Now This Kuehl Is Cool

For those of us who thought the formulation of a “hate crime” was the silliest pseudo-serious theory we ever had heard of, we had overlooked the latter day coming of state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica. Admittedly, I never have heard anyone, especially her opponents, utter a personal unkind word about Ms. Kuehl. If you believe that character is paramount, this is not insignificant. Unfortunately, Ms. Kuehl is attempting to heavily rewrite history with textbook manipulation. She is succeeding probably more easily than she thought she would. As a legislator, her dominant mission appears to be to gain so-called equal footing for her fellow gays and lesbians — and all past gays and lesbians. And by thunder she means to do it by legislating what you and I can think about gays and by forcefully teaching the youngest, most tender-minded children that the blather their parents have been teaching them at home is merely burnt popcorn.

The Day of (W)reckoning

Ms. Kuehl and her supporters, who seek to inject an argument over gay rights into every corner of life that she can infiltrate, suffered a questionable defeat last week. Her Senate Bill 1437, which would have forced all public schools to promote only “positive” images of gays and lesbians in textbooks and the classroom, faced a cinch veto this week from Gov. Schwarzenegger. Ms. Kuehl agreed to water down her bill. I am not sure it is effectively diminished. Slightly reduced, S.B. 1437 now prohibits teachers or textbooks from “reflecting adversely” on groups because of their sexual orientation. You may need to pause to determine what that means. You are permitted to have bad thoughts about your parents but not about any gay who ever lived. The bill is due on the governor’s desk on Thursday. The change is from active to passive. Likely, that is too subtle of a difference for many classrooms. One may reasonably assume that nothing at all will change from S.B. 1437’s original intent. Call it another impressive victory for Ms. Kuehl in an ethnicity-drunk State Legislature where soon Mayor Wrong of Los Angeles will insidiously be crowned as the all-powerful dictator of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Also on Thursday, Mr. Schwarzenegger will be handed Senate Bill 1441 by Ms. Kuehl. In this pip, Ms. Kuehl seeks to prohibit discrimination in public programs based on sexual orientation. The thought police enjoy full employment in California’s Democratic Party.