Groups in California are ramping up pressure on Governor Brown to sign SB 48, the FAIR Education Act.
Yesterday, Equality California and the National Center for Lesbian Rights urged their supporters to make the calls.
The Governor has five days left to sign the bill.
Equality California:
Opponents of LGBT equality are flooding Governor Brown's office with emails, letters and phone calls, trying to get him to veto the FAIR (Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful) Education Act (SB 48, Leno). We can't let them succeed.The haters really want to stop this legislation from becoming law.
Governor Brown needs to hear from us all every single day this week about this bill. I emailed you in the past few days to ask you to contact the Governor about this bill, which would ensure that LGBT history -- and the history of our civil rights movement -- is taught in public schools.
The governor has just six days left to sign the bill, but it could be signed as early as today! Tell him you want him to sign SB 48. There are three easy ways to take action:1. Call him at 1-916-445-2841. Choose English or Spanish, then press 2 to share your opinion on current legislation. Press 1 to say that you want to voice your opinion on SB 48. Then hit 1 again to say you support this bill. If the lines are busy, try again -- our opponents are jamming the lines.
National Center for Lesbian Rights:
We're at an extremely crucial point in California as Gov. Jerry Brown considers whether to sign or veto one of the most important bills our community has ever championed.Make the calls.
And we only have six days to make sure Gov. Brown signs the FAIR Education Act (SB 48) into law.
We need you to call Gov. Brown's office at 916.445.2841 and let him know you want him to sign the FAIR Education Act (SB 48), which will make a huge difference in the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth across the state by ensuring that our history is told in classrooms.
Shannon Minter the Legal Director at NCLR explains the significance of SB 48:
This is about so much more than history and social studies--and the other side certainly knows it. One point that I would like to see get more play on our side is what this bill will mean for the long term health and well being of LGBT youth. Caitlin Ryan's research at the Family Acceptance Project has shown that when LGBT youth are met with silence about their identity on the part of parents and other adults, that silence is as damaging to them as many forms of rejection and abuse. The flipside is that when parents and other adults affirmatively acknowledge and support LGBT youth, that acknowledgement has a tremendously positive impact on their long term health and well being. The erasure of LGBT people and issues from schools is not just a neutral omission--it is actively harmful and damaging to LGBT youth, who interpret that silence to mean they are not valued, included, or welcomed. Correcting that omission will directly protect their health and well being. That will not only be a huge benefit to our community, but to the whole society, which has been deprived of the contributions of the many LGBT people whose lives have been shortened and diminished by depression, suicide, substance abuse, and HIV infection because of their experiences as children and youth. This is about breaking a very damaging cycle of silence and stigma. In that respect, this bill is every bit as important as efforts to end discrimination in marriage. It will change the way our society thinks about LGBT people, and help ensure that for the first time, we will have a generation of LGBT youth who are growing up seeing themselves reflected and included in public institutions.Now, Californians, get on the phone. Call Governor Brown: 916.445.2841
