Urge Governor Jerry Brown to Sign LGBT History Bill: VIDEO

As I mentioned a couple times yesterday, California SB48, the FAIR Education Act, also known as the LGBT History bill, is sitting on Governor Jerry Brown's desk, and anti-gay groups from around the country are pressuring him to veto it.

Activist Sean Chapin made a video about the bill. Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Shannon Minter, legal director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, made a statement yesterday about the bill's importance:

[SB 48, the California LGBT teaching bill sitting on Gov. Jerry Brown's desk] is about so much more than history and social studies--and the other side certainly knows it. One point that I would like to see get more play on our side is what this bill will mean for the long term health and well being of LGBT youth.

Caitlin Ryan's research at the Family Acceptance Project has shown that when LGBT youth are met with silence about their identity on the part of parents and other adults, that silence is as damaging to them as many forms of rejection and abuse. The flipside is that when parents and other adults affirmatively acknowledge and support LGBT youth, that acknowledgement has a tremendously positive impact on their long term health and well being. The erasure of LGBT people and issues from schools is not just a neutral omission--it is actively harmful and damaging to LGBT youth, who interpret that silence to mean they are not valued, included, or welcomed. Correcting that omission will directly protect their health and well being. That will not only be a huge benefit to our community, but to the whole society, which has been deprived of the contributions of the many LGBT people whose lives have been shortened and diminished by depression, suicide, substance abuse, and HIV infection because of their experiences as children and youth.

This is about breaking a very damaging cycle of silence and stigma. In that respect, this bill is every bit as important as efforts to end discrimination in marriage. It will change the way our society thinks about LGBT people, and help ensure that for the first time, we will have a generation of LGBT youth who are growing up seeing themselves reflected and included in public institutions.

Please call if you haven't already. 916-445-2841. Ask Governor Jerry Brown to sign SB48.

Watch Chapin's video, AFTER THE JUMP...

Action Urged on California LGBT History Bill; Call Gov. Jerry Brown

Governor Jerry Brown is being hammered by NOM and other anti-gay groups over Senator Mark Leno's Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act (SB 48) which passed the Assembly last week and awaits the Governor's signature.

The bill requires teachers to include LGBT accomplishments in history courses. It also adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the state's pre-existing anti-discrimination clauses.

The deadline for Brown's signature is Monday and the bill has been on his desk for a week. This has advocates concerned.

Conservatives and religious groups are hammering the governor to veto it, from what I hear, and the word needs to get out to pro-equality people to contact the governor and ask that he sign the bill.

Governor Brown's phone number is 916-445-2841.

Call it, and when the option comes up to express your support for SB48, ask him to SIGN the bill.

California Bill Would Require Schools Teach LGBT History

With Governor Jerry Brown now in office, Democratics in California have introduced a bill, SB 48, that would require the state's public schools to teach its students about LGBT history.

 The Los Angeles Times reports:

"The proposal would require that social science texts and other instruction include 'a study of the role and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans … to the economic, political and social development of California and the United States of America, with particular emphasis on portraying the role of these groups in contemporary society.'"

"Each school district would decide which age groups received such instruction. Gay rights activists say the legislation is overdue and would extend recognition long provided in textbooks and classrooms to historical figures who are African American, Latino and Asian American. Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) who introduced the bill, SB 48, said it addresses a glaring oversight in educating young people that has led to harassment of gays by their classmates."

In the past, former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had opposed such a bill though Brown himself has yet to publicly state where he stands on the issue.

If implemented, SB 48 could have far-reaching effects well beyond the state. According to the Times: "The state is a major purchaser of educational texts, and publishers often produce books tailored to California that other states use as well."

A rally in support of the bill will take place tomorrow at the Capital.

Naturally, wingnuts opposed to the blll have branded it "the worst school sexual indoctrination ever" and "sexual brainwashing." They've already begun an anti-SB 48 campaign wherein they attempt to "scare" fellow bigots into thinking the bill "normalizes homosexuality, bisexuality and transgenderism." Imagine that.

Watch: Meg Whitman Endorses Jerry Brown for Governor

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Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Watch: Meg Whitman is Arnold Schwarzenegger

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Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

California Supreme Court Won't Force State's Defense of Prop 8

BY ARI EZRA WALDMAN

Some news out of the California state courts today on Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the Prop 8 case. Metroweekly's Poliglot section has a great summary here. This is part of the Prop 8 proponents' continuing saga of trying to force Governor Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Brown to defend Prop 8 at the Ninth Circuit.

They went to California state court to force the state to act, but the lower court summarily rejected that long-shot attempt. The Prop 8 proponents appealed, asking a higher California court to force the Governor's hand. Today, Schwarzenegger and Brown filed papers stating in no uncertain terms that they have the discretion to determine when and what to appeal and that any appeal in the Prop 8 case would be "frivolous". A few hours later, the California Supreme Court agreed with Schwarzenegger and Brown, as reported here.

This was the longest of long shots. Had the California Supreme Court come to any other conclusion, it would have raised any number of separation of powers issues.

As of now, since the Prop 8 proponents' organization is still the only party appealing Perry to the Ninth Circuit, the standing issue is still front and center.