Posted on 05/03/2006 8:49:34 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
A Senate committee approved a bill Wednesday that would require California's textbooks to include the contributions of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people to the state and nation's history.
The bill outraged some religious and conservative family groups, which said it would indoctrinate students in what they view as an unacceptable lifestyle.
The Senate Education Committee passed the bill by state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, 8-3, along party lines. It now goes to the full Senate.
"Our community is invisible in all of the teaching material, so that our students are never, ever given any information about the fact that somebody who did something good was a gay person. That changes the way you feel about someone," said Kuehl, who was the state's first openly gay legislator.
She and members of Equality California, a gay rights group that sponsored the bill, said gay and lesbian students are less likely to feel isolated and even drop out of school if they see themselves represented in the material they learn at school.
Marina Gatto, a 17-year-old senior at Mercy High School in Burlingame, testified that she has faced discrimination at school because she has two lesbian mothers. She said once a teacher explained that AIDS was spread by gay people as punishment for their lifestyle.
"This bill doesn't say that you have to be in favor of the gay rights movement, it doesn't say that you have to be a part of it. All it says is that you have be educated," Gatto said after she had testified. "I think there's nothing wrong with education."
Opponents, who filled several rows in the meeting room, derided the bill as encouraging homosexuality. Their testimony even sparked heated exchanges with some Democratic committee members.
Karen England, executive director of the Capitol Resource Institute, a Sacramento-based conservative "pro-family" group, said Californians already are aware of the gay rights movement and don't need it "mandated in our curriculum."
"This conversation belongs in the bedroom and not in the classroom," she said.
She noted that many schools recently held a student-organized Day of Silence to protest discrimination against gay students.
Sen. Jackie Speier, however, equated learning about the accomplishments of gays to the women's suffrage movement and demonstrations in favor of equal rights for blacks.
Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside, the only committee member who spoke against the bill at Monday's hearing, said Kuehl herself is likely to be noted as a pioneer in future history textbooks.
But he said her bill goes too far, requiring that sexuality be included even when it's not relevant to a person's accomplishments.
"For instance, where John Marshall of course discovered gold in California that ultimately led to the 1849 gold rush and California as a state. Now, I don't have any idea whether John Marshall was gay or transgender or whatever, but even if he was, certainly whether or not he was, doesn't add to or subtract from the contribution he made to California history," Morrow said.
Responded Kuehl: "I heard the same argument in the '50s and '60s and '70s. Who cares if Langston Hughes was black? He was just a great poet. Well, black students had no black role models."
State law already prohibits the board from adopting textbooks containing material that portrays people negatively because of their race, sex, color, creed, handicap, national origin, or ancestry.
It also requires the inclusion of contributions from "Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, European Americans and members of other ethnic and cultural groups to the total development of California and the United States."
California spends more than $400 million a year on textbooks and is the nation's largest purchaser. Its social science texts will next be revised in 2012.
If Kuehl's bill becomes law, it would be referred to the California Department of Education, where a committee would advise textbook publishers about the new state standards, said Sue Stickel, the department's deputy superintendent of curriculum and instruction.
Randy Thomasson, president of the Campaign for Children and Families, criticized state lawmakers for wasting their time on what he said are irrelevant issues.
"While half the Hispanic and black students drop out of school, this Legislature is sexually indoctrinating our students," he said.
He said his group would ask Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to pledge to veto any similar measure that comes before him.
Katherine McLane, a spokeswoman for the governor, said Schwarzenegger does not take positions on bills before they come before him to be signed.
Doggy style rights!
I want to know if (fill in the blank with historical figure) enjoyed missionary position best or not!
rolling eyes
Strange. When I was in school I studied about a lot of different people. Not once was their sexual preferences brought up in my history class though.
Right. Knowing who or what historical figures liked to have sex with is critical to learning about their accomplishments. What bullshit.
