Marylee Shrider: Heard of Harvey Milk Day? Be worried
| Friday, Sep 19 2008 05:43 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, Mar 25 2009 06:16 PM
Up in Sacramento, awaiting the governor’s pen, is a bill that apparently doesn’t mean much to the mainstream media, but should.
News of the measure is making the rounds anyway, via the Internet, where some incredulous parents are actually checking urban legend sites to see if it could possibly be true.
Bad news, folks. It is.
In a vote split straight down party lines, the California Legislature approved AB 2567, a bill that would establish May 22 as Harvey Milk Day, to honor the San Francisco supervisor and homosexual activist who was murdered in 1978.
The bill — yet another convincing argument in support of home schooling — would “designate that date as having special significance in public schools,” and would “encourage public schools to conduct suitable commemorative exercises on that date.”
Since when were elementary school discussions of adult sexual matters deemed “suitable?”
They’re not. And for moms and dads still operating under the belief parents still have a say in their children’s sexual education, they never will be.
Still, teachers can expect to cover all the gender bases should Schwarzenegger sign the bill, which touts Harvey Milk’s life and political career as the embodiment “of the rise of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights movement.”
Like that’s something a 6-year-old should know.
Thanks to the rigorous demands of state testing, a lot of our kids have little or no time for music, science and other subjects essential to a well-rounded education, but, by all means, let’s make time for some annual sexual indoctrination.
Teri Goree, a former public school teacher, with four grandchildren in public school, rightly wonders how teachers will define words like “homosexual,” “bisexual,” and “transgender,” an unavoidable task when discussing Milk, since he’s remembered for little else.
“Just picture the spelling assignments,” Goree says. “Write each word 10 times, write the definition and use it in a sentence — it’s crazy, but there are a lot of teachers in the public system that would take great pleasure in putting those words on a spelling test.”
Presumably, there are a lot who won’t, but that won’t be their call to make.
Right now, that call goes to Schwarzenegger, who would do well to consider, if not the moral failings of such a measure, how much money our already financially strapped schools stand to lose should Harvey Milk Day become a reality.
Even those who support gay marriage may balk at this intrusive bill and join the thousands of parents who will surely keep their kids home on May 22, perhaps to study great Americans known for something greater than whom they chose to sleep with.
While it’s too late to express your angst on the local level, what with Sen. Dean Florez and Assemblywoman Nicole Parra voting to support the measure, there’s still time to share your thoughts with our governor, who promised not to consider any new legislation until the budget crisis is over.
Rustlings from the Capitol indicate that may actually happen, so why not give the governor a ring? Call him at 916-445-2841 and ask him not to burden our young ones with this very adult information.
About 10 years ago, a liberal colleague informed me that what goes on behind closed doors was nobody’s business. I couldn’t have agreed more.
Unfortunately, what goes on behind closed doors is heading for the classroom. Now, it’s everybody's business.
These are Marylee Shrider’s opinions, not necessarily The Californian’s. Her column appears on Saturday. Call her at 395-7474 or write mshrider@bakersfield.com.
