California bishops urge opposition to pro-gay textbook law
Image via WikipediaThe California Catholic Conference has issued an action alert encouraging California Catholics to contact their Assembly Members in opposition to a proposed state law regulating text book content.
SB 48, The Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful Education Act, was introduced by openly homosexual state Senator Mark Leno and passed by the Senate in April.
It was passed by the Assembly Education Committee in a party line vote and now awaits a floor vote in the Assembly. Democrats currently maintain a strong majority in the lower house of the California legislature, holding 52 of 80 seats. If the bill is passed by the Assembly, it will go to the desk of Democratic Governor Jerry Brown for signature.
A similar bill was vetoed in 2006 by former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
If passed, the bill would require a politically correct overhaul of social science curriculum in California schools from kindergarten through 12th grade. It mandates proportional representation of the historical contributions of minorities, the disabled and homosexuals and prohibits any material that reflects negatively on a person because of race, gender, sexual orientation or disability.
“Professional educators and historians, working with teachers, parents and school boards, should design social studies curriculums,” said the California Catholic Conference’s action alert. “Politicians, subject to the winds of political correctness, should not because they often respond with more alacrity to the interest groups than to their constituents whose children attend California’s schools.”
The bishop’s statement also quoted the editors of the Los Angeles Times, who expressed concern that the bill would turn history instruction into the propagation of “fables.”
Pro-family organizations, along with some lawmakers, have also expressed concern over the way in which the revised curriculum would draw attention to the issue of sexual orientation for even the youngest of students.
During a Senate hearing, Republican Senator Robert Huff called the bill a “paradigm shift” which would have the effect of “actively promoting a lifestyle,” reports the International Press Association.
Pro-family activist James Lambert says he believes that the bill will be used as a tool by homosexual lobbyists to overturn Proposition 8, the California Constitutional Amendment that defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
“For them, they’re reversing this and they want the public to promote their agenda, and I don’t think that’s the job and the function of the public schools,” he told OneNewsNow. “The public schools are there to teach kids the basic rudiments of education—math, English, history, language ... philosophy—but not to give political discourses. They’re out of touch.”
