OPINION Sally Rowden is not your typical protester. She's a grandmother. She's a preschool teacher. She lives in Fresno.

But two weeks ago Rowden stood on a cold Fresno street corner to protest Gap's recent contributions to antichild causes. "I'm not sure I quite understand why the Gap — a company that makes profits from children — would do something to hurt children," Rowden mused while protesters waved handmade signs reading: "Gap: Gazillionaires Against Preschool." No one seems able to explain why the Gap's founding family, the Fishers, has chosen to oppose Proposition 82, a June ballot initiative that would guarantee free voluntary preschool to all of California's four-year-olds. Countless studies demonstrate that preschool attendance improves fourth-grade reading scores, reduces high school dropout rates, cuts juvenile crime, and ultimately helps kids succeed in school and in life.

The opposition is particularly befuddling coming from the founders of the Gap, Gap Kids, and Baby Gap, which made $1.

1 billion in 2005 alone by catering to parents of babies and preschool-age children. Making profits off kids to spend against kids is not just immoral; it's bad business. Eventually, the parents and the kids wise up. And that's exactly what's happening.

The Gap's sales fell 11 percent in February, and fourth-quarter profits were also down 11 percent. The Fisher family clearly needs to go back to business school. The Gap's founding family's recent $25,000 donation to Prop. 82's opposition is hardly the first time the apparel company has opposed kids, and the recent spate of anti-Gap protests is hardly the first time children's advocates have opposed the Gap.

In the late 1990s the Guardian reported on the "virtually slavelike" conditions and child labor abuses at Gap's Saipan factories, which provoked national rallies. The Gap's support of last year's unpopular ballot initiatives targeting teachers, nurses, and firefighters unleashed a wave of protests across the state.

Now the "expose the Gap" movement is again gaining momentum (see www.exposethegap.com). ACORN, the Service Employees International Union, and the AFL-CIO have been in attendance at recent anti-Gap rallies in Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Fresno, and San Diego.

The Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club will join labor activists in a protest outside the Gap's flagship San Francisco store this Thursday, April 13, at noon. But it's the broad reach of activism that makes this movement particularly dangerous to the Gap's branding and the Gap's bottom line. Preschool teachers have turned into protesters. Grandmothers are marching in the streets. "This kind of opposition from a company that sells clothes to preschool-aged children? Enough is enough," Rowden said.

I urge Californians to vote at the ballot box June 6 for Prop. 82 — a groundbreaking investment in our kids, our schools, and our future. But I also urge Californians to vote with their ...