Conservative group seeks voter referendum to overturn California’s LGBT history law

LGBTQ Nation

Monday, July 18, 2011

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A California-based conservative group on Friday filed documents seeking to place a voter referendum on the 2012 ballot to overturn a new state law that would require public schools to include the historical contributions of LGBT Americans in history lessons and classroom materials.

Paulo Sibaja

The proponent of the proposed referendum, Paulo Sibaja, filed a request for a title and summary with the attorney general’s office.
Sibaja said he acted on behalf of the Capitol Resource Institute, which had officially opposed the bill throughout the legislative process before Gov. Jerry Brown signed it Thursday. Sibaja is the legislative director of that organization.
The Capitol Resource Institute is a hard-line, socially conservative organization that has long opposed efforts in California to expand rights for the LGBT population. Backers eventually would have to collect 433,971 signatures to allow voters to decide whether to keep the law in place or reject it.
Sibaja said that a coalition has formed behind the proposed measure, though he would not name the other members. He said a news conference Wednesday would give more details.
San Franciso Chronicle

The bill — known as the FAIR (Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful) Education Act — would would bring classroom instruction into alignment with existing non-discrimination laws in California and would add LGBT to the existing list of underrepresented cultural and ethnic groups, which are covered by current law related to inclusion in textbooks and other instructional materials.

In addition to including the role and contributions of LGBT Americans in educational materials, the bill also adds sexual orientation to the state’s existing anti-discrimination protections that prohibit bias in school activities, instruction and instructional materials.

State Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), who authored the legislation, called Sibaja’s group “extremist” and added, “I think it will be a challenge for them to get the signatures.”

Tags: California, California FAIR Education Act, Capitol Resource Institute, Education, Jerry Brown, LGBT History, Mark Leno, Paulo Sibaja, SB 48, Schools

Filed under: California

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17 more reader comments:

Alexander Matthew Summerour
If you don’t like it, there are private schools… #justsayin
Posted on Monday, July 18, 2011 at 4:28pm
Sparkle Plenty
this stuff is gonna keep happening until we get equal rights on the FEDERAL level
Posted on Monday, July 18, 2011 at 4:28pm
Aurash Gomroki
We’ll be ready for them this time.
Posted on Monday, July 18, 2011 at 4:29pm
Vilde Karoline
Ugh, this better not be Prop. 8 all over again.
Posted on Monday, July 18, 2011 at 4:29pm
Eric Jones
Of course they are seeking to overturn it, they want to be the supreme rulers of the country they dont want anyone else to have access to history other than what they deem appropriate..
Posted on Monday, July 18, 2011 at 4:34pm
Hannah Shayne Neely
Anything with a brain knows that is WAY discriminatory for education!!! But what do you expect from people who have Bibles as brains and that’s it?
Posted on Monday, July 18, 2011 at 4:36pm
Frîes Nàá
Hater.
Posted on Monday, July 18, 2011 at 4:40pm
Ricky Gagnon
So now the crazies want to make it against the law to even talk about the LGBTQ community. Maybe if they spent some time actually fixing some problems instead of trying to silence people they don’t like our country would much better off.
Posted on Monday, July 18, 2011 at 4:41pm
Terry
The initiative process needs to be OVERHAULED. Hiram Johnson would be appalled at this. Conservative voters don’t like something so now they want to go ahead and put it to a public vote. I think acts of the courts and legislature should not be put to a vote by the people.
I also think that the initiative process should be finally ratified by a 2/3 majority. That could kill some nonsensical initiatives from coming to the ballot
Posted on Monday, July 18, 2011 at 5:45pm
Spencer Hamilton
The problem is that in CA the initiative process is now being used to overturn just about every single law that is unpopular. So I guess minority rights are now subject to a vote…CA Legislature needs to overhaul this thing soon
Posted on Monday, July 18, 2011 at 5:47pm
Jared William Boot
Ballot initiatives are stupid
Posted on Monday, July 18, 2011 at 5:50pm
Louie Cook
Let’s see how long it takes for the Catholic church, the Mormon church and Saddleback Church to raise millions of dollars to hire signature gatherers to qualify this to get on the ballot. Seems like the Prop 8 battle all over again! And I’m sure that the anti-equality groups will start their scary commercials telling voters that if they don’t ban lgbt history education, then it’s the end of the world! I really hope that our lgbt leaders have learned their lessons from Prop 8.
Posted on Monday, July 18, 2011 at 5:54pm
Rachel Baer
Boooooooo
Posted on Monday, July 18, 2011 at 6:14pm
Micah
so they’re saying that just because they were gay their contributions are not allowed to be showed publically & be praised? they’re saying that all their hard work should be ignored just because they were gay? that’s appalling & unhumane.
Posted on Monday, July 18, 2011 at 7:12pm
Jeff Lensman
Yawn…so the voters repeal it, and then the referendum is challenged in court and is unconstitutional…
Posted on Monday, July 18, 2011 at 8:37pm
Blake Baines
Why are these people wasting money on these frivolious cases?! Aren’t their some needy famlies in america who need help? What kind of people are these?! Where are their priorities???
Posted on Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at 3:49am
Brett
I feel like I am back in the middle ages instead of the 21st century. my god
Posted on Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at 8:38am