Calif. Gov Signs Gay Education Bill

[William769]

Source: The Advocate

California governor Jerry Brown signed landmark legislation Thursday that mandates the contributions of LGBT people be included in school lesson plans.

The Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful Education Act was introduced by gay state senator Mark Leno partly as a way to combat bullying of students who are gay or perceived to be. The FAIR Act passed the Senate in April and the Assembly earlier this month. Aside from ensuring that the contributions of gays and gay rights are included in textbooks, the legislation adds sexual orientation to the state's existing antidiscrimination protections that prohibit bias in school activities, instruction, and instructional materials.

"Today we are making history in California by ensuring that our textbooks and instructional materials no longer exclude the contributions of LGBT Americans," Leno, a San Francisco Democrat, said in a statement. "Denying LGBT people their rightful place in history gives our young people an inaccurate and incomplete view of the world around them."


Read more: http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/07/14/Calif_Gov_Signs_Gay_Education_Bill/

[bluestateguy]

1. There will be parents who will make a snit about opting their children out

Just watch.

[sakabatou]

2. Of course

[No Elephants]

10. Then let them REALLY opt out and pay private school tuition.

[sabo_tabby]

13. There's an easy fix for homophobic parents like that...

http://www.dss.cahwnet.gov/cdssweb/pg93.htm

Pity it wasn't written into the law.

[krabigirl]

22. good..hope they leave the state, too.

[alp227]

3. Thank you, Senator Leno and Governor Brown.

Ignorance never leads to an enlightened society.

[William769]

4. +1.

:thumbsup:

[slackmaster]

5. It's a nice gesture, but I wish they'd fix the state's BUDGET before working on anything else

:argh:

[Lucky Luciano]

6. It's called multitasking. nt

[No Elephants]

9. Gesture?

[slackmaster]

46. In case you are interested in reading the bill, I have a link to the text as chaptered

I believe most history and social science texts that are already in use would pass muster.

The new law requires course materials to include the names and works of a few people who are already prominently mentioned, such as Alexander the Great, Georgia O'Keefe, Grace Hopper, and Alan Turing. No introductory art history course would be complete without O'Keefe, nor would a computer science history make any sense without Hopper and Turing. (I admit that I did not know until I read this thread that Alan Turing was gay, but I certainly knew who he was and what he did.)

It has no specific content requirements or learning objectives. All it really does is add gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered to an existing chapter of the Education Code that is intended to ensure that content does not exclude certain groups of people in a discriminatory manner. In addition to LGBT people, the new law adds Pacific islanders and people with disabilities to a list of groups that are specifically required to be included. It also expands a list of groups that are not to be excluded.

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/11-12/bill/sen/sb_0001-0050/sb_48_bill_20110714_chaptered.html

[Politicub]

17. Civil rights should never take a backseat

You just don't get it. But that's ok. Hopefully one day you will.

This is hugely important to GLBT folk and their friends and families.

[awoke_in_2003]

52. +1. nt

[CreekDog]

19. they passed a budget...also how do you want them to fix it?

let's name some programs and how much the changes you're asking for would save.

you have a habit of asking for spending cuts without ever posting any details.

and are you still against any tax increases on anybody?

[yardwork]

23. Ignorance wastes money.

[slackmaster]

28. As long as the result is more accurate and complete history, I'm OK with it

HTH

[alp227]

25. haha they passed it on time this year

Jerry Brown signs budget after making more cuts (this was on June 30 the day before the state deadline!)

[proud patriot]

7. Awesome this will go a long way to end the Bullying IMO

Thank You Jerry !

[Scottybeamer70]

8. and up and down the entire state,

fundie heads are now exploding on cue!
Thanks, Gov. Brown!!

[No Elephants]

11. Great news. Thanks, Governor.

[Bennyboy]

12. I am confused here...

When we teach history we are teaching aobut gay people too but leaving out the fact that they are gay, right? I mean it is hard to teach dance without talking about Baryshnikov right? Of SF politics without mentioning Harvey Milk. Or anything really.

