SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys) today made the following statement in support of Senate Bill 1437 by Senator Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), a measure that would require the curriculum adopted by our schools to be free of bias on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity, which passed the Assembly today on a 47-31 vote:

“I rise today in support of SB 1437, not just as it is written, but as it was written by Senator Kuehl before it was amended to meet the demands of a vocal minority, forcing Senator Kuehl to remove provisions from this bill requiring that our textbooks provide positive examples of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender figures in history, where appropriate.

“What does that mean? Well, for example, the bill would have required that when teaching about Walt Whitman, a man widely regarded as the quintessential American poet, that it would not be inappropriate to mention that some of his most beautiful verse was written in praise of other men.

“And for example, this bill would have required that when we teach students about the great city of San Francisco, we don’t leave out the story of City Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official of any large city in the United States, who served only 11 months before being assassinated.

“And for example, this bill would have required that when teaching students about the California State Legislature, we don’t leave out the story of a former child actress who grew up to become a pioneering civil rights attorney ... the story of a woman who became the very first openly gay legislator in California history ... a woman who stood in front of these chambers as Speaker Pro Tempore, lesbian and proud of it, for all the world to see. I rise today in support of a California that would give such a pioneering woman her proper place in the history of a state filled with such pioneers.

“But because of an increasingly shrill and diminishing minority, SB 1437 does not guarantee people like Sheila Kuehl, Jackie Goldberg, John Laird, and Mark Leno their proper place in history. Yet despite this, it guarantees that our curriculum will not contain content that attacks, demeans, and undermines them for no other reason than because they are gay. This alone is not enough, but it is an essential and important step in the right direction.”

Assemblymember Levine is the author of AB 606, which provides clarification to school districts regarding what is necessary to ensure compliance with the California Student Safety and Violence Act and provide a safe learning environment for all students, helping to better prevent, combat and report sexual orientation and gender harassment and discrimination in our schools. AB 606 also reaffirms the State Superintendent’s right to withhold funding from schools that are noncompliant with the California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act.

AB 606 is currently on Senate Third Reading.