A school district in southern California has decided to adopt the state’s new social studies book and curriculum after previously rejecting it for its reference to LGBTQ+ figures in history.
The Temecula Valley unified school district voted to accept the curriculum following a lengthy meeting on Friday at which parents, teachers and community members spoke for and against it. The decision was welcomed by Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, for thwarting an attempt to “whitewash history” and removed the threat of sanctions against the school district for not adopting the curriculum.
Rejecting the curriculum meant the district would have had to use a textbook published in 2006. Those textbooks do not comply with a 2011 state law that requires schools to teach students about the historical contributions of gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. Newsom, a Democrat who has often sparred with Republicans in other states over banning books, had threatened to fine the district $1.5m if it didn’t approve the curriculum.
The board voted to reject the material in May and even in its acceptance of the curriculum on Friday it said it would strike out anything mentioning Harvey Milk, the gay rights activist and politician who was assassinated along with San Francisco mayor George Moscone in 1978. Milk, who has become a totemic figure in the push for LGBTQ+ equality in the US, is thought to have been the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California.
Milk does not feature in the new social studies textbook, a school board member told CNN, but is listed in supplemental material along with a range of other historical figures’ biographies. The issue, board member Allison Barclay told CNN, is in a lesson titled California’s Cultural Contributions.
“Within the lesson, there are several sections, such as artists, architects, writers, educators, discussing Californians who made substantial contributions in these areas,” she said. “Under the heading ‘Protests,’ one paragraph discusses gay rights in California and under the heading ‘Court Cases,’ there are two paragraphs that discuss the court cases that allowed gay marriage in California.”
“Fortunately, now students will receive the basic materials needed to learn,” said Newsom. “But this vote lays bare the true motives of those who opposed this curriculum. This has never been about parents’ rights. It’s not even about Harvey Milk – who appears nowhere in the textbook students receive. This is about extremists’ desire to control information and censor the materials used to teach our children.”
Joseph Komrosky, the president of the school board, said the vote was not in response to Newsom’s threat, but rather to avoid a lawsuit.
“Governor Newsom, I act independently and authoritatively from you. I am a sovereign citizen in the United States of America,” Komrosky said during Friday’s meeting. “If we do not provide curriculum – I want everybody to hear this – we will literally be sued.”
California’s department of education will investigate the school district over the episode, which pitted some board members against the 2011 law that requires students to get instruction about “the role and contributions” of LGBTQ+ people, as well as those of different ethnicities, cultures and disabilities.
Komrosky called Milk a “pedophile” during the May meeting that resulted in the textbook being barred. Komrosky has since said he will resist any attempt to implement the new textbook and accused Newsom of overstepping his authority.
“I’ve already instructed the superintendent, if books come from shipping and receiving, to say ‘no,’ and we’ll ship them right back,” Komrosky said.
The furor in California follows a wave of book bans in schools and libraries across the US, often driven by conservative activists who have opposed mentions of LGBTQ+ people, or accurate portrayals of the US history of slavery. Meanwhile, at least 492 bills attacking LGBTQ+ rights have been introduced in state legislatures, according to the ACLU.
Kimberly Velez, the district’s interim superintendent, assured board members that staff would order the new curriculum on Monday and it would arrive in time for the start of school next month.
“I don’t believe that what has happened over the past few weeks was necessary,” board member Barclay said. “I think we could have made this happen so much earlier. We could have been so much more ready for school to start. It’s a little unfortunate it had to go this far.”
The Associated Press contributed reporting