Do ony other sexual group ever get mentioned? Like when we write Ahhnold's bio, we are going to mention everything but the fact he like to have multiple sex partners. OR when we teach about US history and J Edgar Hoover, the text books won't mention his cross dressing.

So is this about the teachers saying "gay" in front of everything? "Gay Supervisor Milk" say......

Is that what this is about?

[sabo_tabby]

15. You got a problem with that?

After centuries - milennia, really - of oppression, yeah, I think the LGBTQA community deserves a little recognition for their suffering, and some consideration for their struggle. If that means some DWMs get pushed into the dustbin of history (where they all belong), so be it.

[Politicub]

16. The gay rights movement does not get covered in schools today

That's what this bill addresses. If someone is GLBT and it's relevant to the historical narrative, their identity won't be hidden.

I think you may see things like, "gay rights leader Harvey Milk," but not "heterosexual John Smith."

And in the case of Harvey Milk, his sexual orientation is part and parcel of his place in history. As it should be.

[Sapphocrat]

18. You'll be a lot less confused...

...when you learn the difference between sexual orientation and sexual behavior, which you appear to be equating.

"Sexual groups"? "Multiple sex partners"? "Cross-dressing"? For fuck's sake.

Do you have any idea how insulting and dismissive your post sounds?

Do you?

[William769]

20. Ignorance is bliss. Or is it just plain bigotry?

[yardwork]

24. Being gay is not the same as a "sexual group."

The assumption right now is that everybody is straight. This is about mentioning the fact that some important historical figures are/were gay, instead of teaching that everybody is straight.

This is quite different from discussing people's sexual habits. It's quite insulting to suggest that my sexual orientation is equivalent to somebody else having multiple sex partners. In fact, knowing my sexual orientation - that I'm a lesbian - doesn't tell you a single thing about my sex life. You may think it does, but you're probably wrong.

[NMMNG]

26. Yes, you're confused

Or something. :eyes:

[alp227]

27. Look up the name Alan Turing

He's why you got to type your post. Sadly he was the victim of a stupid pseudoscientific attempt to change him to be straight so he ate a cyanide-laced apple and committed suicide. Only 2 years ago did the UK government issue an official apology for prosecuting him simply for being gay; Turing died in 1954.

[slackmaster]

44. We learned about Alan Turing's work in an introductory computer science class I took in high school

But nothing about his personal life.

[yardwork]

50. That means that you didn't learn that he was hounded until he killed himself.

You missed some important history.

[Dappleganger]

29. Being gay is not about sex only...

would it be ok to not mention that Frederick Douglas or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were African American? No it would not.

[rucky]

45. Yes, you are confused.

It's about a civil rights movement that has made a significant contribution to our history.

[Politicub]

14. YES!!! Today is a milestone in GLBT liberation

Our history will not be kept hidden in Calif.

[krabigirl]

21. good for him. an actual liberal. amazing.

[Unvanguard]

30. Thought he was going to veto it. Glad he didn't.

Hope there isn't an attempt to respond by initiative.

[Cereal Kyller]

31. California governor signs bill requiring schools to teach gay history

Source: CNN

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Democratic California Gov. Jerry Brown said Thursday he had signed a bill that will require public schools in the state to teach students about the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.

The bill, believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, will also require teachers to provide instruction on the role of people with disabilities.

"History should be honest," Brown said in a statement.

"This bill revises existing laws that prohibit discrimination in education and ensures that the important contributions of Americans from all backgrounds and walks of life are included in our history books. It represents an important step forward for our state, and I thank Senator Leno for his hard work on this historic legislation."

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/14/california.lgbt.education/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

[MrDiaz]

32. Really

Gay History, what is that? Why not just have History, how would you know who was or wasn't gay that long ago?

[Jefferson23]

34. Did you read the OP through? Take another look at it and you'll

then see what is to happen is essentially there will not be any exclusion of people who have
made contributions to America based on the fact that they're gay.

Also this will cover contributions made by Americans with disabilities.

