Governor will veto
gay curriculum bill
By Andy Furillo and
Judy Lin, sacbee.com from the Web, May 25, 2006
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will veto
a bill passed by the Senate and pending in the Assembly to revise California's
school curriculum to include the contributions of gays and lesbians to the state
and nation, a gubernatorial spokesman said Wednesday.
"The governor believes that school curriculum should include all important
historical figures, regardless of orientation," said Schwarzenegger's director
of communications, Adam Mendelsohn. "However, he does not support the
Legislature micromanaging curriculum."
Wednesday's announcement signaled a death blow to the efforts of state Sen.
Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, the openly lesbian author of the measure, to
obtain recognition for the contributions of gays, lesbians, transgender and
bisexual people to the social and historical landscape.
Kuehl's bill had passed the Senate on a 22-15 vote on May 11 and was awaiting
hearings in the Assembly. She expressed disbelief that Schwarzenegger, who
traditionally has withheld comment on legislation until it passes the
Legislature and reaches his desk, has broken with his own precedent and made up
his mind on a bill that still hadn't been vetted by one house of the
Legislature.
"He hasn't made up his mind, I don't care what some underling might have said,"
Kuehl said.
Kuehl said she hasn't spoken to the governor about the bill yet and that she
didn't plan on trying to initiate a conversation with him until it had set sail
in the Assembly. She said she still intends to approach him on the
subject.
"I expect it to go before the (Assembly) education committee, perhaps then the
appropriations committee," Kuehl said. "When it gets to the floor, I
expect to talk to the governor and I expect to get it through. For them to
take a position on it, I think is precipitous. There's nothing
controversial about it. The right wing has drummed up a lot of old fears.
Once people understand what it really does, the response is usually OK."
Schwarzenegger will come around to supporting the bill, Kuehl said, once he
"understands how small a change it is."
Randy Thomasson, the president of the Campaign for Children and Families and a
long-time activist who has opposed gay rights legislation, welcomed
Schwarzenegger's decision. But he said he wants more out of the governor.
"We're very pleased that Schwarzenegger is listening to the concerns of
parents," Thomasson said. "Now the governor needs to pledge to veto the
two remaining transsexual, bisexual, homosexual bills, AB 606 and AB 1056.
Parents and grandparents are demanding it."
Assembly Bill 606 would ensure that school districts act to reduce harassment of
students based on their gender identity and sexual orientation. Assembly
Bill 1056 would offer $25,000 grants to schools to "promote tolerance and
intergroup relations," according to a bill analysis.
Seth Kilbourn, political director for Equality California, which advocates for
the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and sponsored SB 1437, said
he was surprised that the governor would indicate his opposition to the bill at
such an early stage.
"That is disappointing," he said.
With June being Gay Pride Month, Kilbourn said he doesn't see the political
benefit for the governor in shooting down the bill.
"This would not be the best time for him to be doing that if he wanted to appear
more friendly," Kilbourn said. "He's passed more pieces of legislation
benefiting the GLBT community -- except for gay marriage -- than any other
governor."
Kilbourn called SB 1437 an important and necessary bill that would help promote
tolerance in classrooms.
"We are not asking for anything new. It's part of the diversity as
required by the state of California," Kilbourn said. "It has enormous
impact on gay and lesbian students. When gay issues are talked about, gay
students feel better about themselves. For non-gays, it's an opportunity
to learn about an underrepresented group in society and provides a more positive
perspective."
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