Bill Text: HI HCR71 | 2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Public Schools; Individuals with Disabilities; LGBT

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-03-02 - (H) Referred to EDN, FIN, referral sheet 39 [HCR71 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2012-HCR71-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	71
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2012
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

Encouraging the department of education to include in the social studies CURRICULUM the political, economic, and social contributions of persons with disabilities and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, the State of Hawaii and the Department of Education should be committed to educating Hawaii's youth about diverse cultures and the vastness of the human condition in preparing Hawaii's youth to be participating members of an equal society; and

 

     WHEREAS, while the Department of Education's existing content and performance standards for social studies include the history of many minorities and subcultures, including Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, African Americans, Japanese Americans, and women, the standards fail to include the history of individuals with disabilities and those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender; and

 

     WHEREAS, federal census data estimates that nineteen percent of the nation's population has a disability and the National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior estimates that seven percent of adult women and eight percent of adult men identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual; and

 

     WHEREAS, the use of derogatory terms aimed at individuals with disabilities and those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender occurs in Hawaii's schools and students need to know that these terms are discriminatory and hurtful; and

 

     WHEREAS, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students are often verbally, physically, and emotionally harassed and bullied at school because of their actual or perceived identity and therefore report feeling depressed, isolated, suicidal, and unsafe at school; and

 

     WHEREAS, the State has an obligation to protect individuals who are discriminated against; and

 

     WHEREAS, the governor of California signed the FAIR Education Act into law on July 14, 2011, which requires the inclusion in public school curriculum of the political, economic, and social contributions of persons with disabilities and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals to the development of California and the United States; and

 

     WHEREAS, the implementation of a similar curriculum in the State is consistent with Hawaii's effort to promote a more supportive learning environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students and students with disabilities; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-sixth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2012, the Senate concurring, that the Legislature encourages the Department of Education to:

 

     (1)  Integrate into the social studies curriculum of the State's public education system the political, economic, and social contributions of persons with disabilities and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals;

 

     (2)  Provide resources on such topics for complex areas, individual schools, and educators to empower them to implement age-appropriate content for students from kindergarten through twelfth grade;

 

     (3)  Train, support, and protect educators who integrate such topics into school curriculum;

 

     (4)  Prohibit material in textbooks or other instructional material that perpetuates discriminatory stereotypes and misinformation about individuals with disabilities and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals;

 

     (5)  Adopt textbooks or other instructional materials that include and fairly portray individuals with disabilities and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals; and

 

     (6)  Discourage discrimination toward these groups in public schools and at public school functions; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Superintendent of Education and Chair of the Board of Education.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Public Schools; Individuals with Disabilities; LGBT