[Ian David]

36. If you learn nothing else, then just read this.

Alan Turing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS (play /ˈtjʊərɪŋ/ tewr-ing; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954), was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst and computer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which played a significant role in the creation of the modern computer.<1> Turing is widely considered to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence.<2>

During the Second World War, Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, Britain's codebreaking centre. For a time he was head of Hut 8, the section responsible for German naval cryptanalysis. He devised a number of techniques for breaking German ciphers, including the method of the bombe, an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine. After the war he worked at the National Physical Laboratory, where he created one of the first designs for a stored-program computer, the ACE.

<snip>

Turing's homosexuality resulted in a criminal prosecution in 1952, when homosexual acts were still illegal in the United Kingdom. He accepted treatment with female hormones (chemical castration) as an alternative to prison. He died in 1954, several weeks before his 42nd birthday, from cyanide poisoning. An inquest determined it was suicide; his mother and some others believed his death was accidental. On 10 September 2009, following an Internet campaign, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for the way in which Turing was treated after the war.<4>

<snip>

Turing–Welchman bombe

Within weeks of arriving at Bletchley Park,<23> Turing had specified an electromechanical machine which could help break Enigma faster than bomba from 1938, the bombe, named after and building upon the original Polish-designed bomba. The bombe, with an enhancement suggested by mathematician Gordon Welchman, became one of the primary tools, and the major automated one, used to attack Enigma-protected message traffic.

<snip>

Turing decided to tackle the particularly difficult problem of German naval Enigma "because no one else was doing anything about it and I could have it to myself".<32> In December 1939, Turing solved the essential part of the naval indicator system, which was more complex than the indicator systems used by the other services.<32><33> The same night that he solved the naval indicator system, he conceived the idea of Banburismus, a sequential statistical technique (what Abraham Wald later called sequential analysis) to assist in breaking naval Enigma, "though I was not sure that it would work in practice, and was not in fact sure until some days had actually broken".<32> For this he invented a measure of weight of evidence that he called the Ban. Banburismus could rule out certain orders of the Enigma rotors, substantially reducing the time needed to test settings on the bombes.

In 1941, Turing proposed marriage to Hut 8 co-worker Joan Clarke, a fellow mathematician, but their engagement was short-lived. After admitting his homosexuality to his fiancée, who was reportedly "unfazed" by the revelation, Turing decided that he could not go through with the marriage.<34>

In July 1942, Turing devised a technique termed Turingery (or jokingly Turingismus)<35> for use against the Lorenz cipher messages produced by the Germans' new Geheimschreiber machine (secret writer). This was codenamed Tunny at Bletchley Park. He also introduced the Tunny team to Tommy Flowers who, under the guidance of Max Newman, went on to build the Colossus computer, the world's first programmable digital electronic computer, which replaced a simpler prior machine (the Heath Robinson) and whose superior speed allowed the brute-force decryption techniques to be applied usefully to the daily changing cyphers.<36> A frequent misconception is that Turing was a key figure in the design of Colossus; this was not the case.<37>

<snip>

In January 1952, Turing met Arnold Murray outside a cinema in Manchester. After a lunch date, Turing invited Murray to spend the weekend with him at his house, an invitation which Murray accepted although he did not show up. The pair met again in Manchester the following Monday, when Murray agreed to accompany Turing to the latter's house. A few weeks later Murray visited Turing's house again, and apparently spent the night there.<48>

After Murray helped an accomplice to break into his house, Turing reported the crime to the police. During the investigation, Turing acknowledged a sexual relationship with Murray. Homosexual acts were illegal in the United Kingdom at that time,<49> and so both were charged with gross indecency under Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, the same crime for which Oscar Wilde had been convicted more than fifty years earlier.<50>

Turing was given a choice between imprisonment or probation conditional on his agreement to undergo hormonal treatment designed to reduce libido. He accepted chemical castration via oestrogen hormone injections.<51>

Turing's conviction led to the removal of his security clearance, and barred him from continuing with his cryptographic consultancy for GCHQ. His British passport was not revoked, though he was denied entry to the United States after his conviction. At the time, there was acute public anxiety about spies and homosexual entrapment by Soviet agents,<52> because of the recent exposure of the first two members of the Cambridge Five, Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, as KGB double agents. Turing was never accused of espionage but, as with all who had worked at Bletchley Park, was prevented from discussing his war work.<53>
Death

