Acknowledging gays throughout history

Timothy Kincaid of Box Turtle Bulletin takes a look at comments about the anti-bullying law in Calif. and expands it in an unusual direction. The prompt for this commentary is Thomas Sowell, a conservative commentator, who notes that media has a short attention span, even with a problem as urgent as bullying. That allows school officials to claim to "fix" the problem, when the new policy changes don't really do anything other than deflect criticism. Part of the issue is that there isn't a good definition of bullying in the law. What is needed is a broader look at cultural issues that contribute to bullying. The rest of Sowell's comments can be ignored.

Kincaid (with a bit of Sowell's help) notes one of the cultural issues appears to be addressed by California's new law that requires teaching about gay Californians. A repeal of this law was attempted, but the anti-gay crowd didn't collect enough signatures to get the repeal on the ballot. Kincaid has a problem with that law. Most prominent gay Californians aren't all that important to history -- and that includes Harvey Milk, as important as he was. It would be better to acknowledge prominent people in history who happen to have been in a sexual minority, whether or not they were from Calif. Such people as: Alan Turing, Michelangelo, DaVinci, Oscar Wilde, Alexander the Great, Bayard Rustin (he's worth getting to know), and Truman Capote.

Kincaid's list of famous non-hetero people included a few names that puzzled me, including William Shakespeare, Richard the Lion-Hearted, and Daniel of the lion's den. As for that last one, how does he know?

This essay drew lots of comments. One that drew my attention is from someone who calls himself mikenloa. Part of the reason for the Calif. law is to balance the huge buying power of the Texas school system. Because the system is so big textbook suppliers cater to what Texas wants. And that is a heavy dose of conservatism and fundamentalism, even in subjects such as math (If Jesus started with five loaves and two fish…). The Calif. law means that those schools can't textbooks designed for Texas.