In October, I posted about a London school which claims to have virtually eradicated anti-gay bullying. How? By teaching kids about gay history and the contributions of well-known LGBT people to society.
Yesterday, California State Senator Mark Leno introduced the FAIR Education act, a piece of legislation that would do require schools to adopt similar principles to those that appear to have worked wonders at London's Stoke Newington School.
According to Equality California, "The Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act would amend the Education Code to include social sciences instruction on the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. This bill would also prohibit discriminatory instruction and discriminatory materials from being adopted by the State Board of Education."
Said Leno in a statement: "Most textbooks don't include any historical information about the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) movement, which has great significance to both California and U.S. history. Our collective silence on this issue perpetuates negative stereotypes of LGBT people and leads to increased bullying of young people."
Equality California is asking you to contact lawmakers and express your support for the FAIR act. You can find out how to do so here.
