member of the United Church of Christ denomination, allows the Kensington-Talmadge Community Association to hold a monthly event on its church property. Scheduled for the community association's upcoming January 16, 2008 monthly event at the church will be a candidate forum featuring candidates from San Diego's District 3 city council race. District 3 is home to a large portion of San Diego's homosexual movement. James Hartline, a well-known Christian activist and opponent of corruption within San Diego's gay community, is a leading candidate in that city council race. Despite his prominence in the city council race, Hartline says he is not being permitted to particpate in a forum with the other candidates at the gay-friendly church.

Hartline, who has consistently exposed corruption inside of San Diego's gay community, believes that an attempt to keep him away from voters during the meeting at the church is part of a discriminatory scheme by political powerbrokers who want to prevent him from winning the election. Hartline did not receive an invitation to the candidate's forum at the church like the other candidates in his district race did. Hartline says that he would not have even known that a candidate forum was being conducted at the church except for the fact that the campaign forum is currently advertised on the website of one of the other candidates who is running against him in the District 3 race.

Todd Gloria, a homosexual activist who supports same-sex marriage and the legalization of male sodomy in the U.S. military, has been invited to the candidate forum at the church. It is Todd Gloria who is advertising the candidate forum at Kensington Community Church on his campaign website.

Hartline also contacted John Hartley, another candidate in the District 3 race, to ask him if he knew about the candidate forum at the Kensington-based church. "Yes, I know about the event, I've been personally invited," Hartley told James Hartline yesterday during a brief phone conversation. Hartley's personal invitation points to severe hypocrisy, as well as the corruptive nature of politics, in San Diego. John Hartley is listed as the coordinator on a website called Neighborhoods For Clean Elections. Hartley's website states: Clean Elections will clean up San Diego City Hall and return city government to the Neighborhoods. Apparently, Hartley's message of clean elections does not extend to James Hartline's right to appear with other candidates at the gay-friendly Kensington Community Church.

This is not the first time that groups inside of San Diego's homosexual community have attempted to block Hartline's appearance during campaign events where his opponents have been allowed to speak. According to a report in Political Voice, the San Diego Democratic Club voted to not invite James Hartline to its June 28, 2007 candidate forum. Despite the group's bylaws which state that all candidates in non-partisan races are to be invited to its forums, boardmembers asked its organizational members to waive their bylaws and affirm their decision to not invite the Christian activist. Political Voice stated that Hartline was not invited because "of his 'anti-LGBT views' and his 'tendency' to cause disruption in public forums."

The problem of a church allowing a political group to use its property is a tenuous one at best. What makes this issue of excluding a Christian candidate from a church property even more dilatorious, is the covert manner in which Hartline has been excluded from the event. Hartline, and his campaign attorney, Robert Sutton, believe that moral, ethical and legal boundaries have been crossed by the Kensington-Talmadge Community Association by excluding him from a campaign event at the church.

"It is a sad day for San Diegans, when a church allows a community group to use its facility and that community group is keeping a Christian from participating in a candidate forum on the church property," said San Diego Christian activist James Hartline.

"We have now seen the most vile form of discrimination in San Diego," Hartline adds. "A church property being used as a location for denying a Christian candidate his legal right to be a part of the politicial process is not something that we can tolerate in our city or our nation."

Although Hartline has become a regular target of discrimination and many times been threatened by members of San Diego's gay community, he vows to continue fighting for his fellow Christians and the people of his city to have their voices heard at city hall. "I will not allow the religious bigotry that has been sent my way by a community group using the Kensington Community Church to deter me from making my stand for the people of San Diego," declares a very serious James Hartline.

Hartline believes that even if he is prevented from speaking on the property of Kensington Community Church, that other churches will uphold his constitutional right to be heard during this election. "Political corruption will not stop me. Bigotry will not deter me. Discrimination will not beat me," he says.

While Hartline is being prevented from participating in the candidate forum on the church property, it appears that the floodgates of disturbing and questionable forms of religious activities are going on at the church. A homosexual square dancing group and yoga classes are listed on Kensington Community Church's website of scheduled events. Hartline says that he finds it incredible that a church is allowing its property to be used for a homosexual square dancing party. According to the website for San Diego's Finest City Squares, the group is a square dance club serving the lesbian and gay community in the San Diego area. The website also lists Kensington Community Church as the location for its monthly dance party.

Hartline finds it equally disturbing that a church would allow its property to be used by a community association that allows candidates engaged in homosexuality to speak at a candidate forum, but not a Christian man who obeys the Bible and has left the homosexual lifestyle. Hartline also sees Kensington Community Church bearing legal responsibility for the illegal discrimination being waged against him. Hartline points to the fact that the church website advertises the monthly dinner that will include the candidate forum on their list of church programs.

Denying James Hartline his legal right to appear with the other city council candidates at the church also involves the appearance that governmental sources are being used against the Christian activist. The Kensington/Talmadge Community Association is promoted on the government-funded website of lesbian San Diego City Councilwoman Toni Atkins. James Hartline has repeatedly spoken out against Atkins during public appearances at the San Diego City Council. While Atkins is promoting the Kensington/Talmadge Community Association on the taxpayer-funded city council website, the association is refusing to allow Hartline to appear along with other candidates at the Kensington Community Church.