On 8 June 1954, Turing's cleaner found him dead; he had died the previous day. A post-mortem examination established that the cause of death was cyanide poisoning. When his body was discovered an apple lay half-eaten beside his bed, and although the apple was not tested for cyanide,<54> it is speculated that this was the means by which a fatal dose was delivered. An inquest determined that he had committed suicide, and he was cremated at Woking Crematorium on 12 June 1954.<55> Turing's mother argued strenuously that the ingestion was accidental, caused by her son's careless storage of laboratory chemicals. Biographer Andrew Hodges suggests that Turing may have killed himself in an ambiguous way quite deliberately, to give his mother some plausible deniability.<56> David Leavitt has suggested that Turing was re-enacting a scene from the 1937 film Snow White, his favourite fairy tale, pointing out that he took "an especially keen pleasure in the scene where the Wicked Witch immerses her apple in the poisonous brew."<57>

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing

[JAnthony]

37. I never knew this about Turing, thanks for this!

A lot of our "history" taught in school seems to have been the selected parts, selected by the straight WHITE MEN! Women, African Americans, Native Americans, and gay folks seem to have been often relegated to the footnotes, or left out entirely.

There was a woman who worked with Watson and Crick on the discovery of DNA in the fifties and sixties. Rosalind Franklin is her name. I only learned of her contributions a year or two ago, she was never awarded the Nobel prize, as I recall.

http://webweekly.hms.harvard.edu/archive/2003/4_7/student_scene.html

[Cereal Kyller]

39. We're backsliding in most states

With Texas leading the way.

[muriel_volestrangler]

40. She had died by the time the prize was awarded for DNA

They have awarded a prize just twice in its whole history to someone already dead - and in both cases they died earlier that year. Franklin died 4 years before Crick and Watson got the prize (with Franklin's head of department). You'd hope she would have got it if she had still been alive.

[XemaSab]

42. Most schools barely have time to cover Churchill

much less Turing. :shrug:

[JAnthony]

48. I don't expect high schools to cover Turing, but I DO expect colleges

to spend time on her in history of science classes, biology classes, genetics classes, biochemistry classes.

She actually came up with methods and techniques that advanced the investigation into the structure of DNA in major ways, and all she normally gets is a footnote in those textbooks.

[Bluenorthwest]

43. Aside from the rest of it, you do understand that history happened

yesterday, as well as long ago? How would a Californian know that Harvey Milk was gay? Is that a question you are actually asking? How long ago do you think 'history' begins?

[slackmaster]

47. I knew that Harvey Milk was gay because I remember when he was alive

It would be very hard to teach a course on San Francisco politics, the murder of Mayor George Moscone, the life of Senator Diane Feinstein, or even gun control without mentioning the fact of Harvey Milk's sexual orientation.

[Jefferson23]

33. I think this is excellent! K&R n/t

[cate94]

35. K & R

[Marrah_G]

38. Terrific

[qb]

41. The best thing about this is there will be GLBT-inclusive textbooks published

and available to school districts across the country (except those areas with backwards politicians who ban honest examinations of history).

[Xithras]

49. Yes, because our "41st worst in the nation" schools are going to get THAT right.

As a bi man, I'm all for teaching LGBT history in our schools, but I have no faith in the ability of our schools to actually do so in any kind of useful manner. Our teachers are already overworked, forced to teach to untenable testing schedules, and don't have enough hours in the day to teach all of the things they're ALREADY mandated to cover. Other than the fact that the word "homosexual" will now appear in a few textbooks, I don't believe for one minute that any teacher in this state is actually going to spend any additional classroom time talking about what that actually means.

Hell, we have science teachers here in the Central Valley who start their evolution discussions with "I don't believe any of this, and there's no evidence supporting it, but the law says I have to teach this to you..."

If evolution gets that kind of treatment, what chance do discussions about gay rights have?

[Cool Logic]

51. Transgender...?

How do they know who they were?