SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Legislators have sent the governor a bill that would make California the first state to require that public schools include the contributions of gays and lesbians in social studies curriculum.
The bill, passed Tuesday on a party-line vote, adds lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people as well as people with disabilities to the list of groups that schools must include in the lessons. It also would prohibit material that reflects adversely on gays.
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Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco says SB48 is crucial because of the bullying that happens to gay students. Republicans called it a well-intentioned but ill-conceived bill and raised concerns that it would indoctrinate children to accept homosexuality.
“This bill will require California schools to present a more accurate and nuanced view of American history in our social science curriculum by recognizing the accomplishments of groups that are not often recognized,” said Assembly Speaker John Perez, the first openly gay speaker of the California Assembly.
The bill now goes to Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, who has not said whether he would sign it. Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill in 2006.
Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, a Republican from Twin Peaks, said he was offended as a Christian that the bill was being used to promote a “homosexual agenda” in public schools.
“It’s one thing to say that we should be tolerant,” Donnelly said. “It is something else altogether to say that my children are going to be taught that this lifestyle is good.”
California law already requires schools to teach about women, African Americans, Mexican Americans, entrepreneurs, Asian Americans, European Americans, American Indians and labor.
SB48 would require, as soon as the 2013-2014 school year, that the California Board of Education and local school districts adopt textbooks and other teaching materials that cover the contributions and roles of sexual minorities.
The legislation leaves it to local school boards to decide how to implement the requirement. It does not specify a grade level for the instruction to begin.
Opponents argued that such instruction would further burden an already crowded curriculum and expose students to a subject that some parents find objectionable. Assemblyman Chris Norby, R-Fullerton, said the bill micromanages the classroom.
The bill’s author, Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, said he hopes Brown will sign his bill. He dismissed arguments that the bill promotes certain sexual behaviors and said it removes censorship in textbooks.
“Bottom line, it’s only beneficial to share with students the broad diversity of the human experience, and that our democracy protects everyone,” he said.
Before the Assembly vote, Perez pointed to a few contributions of gay people, including Friedrich von Steuben, one of George Washington’s military advisers, who fled Prussia after he was hounded as a homosexual.
Von Steuben is credited with being one of the fathers of the Continental Army and with teaching essential military drills.
Perez also cited mathematician Alan Turing, who helped crack Nazi Germany’s secret codes by creating the “Turing bombe,” a forerunner of computers.
Some churches and conservative family groups warned that the bill will drive more parents to take their children out of public schools.
“This sexual brainwashing bill would mandate that children as young as 6 years old be told falsehoods – that homosexuality is biological, when it isn’t, or healthy, when it’s not,” said Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com.
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