Last week in GSA, we discussed five new laws that took effect in California last month, as well as some new regulations implemented by government agencies.
The first two laws in California are known as "Seth's Law", after a California teen who killed himself after being bullied for being gay, and the "LGBT Equality and Equal Access to Higher Education Law", both of which address situations in school on a high school and a higher education level. "Seth's Law" mandates that CA public schools have policies in place to address bullying in schools, similar to some of the bills proposed here in Ohio.
Another bill that was made into law is the "Gay Divorce Law" that allows for couples who were married in California but now live in a state where they cannot get divorced to come back to California to get a divorce. It seems a silly law to pass, but it mattered to enough couples (or former couples) to push for the bill to get passed.
Another law passed is the "Transgender Non-Discrimination Law", which protects transgender Californians from discrimination in the areas of employment (meaning you can't be fired for being trans*, nor can it be a reason preventing you from being hired), education (no school in California can refuse to have you as a student because you are trans*) and housing (meaning you cannot be removed from housing or rejected for said housing on the basis of your gender identity.) This coincides with announcement made last week by the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that there is a new policy mandating Equal Access to Housing--a person seeking housing from HUD cannot be denied on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. This is a great step for both California and the Department of Housing and Urban Development in protecting transgender people from discrimination.
Perhaps the most controversial bill that was made into law in California is "The Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful Education Act", also known as the "Gay History Law" which mandates public schools teach factual lessons about people who are not only LGBT-identified, but also people of color and people with disabilities. This poses some difficulties for teachers, not only who may have personal feelings against the LGBTQ community but who also have rigid curriculum into which they have to fit many topics (including, Doc Rob pointed out, those outside the realm of pure history, things like research skills and paper writing abilities) into one year. The law also mandates that nothing negative be taught about those groups--does this include not showing historic footage from documentaries that showcase the discrimination faced by gay and lesbian people before the Stonewall riots in 1969? Similarly, if people of color are included in this group, how will slavery be taught? It will be interesting in the coming months to see how teachers grapple with this change.
Have any questions about the laws? Comments? Feel free to post your comment below, or email us at gsa.wra@gmail.com! Tomorrow in GSA, in honor of Black History Month, we're going to be discussing some famous African-Americans who influenced the LGBT rights movement. Come on out to the history wing if you can make it!
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