Civil Rights

The ink was barely dry on the Governor’s signature on SB 48 when a group of conservatives announced that has filed papers to put an initiative on the ballot to repeal the law that amends the education code to include social sciences instruction on the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, as well as of people with disabilities and members of other cultural groups.

The effort to repeal the law is being led by the Pacific Justice Institute and an arm of Capitol Resource Institute.

However, the daughter is sticking to her story, persisting airport security advised they could not examine the contents of the soiled diaper. “They said they would have to be removed and I had to take her to the airport restroom outside of security to do that… Otherwise… they would have not released her to board the plane.”  The TSA spokesperson conceded “…every person and item must be screened before entering the secure boarding area…” but further added, “TSA works with passengers to resolve security alarms in a respectful and sensitive manner“.  You can view an enlightening MSNBC news clip on this latest appalling incident of “granny gate-rape” at: link.

Last week many applauded and some lamented the decision by Governor Jerry Brown to sign what amounts to landmark legislation, to amend the education code to include social sciences instruction on the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, as well as of people with disabilities and members of other cultural groups.

SB 48 is the FAIR (Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful) Education Act, authored by Senator Mark Leno. Supporters of the legislation claim that the bill ensures that the historical contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and disabled individuals are accurately and fairly portrayed in instructional materials, by adding these groups to the existing list of under-represented cultural and ethnic groups already included in the state’s inclusionary education requirements.

Governor Jerry Brown on Wednesday signed the FAIR (Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful) Education Act, authored by Senator Mark Leno. Supporters of the legislation claim that the bill ensures that the historical contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and disabled individuals are accurately and fairly portrayed in instructional materials, by adding these groups to the existing list of under-represented cultural and ethnic groups already included in the state’s inclusionary education requirements.

“History should be honest,” Governor Brown said in a written statement on Thursday. “This bill revises existing laws that prohibit discrimination in education and ensures that the important contributions of Americans from all backgrounds and walks of life are included in our history books. It represents an important step forward for our state, and I thank Senator Leno for his hard work on this historic legislation.”

While California may be trailing other states in recognizing same-sex marriage, the state is poised to become the first state that would require public schools to include the contributions of gays and lesbians in social studies curriculum.

SB 48, dubbed the “FAIR (Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful) Education Act,” authored by Senator Mark Leno, would “amend the Education Code to include social sciences instruction on the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.”

Reflecting again on the momentous occasion in New York shows us both how far we have come, and yet how far we have to go.  Embroiled in this debate are deep divisions over the role of faith in Government, the separation of church and state, and over who gets to set the country’s morality.

In a way, this debate played out this weekend within my own extended family.

Late last night, the New York State Senate narrowly passed the bill that will allow same-sex couples to wed.  Four Republicans joined all but one Democrat, to pass the measure 33-29.

The New York Times reported on a key Senate Republican from Buffalo who had “had sought office promising to oppose same-sex marriage,” and “told his colleagues he had agonized for months before concluding he had been wrong.”

This week in California the issue of same-sex marriage has re-surfaced, due to the ruling that Judge Vaughn Walker was not conflicted out due to his own sexual orientation.

Regardless, in 2008, the state voters narrowly passed a ban on same-sex marriage.  However, that ban is now in question as a federal court has already ruled it unconstitutional.  Emerging in the last couples of years, also, is opinion polling that shows an increasing number of California voters more and more inclined to support same-sex marriage.

Can an openly gay judge rule on the constitutionality of a same sex marriage ban?  That was the question that supporters of Proposition 8 posed before a federal court.

The court, in a 21-page opinion, denied the motion to vacate the judgment.  The movers in the suit argued that Judge Walker should have been disqualified from presiding over this case based on “statutes require a federal judge to recuse if, inter alia, the judge has a substantial non-pecuniary interest in the case, or if there is some fact that brings the impartiality of the judge reasonably into question. If the judge does not recuse, a motion for disqualification may be made by a party.”

