CHICAGO – How a person has sex will now be a factor in whether Illinois public schools' history curriculum will cover him/her/it starting next year. Now Illinois students will know about Alexander the Great, Michaelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci's supposed sexual preferences as a part of their importance to the world's history.
Governor JB Pritzker signed HB 246 into law last Friday. The bill's synopsis says the measure requires public schools to buy with taxpayer dollars only those textbooks that include non-discriminatory reviews of contributions made by persons protected in the Illinois Human Rights Act. The new policy is drawing national attention.
State Rep. Anna Moeller, D-Elgin, who introduced the bill in the Illinois House said Pritzker's actions made last Friday "an important and historic day for fairness and compassion in Illinois."
“The new law’s goal is simple: to understand that people from different backgrounds deserve the same opportunity to learn and be recognized for their contributions in society as everyone else," she said in a statement. “Historically, gay and transgender people have been treated as second-class citizens: persecuted, discriminated against and forgotten. As our society has evolved to rectify these injustices, our school teaching should as well. I hope Illinois schools will embrace the opportunity to show that we all are equal and valuable through this commonsense update to their curriculum."
Illinois Family Action's director David E. Smith disagreed with Rep. Moeller. He said the new policy is "foolish."
“Contrary to what Rep. Moeller claims, HB 246 is obvious tactic to advance another left-wing political ideology in our government schools. Moreover, there is no fairness or compassion for hundreds of thousands of families and taxpayers who hold to traditional Judeo-Christian teaching on sexual morality," Smith told Illinois Review. "Their values are easily forgotten by regressive Democrats who have a supermajority. And while proficiency levels in math, science, reading and writing are in desperate need of attention throughout much of the state, Springfield lawmakers prioritize social engineering? Calling this new policy ‘foolish’ doesn’t seem to suffice.”
The synopsis of HB 246 says it:
Amends the School Code. With regard to the textbook block grant program, provides that the textbooks authorized to be purchased must include the roles and contributions of all people protected under the Illinois Human Rights Act and must be non-discriminatory as to any of the characteristics under the Act. Provides that textbooks purchased with grant funds must be non-discriminatory. Provides that in public schools only, the teaching of history of the United States shall include a study of the roles and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the history of this country and this State. Effective July 1, 2020.
