SACRAMENTO, Calif.
California State Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, says a key aspect of history is missing from school textbooks — the contributions that homosexuals have made to California and the nation.
Kuehl has introduced a bill that would fill that void by requiring textbooks and other social science materials to discuss contributions that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people have made to the state and nation’s economy, politics and society.
The bill also would prohibit textbooks from criticizing people because of their sexual orientation. Current law sets that standard for discussions of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, gender and disabilities.
The bill is scheduled to be considered Wednesday by the Senate Education Committee.
Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, R-Monrovia, has a rival bill that would ban schools from promoting socialism, humanism or homosexuality. It also is up Wednesday, in the Assembly Education Committee.
Discussions of gays and lesbians are almost nonexistent in current textbooks, say supporters of Kuehl’s legislation.
