The California Senate on Thursday
approved a bill that seeks to include the historical contributions of
gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans in the state's
textbooks, the AP reported.
Voting along party lines, the
Democrat-controlled Senate voted 23 to 14 in favor of Senator Mark
Leno's FAIR Education Act.
Leno, an openly gay Democrat from San
Francisco, told lawmakers that the legislation would help curb the
bullying of gay children.
“We are second-class citizens and
children are listening,” he said. “When they see their teachers
don't step up to the plate when their classmate is being harassed
literally to death, they are listening and they get the message that
there is something wrong with those people.”
Opponents of the legislation include
SaveCalifornia.com, the socially conservative group headed by Randy
Thomasson.
“If the Democrats pass this perverse
bill into law with [Governor] Jerry Brown's signature, it will be
California's 7th statewide sexual indoctrination law
indoctrinating impressionable children,” Thomasson said in an email
to supporters. “There is no biological basis for homosexuality,
and the overwhelming majority of HIV transmissions are the result of
homosexual and bisexual behavior. To protect their kids from a raft
of lies, parents have more reason than ever to leave behind
government schools for the safe havens of homeschooling and church
schools.”
The measure is expected to be approved
by the Assembly and signed into law by Democratic Governor Jerry
Brown, an ally on gay rights.