California To Buy and Distribute Censored Textbooks
Gov. Newsom said state will distribute a social studies textbook containing references to Harvey Milk after a school district banned it.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has said that the state will purchase and distribute a social studies textbook to students in the Temecula Valley Unified School District after the district’s school board voted to ban it from the classroom over supplemental materials featuring Harvey Milk.
The board voted last month to ban the textbook from classrooms because some supplemental materials accompanying it — although not the textbook itself — referenced Harvey Milk, an influential gay rights activist and U.S. Naval veteran, who in 1977 became one of the first openly gay candidates elected to public office.
During the school board’s debate, its president, Joseph Komrosky, questioned why Milk should be included in historical or social studies classes, calling the prominent gay rights campaigner a “pedophile.”
In addition to attracting negative attention for the school district, the comments also caught the attention of Newsom, who announced his proposed purchase of the censored textbooks last Thursday, according to the San Francisco-based news website SFGATE.
“Cancel culture has gone too far in Temecula: radicalized zealots on the school board rejected a textbook used by hundreds of thousands of students, and now children will begin the school year without the tools they need to learn,” Newsom said in a statement.
“If the school board won’t do its job by its next board meeting to ensure kids start the school year with basic materials, the state will deliver the book into the hands of children and their parents — and we’ll send the district the bill and fine them for violating state law.”
The Democratic governor added that he was working with state lawmakers to develop a mechanism to fine any districts that fail to “provide adequate instructional materials” to students.
Newsom — as well as California Attorney General Rob Bonta — said that by banning the book and rejecting the proposed social studies curriculum, the board is violating the FAIR Act.
The FAIR Act requires the inclusion of the historical contributions of various racial, ethnic, religious, political, and social groups in K-12 social studies classes that teach about the history of California and the United States.
The law was amended in 2011 to include the contributions of members of the LGBTQ community.
Following the board’s rejection of the social studies textbook, Bonta penned a letter to the board demanding insight into its decision-making process, as well as documentation and any communications dealing with the decision, and any complaints from third parties about the social studies curriculum.
In addition to noting that the decision may violate the FAIR Act, Bonta noted that “state law prohibits discrimination on the basis of protected characteristics,” including sexual orientation and gender identity, and the rejection of those materials may constitute unlawful discrimination.
“We are particularly concerned about statements made by Board members during the May 16 meeting, which included allegations about Harvey Milk, whose life is discussed in supplemental materials included in Social Studies Alive,” Bonta wrote. “Not only could such statements reflect that the decision was motivated by a desire to erase from the history taught to students the contributions of a prominent and respected gay rights activist and leader, but they also suggest that the Board’s action may have been tainted by discriminatory animus.
“Moreover, the invocation of a long-standing, but discredited, trope designed to demonize members of the LGBTQ community is likely to contribute to creating (if not intended to create) a hostile environment for LGBTQ students and staff, in violation of their civil rights,” Bonta added.
The three members who voted to reject the social studies textbook were elected as part of a slate of conservative candidates who were elected to push back against what conservatives have claimed is an attempt to “indoctrinate” children into accepting LGBTQ identity or identifying as LGBTQ themselves.
Other conservatives have argued that schools with liberal curriculum are undermining parental rights by exposing children to material that they are either not mature enough to understand or that their parents might find objectionable.
While LGBTQ people have been attacked and slandered as “pedophiles” for decades, in more recent years, as part of a larger conservative backlash against LGBTQ, and especially transgender, visibility, social conservatives and opponents of LGBTQ rights have begun labeling LGBTQ people as “groomers.” Some people have even gone so far as to label anyone who speaks supportively of LGBTQ rights as a “groomer,” and have demanded state lawmakers pursue anti-LGBTQ legislation in order to “protect children.”
Shortly after the board banned the social studies curriculum back in May, Newsom blasted the decision as an attempt to censor information.
“In the Golden State, our kids have the freedom to learn — and there are consequences for denying that freedom,” he said in a statement. “California is closely watching the actions of malicious actors seeking to ban books, whitewash history, and demonize the LGBTQ+ community in Temecula and across the state. If the law is violated, there will be repercussions.”
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