And you can bet that if someone mandated the inclusion of Christians' role in history these same hypocrites would decry "theocracy", "religious indocrination" and "extreme right wing agenda". What flipping hypocrites these people are.
It should also outrage plain old ordinary folk who think sexual preference has no relevance in history. What happened to them wanting to keep the government out of the bedroom? Why do they now want their bedroom activities to be prominently portrayed in history books?
So in CA, if you are dead you were a homosexual.
All those dead democrat party voters will be surprised.
So, in essence Mr. Kuehl, you are saying Black Children can only have Black Role Models, they just can't emulate good people they have to be a certain color as well?
Ahhh, isn't that racist?
You can be the homoadvocate will include ridiculous fabrications like homsexual lincoln and other absurdities.
Well, they have contributed greatly to the AIDs epidemic.
Translation: The government will allow you to to persist in thoughtcrime that homosexual activity is immoral, so long as you submit to indoctrination and reeducation in public schools...
Is this a slippery slope to teaching 1st graders about fisting?
Maybe giving CA back to Mexico isn't such a bad idea...
A Senate committee approved a bill Wednesday that would require California's textbooks to include the contributions of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people to the state and nation's history...
Bizarre... Utterly Bizarre...
Can we just give back LA and SF?
I like my part, and it's pretty conservative.
Author: Sheila Kuehl
Coauthors: Senators Bowen, Kehoe, and Migden
Coauthors: Assembly Members Goldberg, Laird, Leno, Pavley, and Yee
Topic: School instruction: prohibition of discriminatory content.
Title: An act to amend Sections 51204.5, 51500, 51501, 60040, and 60044 of the Education Code, relating to prohibited instruction.
SB 1437 Senate Bill - Bill Analysis
Subject: Prohibition of Discrimination in Instruction
Summary: This bill prohibits instruction, or the adoption of any instructional material, that reflects adversely on persons due to sexual orientation. This bill also adds the age appropriate study of the role and contributions of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender to the social science course of study that covers the contribution of men, women and groups to development of the state and nation.
[snip]
FREEPERS:
Right now, today, right away, please respond by taking these easy steps:
CALL ARNOLD: Use today's bad news to spur you to righteousness. Call Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (even if you've called before) at any of his offices. Leave a message saying "I'm alarmed that SB 1437, the sexual indoctrination bill, has passed another committee. Please announce that you'll veto SB 1437, AB 606, and AB 1056."
State Capitol Office: (916) 445-2841/ fax (916) 445-4633
Fresno Office: (559) 445-5295 / fax (559) 445-5328
San Diego Office: (619) 525-4641 / fax (619) 525-4640
Los Angeles Office: (213) 897-0322 / fax (213) 897-0319
San Francisco Office: (415) 703-2218 / fax (415) 703-2803
Riverside Office: (951) 680-6860 / fax (951) 680-6863
Washington D.C. Office: (202) 624-5270 / fax (202) 624-5280
Email Arnold Schwarzenegger either of 2 ways
http://www.govmail.ca.gov/ OR
http://www.savecalifornia.com/getactive/blastmail.php
DBeers, it's beyond insane and now officially hurtling into the abyss.
The only conclusion I can come to is that there are a lot more truly evil people in the world than I was willing to admit.
sigh.
Anyone who sends their kids to public school is practicing child abuse. Especially in CA or MASS. There may be some local schools here or there in a red state that are still benign, but any school in CA or MASS especially is now an official GLSEN indoctrination center. Parents should not be surprised when little Jimmy or Susie comes home at age 11 saying "Mommy, guess what! I'm gay!"
If I heard Rush right, this bill also would ban the use of the words mother and father in school text books. If true this state has truly been taken over by the loonies and crazies. The inmates are running the insane asylum. I hope some day the good people take this state back from these idiots.
A sad commentary for the near future when we can have a person's name mentioned in a text book along with their sexual orientation, but not their family and religious views or values and how those views and values influenced their decision making process that made them be noticed in the first place.
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