A California bill that seeks to impose mandatory “LGBTQ identity training” on teachers of grades seven to 12 has passed both houses of the State Legislature and has made it to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk for signature.
AB 493, introduced by Assemblymember Todd Gloria (D-San Diego) in February, “would encourage each school operated by a school district or county office of education and each charter school to use resources developed by the State Department of Education to provide training at least once every 2 years to teachers and other certificated employees at that school that serve pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, and to other certificated employees at that school, on schoolsite and community resources for the support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) pupils, and strategies to increase support for LGBTQ pupils and thereby improve overall school climate, as specified,” the bill’s text reads.
AB 493 has since passed both the State Assembly and the State Senate and now sits on Gov. Newsom's desk.
Separate but related to news of the bill is a so-called “report card” program that has essentially singled out 40 school districts of the approximately 130 in California for failing to provide “adequate LGBTQ programming and resources,” The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
If AB 493 is signed into law, these schools may very likely be targeted as the first required to implement such training.
Gov. Newsom has until Oct. 13 to sign the bill, but per his track record, whether it will become law is a no-brainer.