(CNSNews.com) - The Democrat-controlled California Assembly on Monday passed what conservatives describe as a homosexual indoctrination bill.The bill, SB 1437, says California public schools may neither teach nor sponsor any activity that "reflects adversely" on anyone because of their sexual orientation.
According to the Campaign for Children and Families, a conservative advocacy group, SB 1437 would alter K-12 public education textbooks, instructional materials, and school-sponsored activities "to positively reference transsexuality, transvestitism, bisexuality, and homosexuality, including homosexual 'marriage.'"
The Campaign for Children and Families has lobbied against the bill and is now urging like-minded conservatives to contact Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"We call upon Governor Schwarzenegger to keep his promise to veto SB 1437, which micromanages public schools by forcing them to promote a gaggle of sexual lifestyles that disturb parents and confuse kids," said Randy Thomasson, CCF president.
"If Schwarzenegger abandons children by signing any of these school indoctrination bills, pro-family voters will abandon him," Thomasson said.
(Schwarzenegger did say that he would veto the bill, but that was before the bill's lesbian author removed a provision that would have required California textbooks to include positive portrayals of GLBT people in contemporary society.)
On Monday, before voting on the bill, seven Republican spoke against it and six Democrats spoke in favor of it.
One of those Democrats, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, admitted that the point of the bill is to offer nontraditional perspectives on marriage and family:
"The way that you correct a wrong is by outlawing," Nunez said. "'Cause if you don't outlaw it, then people's biases tend to take over and dominate the perspective and the point of view," Nunez was quoted as saying.
"If somebody wants to teach kids in kindergarten that Jack and Jill ran up a hill, this bill doesn't prohibit that," Nunez added. "But it does say that if somebody wants to say that if Jill and Jill ran up the hill and somehow that's wrong -- then this bill says that that is not acceptable."
He said the bill would make schools "safer."
But Jay La Suer, a San Diego Republican, said the bill brings the homosexual agenda into the public schools.
"It's about time we said enough is enough," said La Suer. "Don't push this down the throats of families who don't want it and children who don't understand it. This bill is a basically a predatory bill that preys upon the innocence of children."
Republican Dennis Mountjoy of Monrovia argued that public education is "turning institutions of social experimentation," where the basics are ignored in favor of "social engineering."
The bill passed the Assembly 46-31. It now goes back to the Senate, where final approval or "concurrence" is expected, before it goes to Gov. Schwarzenegger.