Posted on 05/04/2006 2:43:02 PM PDT by Crackingham
After a sometimes emotional debate centering on discrimination and sexual orientation, a Senate committee approved a bill Wednesday that would require that the contributions of gays and lesbians be included in textbooks. Supporters argued that all students should be made aware of the role that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people have made, but state curriculum has no such requirement. Opponents countered that discussion of sexual orientation should occur at home and not be mandated in schools.
Not requiring that gays be included in instructional materials creates the "enforced invisibility that so many minority groups have gone through in terms of their contributions to California history," Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, told the Senate Education Committee.
State law already prohibits discrimination based on race, color and gender, among other things, in textbooks. The bill would bar textbooks from discriminating against gays. It also orders school boards to use instructional material that reflects the "sexual diversity" of society and include the contributions of people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.
"This bill only seeks to advance acceptance of certain sexual lifestyles in California," said Benjamin Lopez of the Traditional Values Coalition.
Karen England, executive director of Capital Resource Institute, said discussion about sexual orientation belongs "in the bedroom, not in the classroom" and sexual orientation is not germane to a person's historical significance.
"I care about their accomplishments. I don't care who they slept with," England told the committee.
A line of witnesses testified they opposed the bill, including one man who said he opposed the measure on behalf of all "true Christians."
Sen. Jack Scott, D-Altadena (Los Angeles County), the committee chairman, snapped: "Do you have the ability to know what a true Christian is?"
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
"Do you have the ability to know what a true Christian is?"
I would say it's a lead pipe cinch there were no Christians on that committee.
In the spirit of the recent past, I have one BIG question. How do they know that one person or another person was actually gay? A recent book tried to portray Lincoln as gay. I'm wondering if the people promoting this will label many historic figures as gay so as to elevate the profile of gays. Whether the historic figure was or was not gay. Wow, am I glad that my son has finished with the public schools in California!
I'm sure there are probably some ignored man-boy lovers in our history that have "contributed" to society. Are they going to include them, as well?
???????????
Does the Governator have to sign this....and will he?
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken no position on the bill.
This is Posturing. That's all this is about. Chest beating, antler bumping, Political Posturing. Period.
I think his position is prone.
"So how do you include that in a textbook? "Horatio Blechmore not only founded the California Environmental Society, but he took it up the b*tt like a bad boy...."."
I wonder about this also. This is too hard for textbook writers to accomplish, even if they wanted to, because so many gays have been or are "in the closet". And to say somebody from the past such as Lincoln was gay; there's no way to ever prove or disprove this. They will just write books that say lots of historic people were gay to make us more accepting of gay, I guess.
In the grand tradition of Stalin and Mao, of course they will.
Got to move to a new state. Any recomendations from you FReepres? I have been in this state since I was 3 years old and am now ready to move out! Have relatives in Ark. and it sounds ok, but you know they voted Clinton in for Govenor!
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/atoz/article_1127886.php
SACRAMENTO – Someday soon, school textbooks in California could be required to include a reference to someone like Bayard Rustin.
Never heard of him? He was a colleague of Martin Luther King, Jr., a low-profile organizer largely forgotten for his behind-the-scenes role in the civil rights movement.
But under a bill by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, which passed the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday, Rustin would be of particular educational value because he was also gay.
"If that’s not social engineering," said committee member Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside, "then I don't know what is."
"I'm sure Dr. King would agree with you," Kuehl retorted, "and would be in favor of social engineering."
Just as a guess I am going to say that is a Texas flag! I wonder what it cost to rent(at least for a while) a two bedroom apartment in Texas?
Seems fair enough. We should have a truthful description of history. If someone did something good but engaged in same-sex sexual behavior, the history books should reflect both.
But as long as truth is the criteria ... how about requiring all of the children to watch "And the band played on ...", showing how the homosexuals refused close the bath houses and reduce their promiscuity, and how this made AIDS (nee GRIDs) a world wide epidemic ... and how they insisted on donating blood, thus giving AIDS to hemophiliacs and killing them ... and what the real health and longevity statistics are for homosexual men (pandemic infections, reduced life span)...and what the domestic assault statistics are for lesbian couples ...
As long as we are going to tell the truth, let's tell the whole truth.
Hey, what about the historical contributions of those who preferred hummers? I demand that the hummer community be adequately represented in our state's textbooks.
I suggest that they rent DVDs of "The L Word" and "Brokeback Mountain" and show to 1st graders. Heck, maybe with all this gay business, they will say that gays are closeted because everybody is secretly gay, and that gays are the normal ones,but straights or "breeders" as they lovingly refers to straights, are the ones who are abnormal.
In anal sex we trust....
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