Measure would add gay history to texts

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Saying that more role models could help alleviate the social estrangement and high suicide rates of gay and lesbian students, the California Senate voted Thursday to teach the historical contributions of homosexuals in the United States.

If approved by the state Assembly and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the measure, the first of its kind nationwide, could once again stake out California in the vanguard on gay rights. California's Legislature last year became the first to authorize gay marriage, but Schwarzenegger vetoed the measure. Schwarzenegger has not taken a public position on the textbook bill.

California is a huge portion of the textbook market, where it often sets trends, and many publishers put out a specific edition for the state that others can also use.

Textbooks meeting the bill's requirements would not be incorporated into California classrooms until 2012. Social science courses would then include "an age-appropriate study" of the "role and contributions" that lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people have made to the "economic political and social development" of California and the United States.

Schools are already required to teach the historical and social roles of blacks, women, American Indians, Hispanics, Asians and other ethnic groups.

"Even though we passed an anti-harassment bill seven years ago, it's still pretty obvious that there's a hostile environment for kids who are gay or lesbian — or even thought to be gay or lesbian," said Sen. Sheila Kuehl, the bill's author and one of six openly gay legislators. "Part of that stems from the fact that nobody reads about any positive examples."

Advocates said subjects might include the history of the civil-rights movement and the 1978 assassination of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, and textbooks could specify the sexual orientation of such well-known Americans as authors Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, Tennessee Williams, James Baldwin and Willa Cather.

Republican Sen. Bill Morrow called the bill dangerous and insidious because it lumps sexual orientation — something he said was a "cultural or behavioral lifestyle" — together with race and sex, which are biological.

Conservative groups decried the Senate's action. "Happy Mothers Day, California," said a statement issued by Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families, a Sacramento group.