'Mom,' 'dad' to be axed from school textbooks?

Zelda's revenge: Gender-neutralizing bill
could also jeopardize prom kings, queens

A traditional-values organization in California is warning the state's residents that a bill pending in the Legislature, if approved, could remove all references to gender in public schools – threatening even references to "mom" or "dad" in textbooks.

If the bill, SB 1437, were to become law, warns the Capitol Resource Institute, "it could potentially require gender-neutral bathrooms in our schools and all references to 'husband' and 'wife' or 'mom and dad' removed from school textbooks as the norm."

Sponsored by Democratic Sen. Sheila Kuehl – a lesbian actress best known for playing Zelda in "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" in the '60s – the legislation would add "gender" (actual or perceived) and "sexual orientation" to the law that prohibits California public schools from having textbooks, teaching materials, instruction or "school-sponsored activities" that reflect adversely upon people based on characteristics like race, creed and handicap.

States Capitol Resource Institute on its website: "The reason this is such an outrageous bill is because it is the most extreme effort thus far to transform our public schools into institutions that disregard all notions of the traditional family unit. SB 1437 seeks to eliminate all 'stereotypes' of the traditional family so that young children are brainwashed into believing that families with moms and dads are irrelevant.

"The social experiment pro-homosexual activists have envisioned for our young children is mind-boggling!"

The organization notes the bill also applies to school activities, which include cheerleadering, sports and events like the prom.

"Under SB 1437, school districts would likely be prohibited from having a 'prom king and queen' because that would show bias based on gender and sexual orientation," said CRI. The measure also could affect issues like gender-specific sports teams.

Earlier this week, about 500 homosexual students gathered at the State Capitol in Sacramento to celebrate "Queer Youth Advocacy Day."

According to the Sacramento Bee, demonstrators voiced support for Kuehl's bill and AB 606, authored by Democrat Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, which addresses harassment and discrimination in schools.

"I refuse to settle for anything less than respect and equality in education," 16-year-old Garrett Rubin stated at the event. "I shouldn't have to be working so hard to get an education like everybody else."

The Bee reported participants also spoke out against AB 2311, authored by GOP Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, a bill that would prohibit the "promotion of homosexuality in public education."

The young protesters chanted: "Hey hey, ho ho, homophobia's got to go."

Traditional values group Campaign for Children and Families decried AB 606, which has passed the Assembly and likely will be approved in the state Senate.

"AB 606 would give inappropriate, draconian power to the California State Superintendent of Public Instruction to unilaterally withhold state funds from California school districts that don't promote transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality according to his arbitrary 'standards,'" stated an e-mail from the group. "This horrible bill essentially mandates the trans-bi-homosexual agenda in curriculum, textbooks, presentations and more. And because two-thirds of a school districts' funds come from the state, AB 606 would interrupt and destroy the academic learning of millions of California schoolchildren if schools 'don't comply.'"

Campaign for Children and Families is urging Californians to urge Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to veto the bill should it reach his desk.