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California Family Minute

July 8, 2011

Take Action Today – Urge Governor Brown’s Veto

The timing of the California Legislature’s passage of Senate Bill 48 is intended to force Governor Jerry Brown to act quickly. By law, Gov. Brown has less than two weeks to make his decision on whether to veto, or sign SB 48 into law. The action of California’s citizens is urgently requested.

If SB 48 becomes law, it will mandate that California’s public education system include the societal contributions of homosexual, bisexual, and transgender persons into the state’s social science curriculum, yet the content cannot include information that may reflect negatively on that population’s behaviors. This bill's purpose is to positively highlight these sexual orientations.

Below are suggested talking points as you call, fax, write, or e-mail Governor Brown’s office:

  • From a Los Angeles Times editorial: It is not the role or responsibility of legislators to make decisions on educational curriculum. Representatives are not elected by the people in order to force their own politicized content into public education. SB 48 would diminish the intellectual integrity of our curriculum. Decisions on content for textbooks and instructional materials should remain in the hands of qualified educators.
  • Placing SB 48 into law would weaken parents’ rights. The curriculum of SB 48 would conflict with the worldviews of millions of California’s parents, yet there is no legal recourse for parents to keep their own children from this content. Compelling children to participate in curriculum that contradicts a family’s cultural or religious perspectives can only result in heightened tensions between California’s educational system and the citizens it claims to serve.

Mailing address:     Governor Jerry Brown                                   
c/o State Capitol, Suite 1173                                   
Sacramento, CA 95814Phone: (916) 445-2841
Fax: (916) 558-3160

To send an e-mail, link here

Sample communication: 
I urge Governor Brown to veto Senate Bill 48. This bill symbolizes the Legislature's over-reach into the area of public education's curriculum development, and politicizes California's educational system. In addition, SB 48 weakens parents' rights in their role as the primary force in the raising of their children. SB 48, by virtue of being outside the sex ed curricula, disallows parents from withholding their children from its content (content to which millions of parents disagree for cultural or religious reasons).

Please thank the Governor for his consideration and veto of SB 48.

Ron Prentice
California Family Council
 
  
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