LGBT contributions should be taught

With Gov. Jerry Brown in office, Democrats are now reviving a plan for California’s education system which former Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger opposed: require schools to teach about LGBT contributions to society.

Although Brown currently has not shared his views for this proposal, many are hopeful for this bill, SB 48, to pass.

While many are in support of SB 48, others, including several Republicans and church organizations, denounce the bill as one that would impose a view upon students that don’t support same-sex marriage or “sexualize the training of our children at an early age,” as State. Sen. Bob Ruff put it.

I agree with the opponents of SB 48. We should not teach students that it is acceptable in this country to be lesbian, gay, transgender, or bisexual. We’ve already done enough damage to today’s youth by informing them about slavery and communism. If we teach about LGBT in schools, the next generation would grow up to be human-trafficking communists whose only goal in life is to rape slaves of the same gender.

What?

Sometimes I feel as if LGBT issues are too blown out of proportion.

I don’t believe there should be such widespread resistance to exposing students to the idea that LGBT people are out there. Learning about LGBT issues does not suddenly change a person’s sexual orientation.

There are many instances of boys, at a really young age, dressing up and borrowing their moms’ makeup to be “pretty.” Those boys surely have not had the talk with their parents about sexuality yet.

It’s ridiculous that lawmakers have to go as far as to pass a bill to have children learn about famous LGBT members of society.

As I researching online,  I came across a list of famous lesbian, gay, and bisexual people on Wikipedia.

One of them happened to be Langston Hughes. I didn’t believe it at first, because this poet, whose work is so widely analyzed at school, has never even been hinted by teachers at the possibility of his sexuality.

I looked more into that possibility, and many scholars believe that Langston Hughes was gay, but that’s only a speculation.

They say that he hid his sexuality throughout his lifetime, as homosexuality was not as accepted, but has had intimations in his poems that direct scholars to believe he was homosexual.

Perhaps when, or if, seeing so many against the bill, SB 48 passes, rather than just describing Langston Hughes as an “African-American poet,” our textbooks will say “Gay African-American poet.”