California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill yesterday that made his state the first in the US to require the teaching of gay, lesbian and transgender accomplishments in schools.
History should be honest. This bill revises existing laws that prohibit discrimination in education and ensures that the important contributions of Americans from all backgrounds and walks of life are included in our history books. - Gov. Jerry Brown
This may seem like great news for the gay community, but if you think about it for a second it’s actually not that big of a deal. It may even be a step backwards.
Did we reach a point where we have to tell our children about someone just because they’re gay, or black, or a woman? What happened to teaching children about great people, regardless of their race, color, gender or sexual orientation? Is the importance of a contribution to society boosted when it is done by a gay person? I think not. This law just seems like something that segregates gays even further by saying their actions wouldn’t have been important enough to mention if they weren’t gay.
The bill by state Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) had sparked hot debate in the Legislature where it was pushed through by the Democratic majority. Republicans argued it forces a “gay agenda” on students, but Leno said it would reduce bullying by educating young people about the accomplishments of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT, community.
“Today we are making history in California by ensuring that our textbooks and instructional materials no longer exclude the contributions of LGBT Americans,” Leno said. “Denying LGBT people their rightful place in history gives our young people an inaccurate and incomplete view of the world around them.’’
- latimes
How exactly would teaching young children about the accomplishments of the LGBT community reduce bullying? That’s like trying to teach people about Bill Gates in order to reduce the number of nerds being bullied. Well, guess what, everyone knows who Bill Gates is and how much he has achieved but nerds are still being bullied.
Can you to eliminate homophobia by creating creating a law specifically for the gays? That will never work, because it categorizes people. If you want to eliminate homophobia, stop talking about it. We’re all just people, humans, and sexual orientation doesn’t change that.
If they considered a gay history law to be a necessity, why don’t they also create one for the blacks, latinos, whites, asians, fat people, skinny people, famous people, unknown people, and so on? I’m sure there have been fat Americans who’ve made great contributions to society and it’s unfair towards them to deny their rightful place in history.
Although on a different topic, Morgan Freeman’s point in this video about black history month also applies to this ridiculous gay history law.
/rant over
