LGBT Accomplishments May Be Taught in the Classroom
May 12, 2006: In a great accomplishment, the California State Senate has passed a measure that will require schools to teach about the contributions that LGBT people have made to our world.
This is sure to raise conservative ire (I heard a substitute host for Rush Limbaugh - Roger Hickcock? - railing about it yesterday). But, really, why shouldn’t children who are learning about famous people like Michaelangelo or Cole Porter or Gertrude Stein hear the whole truth? And why isn’t the fight for gay civil rights included in disucssions of society and prejudice?
Why is reality so controversial? And wouldn’t it be wonderful for our children to hear positive things about people who sound like their parents?
Of course, this won’t become law until Governor Schwarzenegger signs it, which is pretty scary.
Here’s a story from Advocate.com story about this milestone achievement.
The California Senate yesterday passed a bill that would make the historical contributions of LGBT Americans a part of public-school curriculum in the state. The measure, believed to be the first of its kind in the country, still needs to be passed by the state Assembly and signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and would not take effect until 2012, The Los Angeles Times reports.
“Even though we passed an anti-harassment bill seven years ago, it’s still pretty obvious that there’s a hostile environment for kids who are gay or lesbian—or even thought to be gay or lesbian,” Senator Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), the bill’s author and one of the legislature’s six openly gay members, told the Times. “Part of that stems from the fact that nobody reads about any positive examples.”
The bill would require state textbooks to incorporate LGBT history, from acknowledging the sexuality of cultural figures like Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes to discussing the gay-rights movement, which would then be used in social studies courses in an “age-appropriate” way to examine the “role and contributions” that LGBT people have made to the “economic, political, and social development” of California and the United States. If the measure becomes law, the state Board of Education will be responsible for implementing it and setting educational guidelines.
“If you’re teaching social movements in schools, and you talk about the United Farm Workers and Cesar Chavez, and you talk about the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King, and you talk about the women’s suffrage movement, to leave out the gay rights movement seems glaring,” Geoffrey Kors, executive director of Equality California, told the Times.
All but three Democrats voted for the bill, while all 14 Republican senators voted against it. (The Advocate)