California Senate Passes a Homosexuality Curriculum Bill

The California Senate has approved a bill that would ban bias against homosexuals and would require public schools to portray them in a positive light. According to the Christian Post, the bill also applies to transgenders and bisexuals. SB 777 was approved by a 23-13 vote, with Democrats voting in favor of it and Republicans voting against it.

The controversial bill has invoked anger on the part of parents, according to Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families, a pro-family organization. The Post quotes him as saying that parents "are angry at Democrats for passing this school sexual indoctrination bill and frustrated that Republicans did little to fight it."

The program of sexual education would begin in kindergarten and go up to the 12th grade, with students being taught about the different sexual orientations. Pro-family advocates are afraid that the curriculum would force the students to see homosexuals, transgenders, and bisexuals as socially acceptable. The bill also redefines the term "gender." Rather than referring to one's sex (male or female) as a person is physically, it would allow the person to define himself or herself in a way that might be different than his physical appearance. A transgender male may choose to define himself as a female, for example. SB 777, according to the Post, also eliminated from the California education code, the definition of "sex" as one's biological condition.

The bill not only determines what is taught in classes; it also applies to school activities. Any sense of bias against the alternative lifestyles is forbidden. Karen England, executive director of Capitol Resource Institute (CRI), issued a statement, quoted in the Post, which sees the bill as being "designed to transform our public schools into institutions that disregard all notions of the traditional family unit."

Opponents of the bill are hoping that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will veto it as he did a similar bill, SB 1437, which was passed last year by the California legislature.

One school district, the Los Angeles Unified School District, has, according to the Post, begun to put in place the policies of SB 777. According to Meredith Turney, of CRI, "Boys who perceive themselves as girls may enter the girls' locker room and restroom."

Under the bill, school districts who do not comply with the new standards face regulation by the California Department of Education. Another provision of the bill eliminates parental permission for teachers to teach about alternative sexual lifestyles. According to LifeSite.net, schools can lose their funding if they fail to comply with the new law.

Sources:

/www.christianpost.com/article/20070525/27607_Homosexual_Curriculum_Bill_Passed_by_Calif._Senate.htm
www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jun/06062207.html