Foes of a law that mandates schools
teach about the historical contributions of gay, lesbian, bisexual
and transgender people have conceded they don't have sufficient voter
signatures for a repeal effort.
Starting as early as the 2013-14 school
year, Senate Bill 48 (SB48) or the FAIR
Education Act, sponsored by state Senator Mark Leno, a
Democrat from San Francisco, requires the California Board of
Education and local school districts to include the curriculum in
their lesson plans.
Opponents of the law had until
Wednesday to collect the signatures of 504,760 registered voters to
qualify for the next statewide ballot.
In an email to supporters, the group
spearheading the effort, Stop SB48, conceded they had come up short.
“Unfortunately we did not collect
enough signatures to qualify the referendum to overturn SB48,” the
group said. “That law will be in place in our schools at the first
of next year.”
“In the end, 90 days was too short a
time to accomplish such a large task.”
Supporters of the law note that
national conservative organizations largely kept out of the fight,
leading to the speculation that they are planning a November 2012
ballot initiative.
“We always imagined they would try to
take another bite at the apple in November,” said Rebekah Orr, a
spokesperson for Equality California, the state's largest gay rights
group. “[W]e need to be prepared for them to qualify in November.”
(Related: Group
accuses foes of California gay history law SB48 of tricking voters.)