In calling on California Governor Jerry
Brown to veto a gay history bill, social conservatives have labeled
it an attack on the family
The Democrat-controlled Assembly on
Tuesday voted 49 to 25 in favor of Senator Mark Leno's FAIR
Education Act. The Senate approved the measure in April. Brown,
a gay rights ally, has not publicly declared his stance on the issue.
Leno's proposed legislation would
mandate the inclusion of the historical contributions of gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans in the state's textbooks.
As the country's most populous state, California's move could set
the tone for textbooks throughout the nation.
Writing
at the Catholic Conference's website, Los Angeles Archbishop Jose
H. Gomez condemned the measure as an attack on the family.
“The family is God's first beautiful
gift to us,” Gomez writes. “Because each one of us came into
this world as the fruit of a mother and a father's love.”
“America needs strong families to
nurture the values and virtues we need to live as a free and just
people.”
The measure, Gomez said, is a
“dangerous government intrusion into parents' rights.”
“This amounts to the government
rewriting history books based on pressure-group politics. It is also
another example of the government interfering with parents' rights to
be their children's primary educators.”
Chris Clark, pastor of East Clairemont
Southern Baptist Church in San Diego, told
the Baptist Press that he objected to the bill because it
attempts “to teach that homosexual behavior is normal, that it's
acceptable, and that people because of their sexual behavior are
somehow heroes in our society.”
Proponents of the legislation say it
would help curb the bullying of LGBT teens.