StoopidFly: California SB1437

Friday, May 12, 2006

California SB1437

Today the California Senate passed SB1437- a bill requiring public schools to teach the accomplishments of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people. The bill was introduced by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, a Democrat. Ms. Kuehl said, "It would have been extremely helpful to me had I had this curriculum in school, I was deep in the closet all through my adolescence and my 20s, and I hadn't heard anything about being a lesbian except that it was horrible. I was very frightened." She went on to say she didn't choose a sexual orientation, which cost her an acting career. While attending school in the 1940s, she was exposed to the achievements of only white men. "Growing up, all I knew about was Betsy Ross, Betty Crocker or Betty Boop. Since my name wasn't Betty, I thought I was toast," Kuehl said. WHAT?? If that is her reasoning, the state of California will need much more help than this law would provide.
The bill, SB 1437, passed on a 22-15 vote and will now go to the Assembly. If it is approved by the Assembly it will then go to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who so far has not given a position of the bill. California's Legislature last year became the first to authorize gay marriage, but Schwarzenegger vetoed the measure.
Read more about the bill, and the public reaction in the Los Angeles Times,
The San Francisco Gate, or the Sacramento Bee.

When did it become the duty of schools to teach children about sexual orientation? What happened to reading, math, and science? We should all hope that Arnold has the common sense to veto this bill.