Anyone wonder why more parents are opting to home-school their kids? Here's one reason:
Saying more role models could help reduce the social estrangement and high suicide rates of gay and lesbian students, the state Senate voted Thursday to require that the historical contributions of homosexuals in the United States be taught in California schools.
Apparently the first of its kind nationwide, the measure passed with no Republican support. It must also be approved by the Assembly and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has taken no position on it. California's Legislature last year became the first to authorize gay marriage, but Schwarzenegger vetoed the measure.
If passed, the textbook bill could have national implications. California is a huge portion of the textbook market, where it often sets trends, and many publishers put out a specific edition for the state that others can also use.
Why it is necessary to emphasize the contributions of homosexuals and not, say, famous adulterers the article doesn't say. Will history books of the future feel it necessary to note that the men enshrined on Mount Rushmore all preferred women? Our children may not know how to find Kansas on a map, but they'll know the really important stuff like which famous politicians practiced sodomy and which famous scientists liked to cross-dress.
It's a sure sign that we are no longer serious about quality education for our young when we deem it to be of such crucial importance that students know everyone's sexual preference, and that they display the socially correct attitudes about such matters, that our legislators mandate that these things be taught in our public schools.
Ironically, it's illegal in Pennsylvania to require that a note be placed in textbooks informing students that there is some difference of opinion about the truth of materialist explanations of living things, but it may soon be the law in California that textbooks encourage students to accept homosexuality as morally unproblematic.
I guess it goes without saying that the California state senate is controlled by Democrats.