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Public schools in Illinois may be forced to single out homosexual historical figures for special praise, if legislation that has already passed one legislative chamber ultimately prevails. Earlier this month, the state Senate passed SB 3249 by a 34-18 vote. It requires history courses in public schools to “include a study of the roles and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the history of this country and this State,” and to adopt “non-discriminatory” textbooks that “include the roles and contributions of all people protected, under the Illinois Human Rights Act,” including LGBT figures. The legislation, which would take effect in July 2019 if enacted, would allow local school districts to set the details of these additions and decide when to implement them, but makes no reference to whether parents will be allowed to opt their children out of the lessons. The final form of these lessons remains to be seen, but “LGBT history” efforts elsewhere have ex

Children in California will be learning to identify historical personages by their sexuality. The Advocate   reported  that the California state board of education approved “10 LGBT-inclusive history textbooks” for elementary school students in grades K-8 last week. It also rejected two textbooks on the grounds that they did not include “ LGBT history .” The exclusion of LGBT history violates California’s FAIR Education Act. The FAIR Education Act,  once informally called the LGBT History Bill, was written by Senator Mark Leno . FAIR stands for “Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful.” It ensures that the political, economic and social contributions of people with disabilities as well as those people identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender are included in textbooks of California’s state-funded schools. It also added sexual orientation and religion to a list of characteristics that California schools already could not present in a negative way. In 2008, Ma