The conservative group dubbed Stop SB48 has failed in their efforts to repeal the law that would allow LGBT- and disabilities-based education into public school curriculum. The group was not able to collect enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The group was up against a Wednesday deadline to turn in 505,000 signatures which would allow voters to overturn the law. The group was not successful in collecting enough signatures, although reports have not revealed how many were indeed collected. An email sent on behalf of the group explained: “We thank all of you that worked so hard to provide the hundreds of thousands of signatures received. In the end, 90 days was too short a time to accomplish such a large task.”
The group’s email added: “They said we did not have enough money, the commitment of enough groups, or enough days. Ultimately they were right. And in private perhaps they will ask if the effort they withheld would have made the critical difference,” the e-mail stated. “There will be a next battle.”
The law is due to take effect on Jan. 1 and will require public schools to include historical and significant contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and disabled people.
Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) initiated the bill and predicted that Stop SB48 would not gain enough signatures to overturn the law.
“I’m glad to learn my early suspicions have been validated and from all indications it appears they failed by a wide margin,” Leno said. “Time is our friend because it will dispel the hyperbolic fear that these folks had been selling,” Leno said.
