California Debates Place Of Gay History In Textbooks
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Legislation under consideration in California would add lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to the list of social and ethnic groups that schools must include in social studies lessons.
It also would require the California Board of Education and local school districts to adopt textbooks and other teaching materials that cover the contributions and roles of sexual minorities.
School districts would have flexibility in deciding what to include in the lessons and at what grades students would receive them.
Supporters say it corrects an obvious gap in the state’s existing social studies framework and curbs anti-gay stereotypes that make gay youth vulnerable to bullying and suicide.
Opponents counter that such instruction would further burden an already crowded curriculum and expose students to a subject that some parents find objectionable.
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