Sacramento Bee Editorial: California history

Sacramento Bee Editorial: California history
What's sexual preference got to do with it?
Published 2:15 am PDT Monday, May 8, 2006
Story appeared in Editorials section, Page B4

It is never a good sign when the California Legislature tries to micromanage what is in textbooks, especially the recounting of state history. When you see the signs, look for a contemporary political agenda.

In this case, the agenda is the modern-day gay rights movement. SB 1437 proposes that new textbooks contain passages that view history from the perspective of our predecessors' sexual orientation. If key players in history happened to be gay or have a sex change operation, and if they did good things, they may find their way into the new history books. Democrats support the bill, Republicans are against and both have mustered the usual troops for a needless culture war.

SB 1437 is a disappointing proposal from prominent gay rights leader Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica. Kuehl is the Legislature's first openly gay member. And she is one of the Capitol's most skilled legislators. In this instance, however, Kuehl and her Democratic allies are imposing too much of their gay rights agenda onto the telling of history in ways that are simply inappropriate.

History is history. It isn't necessarily gay or straight. Yet SB 1437 seeks to view the public deeds of men and women based on their private sexual orientation. SB 1437 says school boards shall only include instructional materials that "accurately portray in an age-appropriate manner the cultural, racial and sexual orientation diversity of our society." This is to include "the contributions of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender to the total development of California and the United States."

This legislation isn't about protecting the rights of Californians who happen to be gay. It is about telling school boards what must be in textbooks, and telling historians what to write and how to write it. Kuehl should reconsider this unnecessary mandate.


米カリフォルニア州「歴史教科書にLGBTの貢献を取り上げることを義務づける法案」州議会上院委員会で可決