California Family Minute

Children are our future; parents recognize the value of teaching their child basic morals and discipline from a young age, and churches know that a young child’s newfound faith in Christ opens the door to a family and its future. Homosexual activists, early in their quest to normalize their behavior, saw the key role children could play in their strategies, and they focused specifically on them through public schools. Legislators in California have incrementally pursued special homosexual rights and curriculum in the schools, promoting the acceptance of behaviors unacceptable to many parents.   New legislation – introduced December 13 –would require that children be taught the contributions of homosexuals in California and American history.  

Five years ago, the first openly homosexual California state senator, Sheila Kuehl, took aim at the schools and introduced SB 1437, legislation that – under the guise of discrimination – would have dictated a one-sided, pro-homosexual message in the public schools. Specifically, it would have banned lessons, discussions, and activities that “reflected adversely” on one’s sexual orientation. Under the banner of one-sided tolerance, traditional family views would be quashed, and teaching would have been stripped of any negative messages about homosexuality. Citizens in California – and indeed nationwide – reacted, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed SB 1437 and several other egregious bills, known collectively as the “triple threat.”

The following year, the “triple threat” returned, including a reworked and expanded version of SB 1437 (SB 777), also authored by Sen. Kuehl. This time around, the governor signed SB 777 and one other homosexual education bill – SB 394 – opening the door to further promotion of homosexuality while silencing the voice of traditional morality and Judeo-Christian beliefs in the schools.

Openly homosexual Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) has since taken up the mantle of termed-out Sheila Kuehl. On December 13, Leno introduced an expansion of Kuehl’s previously vetoed legislation. Promoting it as a method of thwarting bullying and harassment in the schools, SB 48 is billed as the “Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act.” This legislation would require children to learn the history and contributions of homosexuals. Just as children currently study the roles and contributions of men and women, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups, SB 48 would require lessons to include “the early history of California and a study of the role and contributions of both men and women, Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, European Americans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans, and members of other ethnic and cultural groups, to the economic, political, and social development of California and the United States of America, with particular emphasis on portraying the role of these groups in contemporary society.” In other words, history in California schools would equate sexual identity with ethnicity. 

In practical terms, SB 48 is not at all “fair” – not when it would promote one viewpoint, while denying and silencing another. Homosexuals would be presented as a positive, accepted norm without the mention of any negative health or moral concerns shared by medical experts, religious leaders, and parents. Schools have long been accused of re-writing history in order to support current culture. In this circumstance history would flagrantly be rewritten with propaganda favoring pro-homosexual messages in the schools. To add GLBT issues to the history of California and the United States further dilutes objective truth in public schools and misinforms children about the lifestyle. 

Emboldened by the recent California election and the success of Governor-elect Jerry Brown, California legislators are ignoring the families of California and are reintroducing bills once vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger – chomping at the bit to expand their agendas. Pro-homosexual Equality California is promising “an aggressive plan” to expand rights and protections for LGBT people – in unimaginable ways.

Once before, Californians successfully stood up to this agenda in the schools. This time the battle will be even more fierce and require the involvement of us all. New legislation may be introduced in January and February, yielding to committee hearings in the spring. California Family Council will keep you informed, alerting you to appropriate times to contact your legislators. Even now, however, you can inform family and friends about what is ahead in the California Legislature.