Alert the right wing: their worst fears are coming true, we are officially recruiting children now. The California State Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill that would require schools to include the “contributions of gays and lesbians” in the development in the state. The bill now must pass the State Assembly, which it is expected to, as the Assembly previously voted in favor of gay marriage.
First of all, this is fantastic! But honestly, we’re flummoxed at the idea that California doesn’t include these lessons already. Skipping over the story of Harvey Milk‘s assasination, or excluding the contributions of gay people in Hollywood, one of the state’s largest generators of revenue…it’s like telling the story of Christopher Columbus and keeping out the part where he enslaved the natives and decimated their culture. Oh wait, schools keep that out too. What are they teaching our children, anyway?!
The Quote Of The Day award goes to this response of the right-wing:
Karen England of the conservative Capitol Resource Institute said in a statement the bill “seeks to indoctrinate innocent children caught in the tug-of-war between traditional families and the outrageous homosexual agenda.”
Outrageous! Truly truly outrageous! The music’s contagious, outrageous, Jem is my name no one else is the same! JEM IS MY NAME! Sorry. We’ll stop. See, when California teaches kids about the role of LGBT people in their society, perhaps kids will have a chance to bring in pictures for Show And Tell, of their gay uncles dressed up as Jem And The Holograms for the West Hollywood Halloween parade. Not that we ever did that. Okay, we totally did and we looked fantastic.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
It’s embarrassing to think of generations 50 years from now, who will look back on our silly conflicts and wonder why we censored ourselves in the first place. Next we’d like to take a course on the prevalence of man-on-man lovin’ on the Greek and Roman battlefields, and the various same-sex and transgendered affairs during the reign of the British Empire. Imagine the visual aides!
For the Jem theme, click here. Please memorize the lyrics. There will be a quiz on Monday.
California okays lessons on gays in textbooks [Reuters]
