Despite favorable outcome in lawsuit, California school district board replaces contested currculum designed to curb anti-gay bullying

12/10/09 AP:

In Balde v. Alameda Unified School District , No. RG09-468037 (Cal. Alameda County Super. Ct.), plaintiff parents unsuccessfully sought to compel a San Francisco Bay Area school district to exempt their children from a curriculum designed to prevent anti-gay bullying and harassment. Last night, the Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) Board voted to replace the controversial curriculum - "Lesson 9" - with "broad lessons against bias" that will address "six specific forms of bias, including against gays." A teachers' committee will recommend books for the new program, and the Board will vote on the recommendations. These recommendations are likely to incite continued controversy in this island community near Oakland. I have been monitoring developments because the Yes on 8 and Yes on 1 proponents in California and Maine, respectively, claimed that public school students would be "forced" to learn about same-sex marriage unless the states restored bans on it. In fact, Lesson 9 included a second-grade picture book, Who's In A Family, that was a centerpiece of Yes on 1's campaign because of its references to gay and lesbian families.