BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
Senator Joseph L. Dunn, Chair
2005-2006 Regular Session
SB 1437 S
Senator Kuehl B
As Amended March 28, 2006
Hearing Date: April 4, 2006 1
Education Code 4
GMO:cjt 3
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SUBJECT
School Instruction: Prohibition of Discriminatory Content
DESCRIPTION
This bill would revise the statutes prohibiting textbooks
and other instructional material from containing material
adverse to persons based on race, color, creed, national
origin, ancestry, sex, or handicap, and add sexual
orientation to this list of characteristics. These changes
would make the statutes consistent with other statutes
prohibiting discrimination based on specified personal
characteristics, such as the Fair Employment and Housing
Act and the Unruh Civil Rights Act.
The bill also would direct the school governing boards to
include only instructional material that accurately portray
the cultural, racial, gender and sexual diversity of our
society, and, in instructional material for the social
sciences, include the contributions of people who are
lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender to the economic,
political, and social development of California and the
United States of America.
BACKGROUND
Since 1965, the prohibition against discriminatory bias in
education (including curriculum and educational materials)
has been expanded to reflect the expansion of civil rights
(more)
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protections to all aspects of society. Thus, in 1965
statutory prohibitions against curricula and books
reflecting bias against persons because of national origin
and ancestry were enacted, followed in 1973 by prohibitions
against discrimination on the basis of sex. Disability was
added in 1987 to the list of characteristics protected
against discrimination. And in 2003, SB 71 (Kuehl, Ch.
650, Stats. 2003) prohibited in sexual health and HIV/AIDS
prevention curriculum instruction and materials reflection
or promotion of bias against any person on the basis of any
characteristic generally protected against discrimination
under Section 220 of the Education Code.
CHANGES TO EXISTING LAW
Existing law provides that no person shall be subjected to
discrimination on the basis of sex, ethnic group
identification, race, national origin, religion, color,
mental or physical disability, or any actual or perceived
characteristic that is contained in the definition of hate
crimes described in Penal Code 422.56 in any program or
activity conducted by an educational institution that
receives or benefits from state financial assistance or
student financial aid. [Ed. Code 220.]
Existing law prohibits a teacher from giving instruction or
a school district from sponsoring any activity that
reflects adversely upon persons because of their race, sex,
color, creed, handicap, national origin or ancestry. [Ed.
Code 51500.]
Existing law prohibits the state board or any public school
governing board from adopting any textbook or instructional
materials that contains any matter reflecting adversely
upon persons because of their race, sex, color, creed,
handicap, national origin, or ancestry. [Ed. Code 51501,
60044.]
This bill would change the references to a person's
characteristics to make them consistent with similar
statutes that prohibit discrimination on the basis of a
person's characteristics.
This bill would also require school governing boards, when
adopting instructional materials for use in the schools, to
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include only materials which accurately portray the gender
and sexual diversity, as well as the currently required
cultural and racial diversity of our society, and materials
that portray the contributions of people who are lesbian,
gay, bisexual or transgender to the economic, political,
and social development of the state and the country.
COMMENT
1. Need for the bill
The author states:
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are
almost entirely omitted from textbooks and other
instructional materials in California schools [citing
the National School Climate Survey, GLSEN, 2003, which
found that 76.2% of youth reported that lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender issues were never addressed
or discussed in their class]. In the rare instances
where lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people
are explicitly mentioned in the classroom or in
classroom materials, it is often in negative terms or
in relationship to pathology. The absence from our
curriculum of positive images of lesbian, gay,
bisexual or transgender people and their many
contributions to California and the United States is a
disservice to all children. Silence and biased
messages about lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender
people only promotes negative stereotypes and this, in
turn, can lead to discrimination, harassment, and
violence.
In fact, the author states, research shows most hate
crime perpetrators, who are in their late teens and early
twenties, believe that they do not violate any social
norms by attacking those they perceive to be gay,
lesbian, bisexual or transgender. This fact exposes
students who are perceived to be or are associated with
gays, lesbians, bisexuals or transgenders in school to
violence and harassment, and places them at greater risk
for suicide, skipping school, drug and alcohol abuse and
other risk-taking behavior, according to that research.
