(no subject)

[dv8nation.livejournal.com]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/15/us/15gay.html?_r=2&hp

California will become the first state to require public schools to teach gay and lesbian history.

As expected, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill on Thursday that mandates that the contributions of gays and lesbians in the state and the country be included in social science instruction and in textbooks. School districts will have until next January to begin implementing the new law, which was also promoted in part as a way to combat bullying of gay and lesbian students.


Well, now this is a surprise.After Prop 8 I was forced to revise my opinion on just how progressive California really was. But this makes me think that maybe things might not have been what I though. Sure, their will be opposition. But while this will take some time to fully kick in I think that the genie is out of the bottle and as California goes so goes the rest of the nation. However more slowly.

With this and the ruling against DADT it looks like gay rights is really picking up some steam.

Comments

[mrbogey.livejournal.com]

I find it to be a trifling issue with no real educational value.

Sexuality has little to do with historical worth.

[eracerhead.livejournal.com]

They are trying to save face after having been beaten by New York. Suits are more progressive than hippies, so there!

But seriously, Prop 8 was just badly done. The way to do it was the way NY did it - by legislators doing their job rather than punting the issue as a referendum.

[jlc20thmaine.livejournal.com]

Since California heavily influences what goes into textbooks which are used nationwide, how will this influence the rest of the US?

[blorky.livejournal.com]

I wish they had mandated a more broad scope study of Civil Rights history - women, blacks, gays, the current immigration issues, etc...

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Sacred Band of Thebes FTW!

teh gayz

[rick-day.livejournal.com]

THEY HAVE AN AGENDA




and good for them!

[rasilio.livejournal.com]

IMO this is IDIOCY of the highest level.

Schools are already failing to teach basic skills and now you want to waste even more time with teachers telling 1st graders who don't even know what sex is yet, "Hey isn't this cool, this important person was also Gay" and then trying to deal with the inevitable followup of "What does Gay mean?".


I am all for gay rights and my only criticism of the Gay rights movement is that they are not willing to go far enough in winning civil rights for non mainstream sexuality (where is the support for Swinging, BDSM, and Polyamory?) but seriously "gay contributions to history" is irrelevant, the contribution is what matters, not who they were sleeping with and we should not be wasting valuable class time on irrelevancies like this.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

Because everybody has alrready mastered Math, English, Philosophy, and a 2nd Language we must find additional subjects to occupy our students and teachers time!

[404.livejournal.com]

If California can successfully provide evidence to show how sexual identity can improve content knowledge acquisition and retention, then I don't really see any reason why not to teach it as part of the curriculum. I do have a problem if it is just for bullying, which is a problem, but I don't see how this really addresses that issue.