# California lawmakers passes bill to teach gay history **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 6, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-lawmakers-passes-bill-to-teach-gay-history/587993 "2011-07-06T03:55:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-lawmakers-passes-bill-to-teach-gay-history/587993/101 "2011-07-15T14:47:12Z")
**TriPolar** , out of curiosity, what is your background in history? Have you studied it at any level above high school? Written about it, taught it? ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-lawmakers-passes-bill-to-teach-gay-history/587993/102 "2011-07-17T18:01:22Z")
Personally I think that this is favouritism of the worst kind. Us Rubber Fetishists are equally persecuted by the Man, but do we get any breaks eh ? No we bloody well don’t ! Our struggle has never been recognised , the prejudice against us has been, and still is brutal. We are a TRUE minority, unlike the Gays who you couldn’t get lost in the Sahara desert without bumping into a few dozen or so. OUR history is much more important then the Gays, let alone ww2, the Napoleonic wars, the discovery of the laws of physics etc. And have the Gays done one single thing to help us in our struggle ? Huh ! I’ll leave you to work that out for yourselves, you bunch of self righteous bigots ! ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-lawmakers-passes-bill-to-teach-gay-history/587993/103 "2011-07-17T22:46:25Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > And have the Gays done one single thing to help us in our struggle ? > > Huh ! > > I’ll leave you to work that out for yourselves, you bunch of self righteous bigots ! [Troll fail.](http://www.mnleatherpride.org/) ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-lawmakers-passes-bill-to-teach-gay-history/587993/104 "2011-07-17T23:25:56Z")
> [@MattProle](#): > > [Alan Turing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing) is one of the few scientist that I happen to know is gay. It’s not talked about very much, despite the fact he was a pretty prominent figure. He’d be difficult to fit into a U.S. History class though - since he is British. And we don’t tend to talk about scientists themselves in Science class beyond maybe Gregor Mendal and Einstein (or 'George Washington Carver did great things with peanuts!) Not impossible, just really stretching the tokenism (“We need to find a gay scientist - Alan Turing! Right next to George Washington Carver!”) ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-lawmakers-passes-bill-to-teach-gay-history/587993/105 "2011-07-18T06:08:06Z")
Through the years I taught several young people who hinted to me about having problems with their sexual identities. One young woman wanted to bring another girl to the prom but the principal wouldn’t let her. The child already had self-inflicted cigarette burns down her arm. There was so much self-loathing there. What if she had been taught that her feelings weren’t bad nor were they even unusual? What if she had known that some of the writers that we had studied were lesbian, gay, or bisexual? Would she have seen more potential in herself? Sometimes I used to mention in class a writer or two that was generally considered gay or bisexual. I didn’t make a big issue of it, but I wanted my students to know that some of the names that they have heard belong to people who were or are “gay.” I couldn’t do that anymore if I were teaching. I live in Tennessee and our Republican dominated State legislature just passed a law that forbids teachers from discussing homosexuality in any way in the classroom. It is the opposite of California’s law. Please don’t think that it reflects the will of the people of Tennessee. The vote took place right here in a liberal city. We are not all meadow muffins. > [@](#): > > **stpauler** : Is being a member of P.E.T.A or the N.R.A. a protected class? Sexual orientation, like race, sex, color, creed, religion, is. “Sex” (meaning _gender_) is not a protected class in the way that race, creed and religion are. The Equal Rights Amendment has not yet passed. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-lawmakers-passes-bill-to-teach-gay-history/587993/106 "2011-07-18T10:41:35Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > “Sex” (meaning _gender_) is not a protected class in the way that race, creed and religion are. The Equal Rights Amendment has not yet passed. Since we’re talking about California in this thread, my post was in regards to that state and its laws. The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) has that sex is a protected class. [The mission of the Department of Fair Employment and Housing is to protect Californians from employment, housing and public accommodation discrimination, and hate violence.](http://www.dfeh.ca.gov/Default.htm) [Fair Employment and Housing Act Description This law provides protection from harassment or discrimination in employment because of:](http://www.dfeh.ca.gov/Publications_FEHADescr.htm) Age (40 and over) Ancestry Color Religious Creed Denial of Family and Medical Care Leave Disability (mental and physical) including HIV and AIDS Marital Status Medical Condition (cancer and genetic characteristics) National Origin Race Religion Sex Sexual Orientation ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-lawmakers-passes-bill-to-teach-gay-history/587993/107 "2011-07-18T17:03:05Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > [Troll fail.](http://www.mnleatherpride.org/) Lighten up mate, it was a joke. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-lawmakers-passes-bill-to-teach-gay-history/587993.md?page=5)