According to a May 22, 2007 transcript from a meeting of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, County Supervisor Ron Roberts recommended that $40,000 in taxpayer funds be given to the Kensington/Talmadge Community Association for a new gateway sign in their community. While the association doesn't mind taking public funds for community signs, it seems to have a real problem allowing a Christian to speak at their community's church.

It is not only local politics which are playing a role in the discrimination against James Hartline in his bid to replace lesbian Councilwoman Toni Atkins in the 3rd District of the San Diego City Council. Congresswoman Susan Davis, who represents the area in congress, has addressed the Kensington-Talmadge Community Association during its monthly meeting at the Kensington Community Church. Congresswoman Davis, who has a history of promoting the extremist interests of the radical homosexual movement, made these comments in her May 2007 congressional newsletter:

"I was grateful to have an opportunity to address the members of the Kensington-Talmadge Community Association on Wednesday, April 11. The association's monthly dinner gathering is an opportunity for members to gather together, share stories, and build a sense of community. As a resident of Kensington for nearly 35 years, it is always a treat to spend time with my neighbors and discuss the issues of the day. Among the topics that we discussed were election reform, education, the war in Iraq, and immigration."

Todd Gloria, the city council candidate who is challenging Hartline for the District 3 City Council seat, is employed by Congresswoman Susan Davis. Gloria has used his position with Congresswoman Davis' office to appear at a multitude of Kensington-Talmadge Community events under the guise of representing her office. Keen observers have often commented that it was hard to determine whether Gloria was at these community events to represent Davis' congressional office or whether he was using these events as public appearance opportunities for his own city council campaign. One thing is certain, Congresswoman Davis' employee, Todd Gloria, has been invited to speak at the Kensington Community Church during the candidate forum and James Hartline is being denied that same constitutional right.

While leaders within San Diego's homosexual movement may currently have the upper hand in controlling who speaks at certain community events during the 2008 elections, James Hartline believes that his faith in God will eventually overcome their discrimination against Christians. "This is not about gay rights," says Hartline. "This is about anti-christian bigotry which controls much of the radical ideology that dictates the marching orders given to followers of the American homosexual movement."

"I have overcome thirty years of homosexuality to become a free man in Jesus Christ. I have outlived the death sentence of AIDS. And I will certainly overcome the discrimination that is preventing me from speaking at a candidate forum along with the other candidates in my district race," declares James Hartline.

Take Action!
If you would like to stand with James Hartline in his quest for justice during
his campaign for the San Diego City Council, District 3 race, you can take action!
Contact, Kensington Community Church, the Kensington/Talmadge Community
Association, and San Diego City Officials. Tell them that James Hartline must
be included in all open campaign forums where the other candidates are invited.

Contacts:
Kensington Community Church
4773 Marlborough Dr.,
San Diego, CA 92116 (619) 284-1129(619) 284-0160 FAXPastor: Rev. Bruce Larson / email: bruce@kcc.sdcoxmail.com
Mike Stone, Dir. of Religious Education & Programs: mike@kcc.sdcoxmail.com
Debbie Walloch, Church Office Manager: debbiewalloch@kcc.sdcoxmail.com

Kensington-Talmadge Community Association - According to www.411kensington.com The chair is Dr. Harold Koenig and they meet every third Wednesday at the Kensington Community Church, 4773 Marlborough Drive, beginning at 6:30pm.

Kensington-Talmadge Business AssociationTelephone: (619) 269-9322
email: kenassoc@cox.net

Kensington-Talmadge Planning Committee
Telephone: (619) 269-2079
email: kentalpcchair@411kensington.com.

San Diego City and Election Officials:

San Diego Ethics CommissionPhone: (619) 533-3476Fax: (619) 533-3448E-mail: ethicscommission@sandiego.gov

San Diego City Attorney
Telephone: (619) 236-6220Fax: (619) 236-7215E-mail: cityattorney@sandiego.gov

San Diego Mayor's Office
Mayor Jerry Sanders
Phone: (619) 236-6330Fax: (619) 236-7228
Email: JerrySanders@sandiego.gov

San Diego City Clerk
Phone: (619) 533-4000Fax: (619) 533-4045email: cityclerk@sandiego.gov

San Diego City Councilmembers
District 1, Scott Peters - scottpeters@sandiego.gov
District 2, Kevin Faulconer - kevinfaulconer@sandiego.gov
District 3, Toni Atkins - toniatkins@sandiego.gov
District 4, Tony Young - anthonyyoung@sandiego.gov
District 5, Brian Maienschein - bmaienschein@sandiego.gov
District 6, Donna Frye - donnafrye@sandiego.govDistrict 7, Jim Madaffer - jmadaffer@sandiego.gov
District 8, Ben Hueso - benhueso@sandiego.gov

This has been an exclusive James Hartline Report Update.
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