California buys inclusive textbooks for school district with anti-LGBTQ+ board & sends them the bill

California will fine a school district $1.5 million for rejecting a social studies textbook that includes material on the late gay politician Harvey Milk.

In a statement Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) made good on his promise earlier this month that the state itself would purchase the textbook for the Temecula Valley Unified School District and fine the district.

Related Stories California school board member calls Harvey Milk a pedophile & rejects textbook that mentions him

Gov. Gavin Newsom blasted the board president and warned, “You have our attention.”

“After we deliver the textbooks into the hands of students and their parents, the state will deliver the bill – along with a $1.5 million fine – to the school board for its decision to willfully violate the law, subvert the will of parents, and force children to use an out-of-print textbook from 17 years ago,” Newsom said. According to Advocate, the cost of the textbooks comes to around $1.6 million.

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Earlier this year, the Temecula Valley School Board rejected the purchase of the new elementary school-level textbooks and associated teaching materials. The textbooks themselves do not mention Milk—California’s first openly gay elected official, who was assassinated by a colleague in 1978—but supplemental materials for teachers do.

During the May 16 meeting at which the board voted 3–2 to reject the textbooks, two board members described Milk as a “pedophile.”

“My question is, why even mention a pedophile?” board president Dr. Joseph Komrosky said. When attendees at the meeting refuted the claim, Komrosky, citing no evidence, replied, “I beg to differ.”

Board member Danny Gonzalez repeated the claim. “I find the inclusion of sexually based topics and the glorification of a known pedophile, who happened to be an advocate for gay rights, to 10-year-olds morally reprehensible and inappropriate,” he said.

In a June 3 tweet, Newsom blasted Komrosky’s words as “an offensive statement from an ignorant person.”

An offensive statement from an ignorant person.

This isn’t Texas or Florida. In the Golden State, our kids have the freedom to learn.

Congrats Mr. Komrosky you have our attention. Stay tuned. https://t.co/4HHLm3q57r

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 3, 2023

Komrosky responded to the governor’s tweet at a June 7 news conference, clarifying that he had been referring to reports that Milk had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old when he was in his 30s. As the East Bay Times noted, out author and journalist Randy Shilts’s 2008 biography of Milk, The Mayor of Castro Street, details the gay rights icon’s relationship with Jack McKinley. The couple met in New York when McKinley was 16 and Milk was 33. At the time, the age of consent in New York state was 14.

In June, the California Department of Education launched an investigation into the Temecula Valley Unified School District. In a separate probe, California attorney general Rob Bonata sent a letter to the district seeking documents related to the board’s decision.

“Not only could [board members’] statements [about Milk] reflect that the decision was motivated by a desire to erase from the history taught to students the contributions of a prominent and respected gay rights activist and leader, but they also suggest that the Board’s action may have been tainted by discriminatory animus,” the letter read, according to the East Bay Times.

“In the Golden State, our kids have the freedom to learn — and there are consequences for denying that freedom,” Newsom said in a June 7 statement. “California is closely watching the actions of malicious actors seeking to ban books, whitewash history, and demonize the LGBTQ+ community in Temecula and across the state. If the law is violated, there will be repercussions.”