A little over ten years ago, the San Francisco School Board stopped allowing the local Boy Scouts to use free meeting space in the schools because it had a stated policy of discrimination against our LGBT community. Two years ago, the School Board voted to phase out JROTC, the military recruitment program that targets students as young as 14. Under state mandate, it removed P.E. credit for the program, which has led to a great reduction in the number of students who want to take JROTC.

The phase-out effort was led by Mark Sanchez, an out gay man who is president of the School Board. His reasoning was simple: JROTC is a program of a homophobic military. Instructors who teach in the JROTC program cannot be out of the closet. LGBT JROTC graduates are denied enlistment at a higher grade, eligibility for scholarships, and nomination to military academies. LGBT students have no choice: They must remain in the closet or face discrimination.

Sanchez and the Board did not abandon students who want electives and after-school programs. This semester, two alternatives to JROTC are being piloted. A third is currently being considered by the School Board. It’s called Student Emergency Response Volunteers (SERV). As part of its skills-building, students get Red Cross, CPR, First Aid and emergency disaster training. Initial feedback from students shows that it offers them the kind of programming they want.

With all of this happening, you may wonder why Prop V is on the ballot. Prop V is a resolution that puts San Franciscans in support of reinstating JROTC in the schools.

There’s a clear motive behind V. According to the SF Bay Guardian, conservative groups and individuals (such as the Republican Party, the Chamber of Commerce and Don Fisher of the Gap) are using Prop V to funnel money into the campaigns of anti-tenant supervisor candidates in the more moderate districts in the City.

Supervisors have no say over JROTC in the schools. Why would conservatives put money into their campaigns? Because they want to take over a board that has, for the past eight years, been pro-renter. That's why they want to defeat Eric Mar in District 1, David Chiu in 3 and John Avalos in 11.

Don’t be fooled. Prop V supports a homophobic military program. Vote No on V.

Tommi Avicolli Mecca, a gay rights activist for almost 40 years, is editing a collection of writings on the early gay liberation movement for the 40th anniversary of Stonewall next year.