Former California state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, sponsored legislation – vetoed Sept. 6, 2006, by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger – that would have prohibited in public schools teaching or instructional materials that discriminate against people based on sexual orientation.

Gayle Ruzicka is president of Utah Eagle Forum, which supports state legislation to necessitate parental permission for student participation in school clubs.

Kent Ostrander is executive director of the Family Foundation of Kentucky, a non-profit educational organization that focuses on public policy issues that affect the family.

John Rustin is president and executive director of the North Carolina Family Policy Council, based in Raleigh. The council focuses on a variety of faith-related issues, including conversion therapy and gambling.

Michael Curtis is Judge Donald L. Smith Professor in Constitutional and Public Law at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. He says the government can protect people from hate speech in public schools.

Randy Thomasson is founder and president of SaveCalifornia.com, formerly titled Campaign for Children and Families. It is an extremely anti-gay group.

Rick Scarborough is founder and head of Vision America, based in Lufkin, Texas, which encourages pastors and congregations to promote Judeo-Christian values in local, state and national issues. He favors overturning tolerance policies in public schools that require acceptance and protection of gays and lesbians. He wrote Liberalism Kills Kids (21st Century Press, 2006).

Read an article about Mitt Romney’s religion posted on the Institute for Religious Research website.

Timothy Johnson is Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis-St. Paul. His books include, as co-author, Religious Institutions and Minor Parties in the United States. He wrote the entry on Roe v. Wade for the Encyclopedia of American Religion and Politics.