CA Senate bill mandates gay history in schools

Temporal said:

I do believe that gays are unnecessarily censored from the history books. In college I took a course about gay and feminist history and I was shocked by the amount of material that nobody has any idea about. For example, some of the world's major inventors, world leaders, CEOs, etc. were gay and had partners, yet we never hear about them. Perhaps it is time for the revisionism to end.

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This always bugged me...

How many "major inventors, world leaders, and CEO's" do people really know? Why is it important for US children to know about John Doe, the leader of some random small european country in the 1800's, was gay but not important for them to know about John Boe, a similar leader of a similar random small european country in the 1800's, who was straight?

Furthermore, you then have the whole issuse with attempting to claim certian historical figures as being gay/bi based on flimsy "evidence" and agenda more so than any kind of definitive fact. Not to mention the fact that its generally looked at through the lens of our current society and view points rather than attempting to look into the society at the time. For example, if bisexuality was generally common or expected amongst a certain class of people the act of homosexual sex may've occured without any emotional or true physical attaction. To call that "bisexuality" would mean to call every closeted male that interacts sexually with women to try and keep his cover is also "bisexual", yet I rarely hear the gay community suggest those people should be considered in that fashion.

I guess this is my issue. I'm not opposed to teaching people about ANYONE of importance in history. However, I have issue when we waste time teaching about individuals in history for a political purpose rather than a useful historical one. I don't give a crap if the person who invented the toe-nail clipper was the first bisexual albino asian inventor in the US...on the grand scale of history its not that important and shouldn't potentially be bumping far more significant pieces of American/World history.

Taylor said:

This got me wondering... when are they going to get around to providing social studies lessons on nerds? After all, anti-nerd stereotypes and beliefs are more prevalent and certainly more likely to be tolerated by authority figures.

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Silly person. The news doesn't report on news of "nerds" being picked on "Literally to death" and thus it doesn't happen. Instead Nerds get picked on, flip out, and kill people...obviously. I mean, that's what the media tells us. Then we have to ban trench coats from schools and further be sure to ostrecize and mock anyone that wears black, because hey, their making a choice to like geeky stuff so its fine to go after them.

Zyphlin said:

Furthermore, you then have the whole issuse with attempting to claim certian historical figures as being gay/bi based on flimsy "evidence" and agenda more so than any kind of definitive fact. Not to mention the fact that its generally looked at through the lens of our current society and view points rather than attempting to look into the society at the time.

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This is so true. I recall being taught two very different accounts of Shakespeare within 2 years of each other. One professor told us that Shakespeare's sonnets were written to a man and left it at that, implying he was gay. The following year, a female professor told us that the sonnets were probably written to a man, but they were most likely also written by a woman in Shakespeare's life.

Temporal said:

The right wing are going to just love this.

Do you agree with making this a mandatory part of the curriculum?

I'm somewhat torn, mostly because I don't think gays should get preferential treatment. If things are going to shape up in this direction, then wouldn't it make sense to include things like black history?

I do believe that gays are unnecessarily censored from the history books. In college I took a course about gay and feminist history and I was shocked by the amount of material that nobody has any idea about. For example, some of the world's major inventors, world leaders, CEOs, etc. were gay and had partners, yet we never hear about them. Perhaps it is time for the revisionism to end.

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A step in the right direction -- the history of the U.S. shall show that Gays went from being an abused outcast minority to an accepted class.

The history of abuse endured by a small minority born with a different sexual orientation than most should be taught just the same way we teach the history of abuse and prejudice towards other minorities.

Yes, many homophobes will have a problem with this -- they think homosexuality is something you can catch -- this type of ignorance needs to be wiped out in the next generation.

Zyphlin said:

I guess this is my issue. I'm not opposed to teaching people about ANYONE of importance in history. However, I have issue when we waste time teaching about individuals in history for a political purpose rather than a useful historical one. I don't give a crap if the person who invented the toe-nail clipper was the first bisexual albino asian inventor in the US...on the grand scale of history its not that important and shouldn't potentially be bumping far more significant pieces of American/World history.

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I tend to think history is only useful insofar as it teaches us about how we got to the present. Currently, the gay population is becoming a more acknowledged and integral part of the present. I think it's important for students to learn how we got here.

Temporal said:

The right wing are going to just love this.

Do you agree with making this a mandatory part of the curriculum?

I'm somewhat torn, mostly because I don't think gays should get preferential treatment. If things are going to shape up in this direction, then wouldn't it make sense to include things like black history?

I do believe that gays are unnecessarily censored from the history books. In college I took a course about gay and feminist history and I was shocked by the amount of material that nobody has any idea about. For example, some of the world's major inventors, world leaders, CEOs, etc. were gay and had partners, yet we never hear about them. Perhaps it is time for the revisionism to end.

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Well what else is manadtory? Children do have to know what shoes go with what slacks. Are the kids going to go all through their education not knowing their correct base?

What gay history? I gues a little bit of tollerance coaching never hurts.