CA Ballot Initiative Falls Short

Special Report - October 17, 2011
Christian and conservative groups in California failed to collect enough signatures to prevent the State’s “first-in-the-nation gay history law” from going into effect. The coalition opposed to the law, Stop SB 48, had 90 days to collect 505,000 signatures to place a referendum of the law on the ballot. Ultimately, they fell at least 7,500 signatures short. Had the group been successful in gathering the necessary signatures, SB 48—Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act would have been suspended temporarily until the referendum vote in 2012. The curriculum changes are scheduled to go into effect in January 2012.

According to Stop SB 48, the law requires all California public schools “to include positive discussions of the sexual orientations of transgender, bisexual, and gay Americans in all social science courses.” Supporters presented the bill as an attempt to mitigate bullying in schools, but the law’s text does not address bullying. Rather, it requires several curriculum changes, including “instruction in social sciences to include a study of the role and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans.” The bill goes on to prohibit any negative discussion or teaching that reflects “adversely” on several groups of people, including transgender, bisexual, and homosexual Americans. These changes apply to more than 6 million students in California’s 9,324 public schools.

Opponents of the law, such as Stop SB48 argue that, “SB 48 moves beyond provisions regarding bullying and crosses a line into indoctrination. It uses all social science curriculum, including history books and other instructional materials, to teach children as young as five not only to accept but also to endorse transgenderism, bisexuality, and homosexuality, looking to individuals with these lifestyles as models and viewing their sexual lifestyles positively.”

While there are other possible means for Californians to attempt to prevent the law from going into effect, the change in California’s curriculum, if it is not stopped, could be a cause of concern for other states. California is one of the largest purchasers of textbooks in the nation, thereby holding considerable sway in what kinds of materials textbook publishers make available. If publishers rewrite textbooks to comply with the new California law, many states across the nation who purchase textbooks from the same publishers may only be offered the choice of social science textbooks that endorse alternative lifestyles.

"It's time for citizens to wake up and see what is coming," said Bill Brooks, president of the North Carolina Family Policy Council. "Once pro-homosexual activists gain a foothold in the legislative arena as they have  in California, they will push to indoctrinate the children of today, who are after all, the pool of recruits for the next generation of homosexuals. The voters of North Carolina should pass the Marriage Protection Amendment and then call for the creation of a consortium of southern states to join together to form a purchasing block of textbooks that refuse to include the revisionist history and principles of indoctrination that pro homosexual groups want to teach our children."

Related resources:
CA Mandates LGBT History Lessons - July 18, 2011

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