I’m not sure how I missed this one — but it is significant:

Governor will veto gay curriculum bill

By Andy Furillo and Judy Lin — Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 11:00 pm PDT Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will veto a bill passed by the Senate and pending in the Assembly to revise California’s school curriculum to include the contributions of gays and lesbians to the state and nation, a gubernatorial spokesman said Wednesday.

"The governor believes that school curriculum should include all important historical figures, regardless of orientation," said Schwarzenegger’s director of communications, Adam Mendelsohn. "However, he does not support the Legislature micromanaging curriculum."

Wednesday’s announcement signaled a death blow to the efforts of state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, the openly lesbian author of the measure, to obtain recognition for the contributions of gays, lesbians, transgender and bisexual people to the social and historical landscape.

Kuehl’s bill had passed the Senate on a 22-15 vote on May 11 and was awaiting hearings in the Assembly. She expressed disbelief that Schwarzenegger, who traditionally has withheld comment on legislation until it passes the Legislature and reaches his desk, has broken with his own precedent and made up his mind on a bill that still hadn’t been vetted by one house of the Legislature.

"He hasn’t made up his mind, I don’t care what some underling might have said," Kuehl said.

Kuehl said she hasn’t spoken to the governor about the bill yet and that she didn’t plan on trying to initiate a conversation with him until it had set sail in the Assembly. She said she still intends to approach him on the subject.

Link to full article.

The best part is where Shiela Kuehl refers to FR friend Schwarzenegger Communications Director Adam Mendelsohn as an "underling" — way to go!

[CG – thanks for the tip-off]

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 25th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.