CALIFORNIA – Following Gov. Jerry Brown’s signing of legislation requiring public schools to include the contributions of the LGBT community in their curriculum, anti-equality advocates have initiated a ballot referendum to ask California voters to overturn the legislation.
The Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act amends the Education Code to include the contributions of LGBT people in social sciences instruction. The bill also prohibits the state Board of Education from adopting discriminatory instruction and discriminatory materials.
SB 48 was authored by Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and co-sponsored by Equality California and Gay-Straight Alliance Network; among its primary co-authors was Sen. Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) and Assemblywoman Toni Atkins (D-San Diego).
“Today we are making history in California by ensuring that our textbooks and instructional materials no longer exclude the contributions of LGBT Americans,” Leno said when Gov. Brown signed the bill. “I am pleased Gov. Brown signed the FAIR Education Act and I thank him for recognizing that the LGBT community, its accomplishments and its ongoing efforts for first-class citizenship are important components of California’s history.”
SB 48 passed the state Senate in April and then the state Assembly the first of July. Gov. Brown signed the bill last Thursday, July 14. Backlash from conservative, religion-based organizations started immediately, and plans for a ballot initiative to overturn the bill were announced the next day.
“It is an outrage that Gov. Jerry Brown has opened the classroom door for homosexual activists to indoctrinate the minds of California’s youth, since no factual materials would be allowed to be presented,” said Rev. Louis Sheldon, chairman and founder of Traditional Values Coalition (TVC). “By signing SB 48 today, California’s classrooms, textbooks and instructional materials will all become pro-homosexual promotion tools.”
The coalition has been working with “highly regarded pro-family leaders in the state” in preparation to launch the ballot initiative, according to its Web site.
“The people of California want their children to learn a fair and unbiased version of history,” Atkins told the San Diego LGBT Weekly. “I sincerely doubt those who want to go back to making LGBT people invisible in history books will succeed in getting enough signatures to put this on the ballot. But if they do, I am confident the voters of California will reject the initiative.”
Opponents of SB 48 must collect 504,760 signatures in order to qualify for the ballot.
“It’s been a little over a month since the state Senate passed the homosexual curriculum and teachings bill, SB 48, and sent it to the state Assembly,” said TVC Legislative Advocate Benjamin Lopez. “But in this time, Traditional Values Coalition has not taken a rest. We have been using this time effectively to lay the groundwork for a formidable fight to stop SB 48 dead in its tracks.”
In response to the news that the law will be challenged, Leno said, “I think it will be a challenge for them to get the signatures,” adding, “If they succeed in that, I bet Californians reject it.”
“We don’t know for sure whether they’ll succeed. But we do know that, as with Proposition 8, opponents of equality are ready to amass a huge financial war chest to misrepresent the law, spread more lies about LGBT people and turn back the clock on equality,” wrote Roland Palencia, Equality California Executive Director, in a letter to his membership asking for donations. “To win, we’ll have to match them dollar for dollar and educate the public about the importance of the FAIR Education Act.”