2. Conforming the statutes to currently accepted language
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SB 1437 would make technical revisions to the language of
several Education Code provisions related to
discriminatory content of textbooks and instructional
material. The "technical revisions" consist of changing
certain words in the statutes to conform to other
statutes that address discrimination on the basis of
certain characteristics. Thus, "race," "color,"
"national origin," and "ancestry" would be replaced by
"race or ethnicity" and "nationality," "sex" would be
replaced by "gender," "handicap" by "disability," and
"creed" would be replaced by "religion." Added however
would be "sexual orientation." All of these changes
would make these Education Code provisions consistent
with other statutes that prohibit discrimination on the
basis of personal characteristics (e.g., the Fair
Employment and Housing Act and the Unruh Civil Rights
Act).
Although the author's intent is to include protection for
those perceived to be gays, lesbians, bisexuals or
transgenders (who are protected under the Penal Code
against hate crimes and are also included in the general
protection against discrimination provided by Education
Code 220), the current language of SB 1437 would not
reach that result. Therefore, the author may wish to
amend the bill to include this reference and complete the
updating of the language of these Education Code
provisions.
3. Instructional material to include contributions of
lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders
Current law requires inclusion in the curriculum of the
historical role and contributions of men and women,
Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans,
Asian Americans, European Americans, and members of other
ethnic and cultural groups, entrepreneurs, and labor to
the development of California and the United States.
SB 1437 would add lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
(LGBT) people to the list of communities that curriculum
developers must include when creating a curriculum for
California students that represents the diversity of the
state. The author and proponents contend that "this
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necessary and affirmative inclusion will serve all
students by ensuring they get the full picture of people
and events that have shaped our society, and that
positive and accurate portrayals of LGBT people are no
longer excluded from the discussion." Further, they
state that because many LGBT teens are inclined to
truancy and get lower grades than their peers, positive
and accurate depictions of their community in the
materials they study at school can spark valuable
discussions and interventions, and improve these
students' opportunities to learn, stay in school, and
graduate.
Proponents also argue that the high rates of suicide
among LGBT youth and hate crimes against LGBT people
indicate that the students should not have to wait until
high school to begin to talk about the LGBT community and
families in healthy and age-appropriate ways. Thus, they
say, requiring the affirmative inclusion of LGBT people
and history in the California curriculum would not only
bolster the self confidence of LGBT students, but would
enrich the learning experience of all students and
promote an atmosphere of safety and respect in California
schools.
4. Supporters' arguments and opposition concerns
In support of SB 1437, the National Center for Lesbian
Rights points out that the LGBT community represents a
significant and important part of the history and social
fabric of California. It quotes the 2000 Census, that
found there are more than 92,000 same-sex couples living
together in California and that 67% of students who
learned about LGBT issues at school felt safer in their
schools compared to only 40% of students who did not
learn about LGBT issues in school who felt safer.
"Schools that perpetuate silence around LGBT issues can
be breeding grounds for the fear and ignorance, that can
lead to harassment and even acts of violence. By
contrast, including positive and accurate depictions of
LGBT issues in the curriculum can spark valuable
discussions and interventions, and improve these
students' opportunity to learn, stay in school and
eventually graduate." These same sentiments were
expressed by other supporters, such as the San Francisco
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Aids Foundation and the Asian Americans for Civil Rights
and Equality.
Opponents, however, argue that "[b]y proactively teaching
about sexual lifestyles of historical figures, the
schools will be implicitly offering those behaviors as
normal to children." They add that "[a]dopting such a
policy would clearly be pandering to a tiny minority (one
to three percent) of the population who identify with
aberrant sexual behavior." (Letter from Concerned Women
for America, dated March 30, 2006.)
In reference to the prohibition against discrimination in
textbook and instructional material that would include
"gender" and "sexual orientation" on the list of
characteristics, the same opponents argue that "SB 1437
flies in the face of parents as it seeks to place the
schools, rather than parents, in control of the moral
attitudes and beliefs of their children. The average
parent would be outraged at alternative sexuality even
being discussed in the classroom. Such topics are the
domain of the home, not the schools."
Support: California Safe Schools Coalition; California
Alliance for Arts Education; Gay-Straight Alliance
Network; Lambda Letters Project; San Francisco AIDS
Foundation; National Center for Lesbian Rights;
Asian Americans for Civil Rights & Equality
Opposition: Campaign for Children and Families; Concerned
Women For America of California; Traditional
Values Coalition; numerous individuals
HISTORY
Source: Equality California (sponsor)
Related Pending Legislation: None Known
Prior Legislation: See Background
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