Governor Brown of California yesterday signed into law SB48, the FAIR Education Act, also known as the LGBT History bill, which will mandate inclusion of LGBT accomplishments in school books across the state.
Shannon Minter, legal director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, explains why this bill is so important:
Caitlin Ryan's research at the Family Acceptance Project has shown that when LGBT youth are met with silence about their identity on the part of parents and other adults, that silence is as damaging to them as many forms of rejection and abuse. The flipside is that when parents and other adults affirmatively acknowledge and support LGBT youth, that acknowledgement has a tremendously positive impact on their long term health and well being. The erasure of LGBT people and issues from schools is not just a neutral omission--it is actively harmful and damaging to LGBT youth, who interpret that silence to mean they are not valued, included, or welcomed. Correcting that omission will directly protect their health and well being. That will not only be a huge benefit to our community, but to the whole society, which has been deprived of the contributions of the many LGBT people whose lives have been shortened and diminished by depression, suicide, substance abuse, and HIV infection because of their experiences as children and youth.
This is about breaking a very damaging cycle of silence and stigma. In that respect, this bill is every bit as important as efforts to end discrimination in marriage. It will change the way our society thinks about LGBT people, and help ensure that for the first time, we will have a generation of LGBT youth who are growing up seeing themselves reflected and included in public institutions.
Needless to say, I’m very glad the Governor signed this bill into law over the vocal opposition of our bigoted enemies.
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