Tweet
California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Wednesday requiring public schools to include the contributions of gay, lesbian and transgendered Americans in their curriculum.
Gay history will soon be included in California's schools curriculum.
The state has become the first in the nation to require textbooks and history classes to cover the contributions of gay, lesbian and transgendered Americans.
Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill into law Wednesday, just a week after the Democratic-majority Legislature passed the measure on a party-line vote.
"History should be honest," Brown said in a statement Thursday. "This bill revises existing laws that prohibit discrimination in education and ensures that the important contributions of Americans from all backgrounds and walks of life are included in our history books."
The landmark law, which was authored by Democratic Sen. Mark Leno, also bans material that reflects adversely on gays.
State textbooks will not reflect the change in curriculum until they are updated in 2013, though the Golden State's legislation will take effect in January.
The measure has been met with vehement opposition from Republican lawmakers and conservative groups charging that the law will expose students to material that some parents will find questionable.
Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, a conservative family group, said parents will be forced to put their children in private school to avoid "immoral indoctrination."
"Jerry Brown has trampled the parental rights of the overwhelming majority of California fathers and mothers who don't want their children to be sexually brainwashed at school," Thomasson said.
Local school boards will be able to decide how to implement the mandate and at what grade level the instruction will begin once the law goes into effect.
California already mandates that public schools teach students about African Americans, Mexican Americans, American Indians and other minority groups.
The new law will also add people with disabilities to the list of groups that schools must include in their lesson plans.
****************************************
California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill that would require that public schools teach gay and lesbian history. The legislation is preceded by similar requirements in the state of California to promote women's history, African-American history and other minority groups' history in public school curriculum. The bill was originally put forth in 2006 but vetoed by then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican. However, since then, there has been a great deal of public outcry in response to the recent suicides of many gay teens across the state, attention to which no doubt helped to push the bill forward. Now that the Democratic governor has signed the bill, come January, the state-approved curriculum of public schools across the state will include the study of gay rights figures such as Harvey Milk—the first openly gay, publicly-elected official in California.
Advocates hope the requirements will lessen bullying and promote tolerance. Nevertheless, there has been some resistance to the bill. Opponents argue that it infringes on the rights of local school districts and that it is up to individual communities to determine whether such requirements be included in the curriculum.
After the passage of gay marriage by the state of New York, last week we asked you if gay marriage should be legalized throughout the country. This week we pose a similar question. Would you like to see a bill like this passed in your state and across the country? Do you think children should be required to learn about gay history in public schools? Or do you think it should be up to local school boards whether they learn gay advocates and other aspects of gay and lesbian history? Or do you think gay history should be left out of school curriculum entirely? As always, your comments are also appreciated.
NBA is a joke
Comment