California investigating school board that rejected LGBT elementary lesson

(Daily Caller News Foundation) – Democratic California Attorney General Rob Bonta is investigating a school board that voted to reject a history curriculum which included a biography on Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, according to a Wednesday letter.

Bonta is requesting documents and communications from the Temecula Valley Unified School Board regarding their decision to reject the “Social Studies Alive” curriculum for grades one through five because it taught about Milk, according to a letter. The school board voted against the curriculum on May 16, stating that Milk was a “pedophile” and that the school district could “do better,” according to Patch.

“Not only could such statements reflect that the decision was motivated by a desire to erase from the history taught to students the contributions of a prominent and respected gay rights activist and leader, but they also suggest that the Board’s action may have been tainted by discriminatory animus,” the letter stated. “Moreover, the invocation of a long-standing, but discredited, trope designed to demonize members of the LGBTQ community is likely to contribute to creating (if not intended to create) a hostile environment for LGBTQ students and staff, in violation of their civil rights.”

Bonta notified the board that his office was “particularly concerned” about the comments made at the May meeting, the letter noted. Under state law, local educational agencies must provide a social studies curriculum which touches on “the role and contributions of specified groups, which include gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans to the development of California and the United States” and “the role of these groups in contemporary society,” the letter stated.

Milk, assassinated in 1978, was the state’s first openly gay elected official, serving as a San Francisco supervisor. Milk’s biographer Randy Shilts claimed that the elected official was at one point in a relationship with a 16-year-old in the early 1960s when the age of legal consent was 14 in New York.

Ahead of Bonta’s letter, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom called board President Joseph Komrosky “ignorant” in a tweet.

“An offensive statement from an ignorant person,” Newsom wrote in a tweet. “This isn’t Texas or Florida. In the Golden State, our kids have the freedom to learn. Congrats Mr. Komrosky you have our attention. Stay tuned.”

The Temecula Valley Unified School Board flipped to a conservative majority in 2022 and in their first meeting voted to ban Critical Race Theory from the classroom. The board adopted a policy which stated that the school district “will not tolerate racism and racist conduct.”