Mission Viejo student activists target Prop. 8

hey see similarities to a cause they championed last year – free speech rights for a history teacher.
By SCOTT MARTINDALE
The Orange County Register

MISSION VIEJO – The Capistrano Valley High School students who organized a 250-person rally last year to support a popular teacher accused of making anti-Christian remarks are preparing to launch a similar effort Tuesday – this time, targeting California's same-sex marriage ballot initiative.

At first glance, the similarities aren't apparent between Proposition 8 and James Corbett's provocative classroom comments. But the students organizing the campus rally say the underlying issues are the same.

"We can sympathize with gay people because they are a minority and we are a minority," said Capistrano Valley High senior Doug Kalagian, 17, founder of the school's Freethinking Atheist and Agnostic Kinship student club.

"Prop. 8 is not only a religious issue. It's an issue of discrimination and prejudice. Who's to say atheists and agnostics won't be next?"

Capistrano Valley High history teacher James Corbett was sued in December 2007 by one of his students, Chad Farnan, now a junior, for purportedly incorporating numerous hostile comments about religion and Christians into his lectures, including the now-infamous quote: "When you put on your Jesus glasses, you can't see the truth."

After the high-profile lawsuit was filed, hundreds of Corbett's current and former students rushed to his defense, saying their Advanced Placement history teacher was unfairly targeted for forcing students to think critically and question their religious convictions. Kalagian and his peers put together a solidarity rally Dec. 19 outside their school that attracted about 250 people.

"Our intention is to show people that a minority can be misrepresented by the majority," Kalagian said. "If the proposition passes, we still want to show that a lot of people recognize that this might not be the right solution to the greater problem and there might be a compromise we can reach."

Corbett, whose lawsuit is pending, continues to teach at Capistrano Valley High and to serve as the Freethinking Atheist and Agnostic Kinship's faculty adviser. He was not directly involved in planning the rally and does not plan to attend, Kalagian said.

The 50-minute rally will begin at 7 a.m. Tuesday on a sidewalk in front of the Mission Viejo school. Other students might be planning a pro-Prop. 8 counter-demonstration the same day, Kalagian added.

In recent weeks, dozens of demonstrations for and against Prop. 8 have been staged on street corners and in other public places across Orange County. Although mostly peaceful, the rallies have evoked passionate responses from people.

Contact the writer: 949-454-7394 or smartindale@ocregister.com