The “Long-term Care Ombudsman,” a federal program in every state, facilitates details of daily living for disabled or incapacitated residents of long-term care homes. Ombudsmen fulfill their duties under the protection of strict federal confidentiality guidelines established to protect the residents from potential retaliation from management.

In an editorial appearing this morning, the Sacramento Bee argues that “President Obama’s foreign policy looks like President Bush’s.”

Ross Douthat writes, “For those with eyes to see, the daylight between the foreign policies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama  has been shrinking ever since the current president took the oath of office. But last week made it official: When the story of America’s post-9/11 wars is written, historians will be obliged to assess the two administrations together, and pass judgment on the Bush-Obama era.”

I do not know what was more stunning last night, the news that Osama Bin Laden was killed finally or the realization that the attacks on September 11 occurred nearly ten years ago.

To drive home the point, as we watched transfixed yet again to the TV, we had to explain to my seven-year-old nephew why this was so important and why he would remember this for a long time.  Indeed, it sunk in that the attacks occurred before he was even born.

That is a question that the California State Supreme Court will now grapple with as the court decided last week to rule on whether sponsors of ballot initiatives have special authority under state law to defend the measures in court when state officials refuse to do so.

Last month, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals asked the California Supreme Court to weigh in on the decision of standing.

People will have to forgive me for weighing in on Egypt and the essentially bloodless revolution.  I have two points and both of them link well to local issues.

The people of Egypt brought down a long and at times brutal tyranny armed only with their voices.  They achieved their objective in 18 days primarily because they could not be mollified by promises of incremental change and partly because the military refused to turn on the people of Egypt as militaries have in places like China’s Tiananmen Square.

“An individual has not started living fully until they can rise above the narrow confines of individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of humanity….Every person must decide, at some point, whether they will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”  – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

As Americans, we gather today across the nation to honor the power of peaceful resistance and the courage of civil discourse.  Although our hearts are still heavy from the tragedy unleashed in Tucson on January 8, reflection and calm have begun to replace the chaos that engulfed us just a week ago.

The story, however, begins nearly 16 years ago. On April 19, 1995, I was a four year student at Cal Poly.  I was sitting in my philosophy case, and someone walked in and said that there had been a bombing in Oklahoma City.  We surmised it must be Islamic terrorists.  I remember early reports of seeing known Islamic extremists around the site.

It is a great irony of democracy that some of the most contentious issues will be decided in part by electoral races that few were following closely.  Yet that is precisely what may happen with the closely-contested and just-concluded California Attorney General’s race, where Kamala Harris edged out the Republican District Attorney from Los Angeles, Steve Cooley.

Mr. Cooley, unlike the current occupant Jerry Brown and unlike his opponent Ms. Harris, vowed to defend the ballot measure, Propostion 8, that was passed by the voters in 2008.  Kamala Harris prevailed and has vowed to continue the now-Governor-elect Brown’s policies.

As I approach 40 in the next few years, I am reminded of something I learned during my teen and early twenty years, how out of touch older adults are to popular culture.  In another lifetime, I used to have a period column during my days in undergraduate school, devoted to such topics.

I always swore that I would never make the same mistakes and I always admired the adults that could still relate to younger people.  I bring this up in light of watching Bristol Palin’s rather awkward pitch for abstinence alongside Mike Sorrentino, who is himself a bit of an icon on MTV’s reality show, “Jersey Shore.”

Yesterday marked the ninth anniversary of the attacks on 9/11.  Like most people in this country, I have very vivid memories of 9/11.  I rushed off to the old 24 Hour Fitness over on Second Street to meet up with my personal trainer.  When I got there I was shocked to learn that Cecilia (we would not be married until the next summer) was on the phone calling for me.  As she was trying frantically to explain that we had been attacked, I caught the TV screen and there was something not right going on.

It took a second and things became more clear, the Twin Towers were on fire, it looked like a bomb or something hit them.  As I was on the treadmill warming up, watching the TV, I could hear the news broadcaster say something about the AP, a very reputable source, saying that one of the towers had collapsed.  As I was warming up I watched with fear and horror the second tower collapse.  It looked like someone had demolished it.