SACRAMENTO, July 6, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A bill requiring public schools to teach the “historical contributions” of homosexual Americans was approved by the California legislature on Tuesday, July 5. The bill also prohibits any school material or instruction that reflects adversely on homosexuality, bisexuality or transgenderism, and prohibits parents from removing children from classes over offensive material.
Bill SB 48 was sponsored by openly homosexual state senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and passed in the Democrat-controlled Assembly by 49-25, with all Democrats voting for the bill and Republicans opposing it. The legislation passed the state Senate in April.
If signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, schools would have to introduce the homosexual curriculum after the bill becomes law in January.
“This bill will require California schools to present a more accurate and nuanced view of American history in our social science curriculum by recognizing the accomplishments of groups that are not often recognized,” said Assembly Speaker John Perez, the first openly homosexual speaker of the California Assembly.
Republican critics of the bill observed, however, that the measure has less to do with education than with homosexual indoctrination of school children.
GOP Assemblyman Tim Donnelly said he was offended as a Christian that the bill was being used to promote the homosexual agenda in public schools.
“I think it’s one thing to say that we should be tolerant,” Donnelly said. “It is something else altogether to say that my children are going to be taught that this lifestyle is good.”
Reaction to the bill from pro-family and parental groups was swift, with Concerned Women for America calling the legislation “another step toward complete normalization of transgenderism, homosexuality and bisexuality through the public schools.” CWA severely criticized the lack of an opt-out provision for parents who don’t want their children exposed to the homosexual agenda-driven curriculum.
Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), a non-profit legal defense organization, said, “This legislation requires this outrageous indoctrination to be mandatory, allowing no parent to legally opt out their child from participating.”
Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, a pro-family organization, said the passage of the bill may be the turning point that will result in parents removing their children from the public school system en masse.
“This sexual brainwashing bill would mandate that children as young as 6 years old be told falsehoods – that homosexuality is biological, when it isn’t, or healthy, when it’s not,” Thomasson said.
“Parents don’t send their sons and daughters to school to learn to admire homosexuality, bisexuality, cross-dressing, ‘sex change’ operations, homosexual ‘marriages,’ or to support legal persecution of people who disagree.”
“There’s already a raft of school sexual indoctrination laws on the books. Impressionable children are already being sexual indoctrinated, but SB48 would be the most in-your-face brainwashing yet. We urge Gov. Brown to respect parents,” he continued, “remember basic academics, and basic family values, and veto this bad bill when it reaches his desk.”
However, the California Department of Education has indicated that the state’s financial crisis would preclude the purchase of new textbooks (re-written to include homosexual history) for several years.