CALIFORNIA: Second Attempt To Force Referendum On LGBT History Bill Fails

For the second time, hate groups have failed to raise the required number of petition signatures to force a referendum on California's SB 48, which requires schools to mention the historical contributions of LGBT persons.

Pacific Justice Institute lawyer Kevin Snider said the Stop SB48 campaign did not gather enough signatures by Monday's deadline to put an initiative on the 2014 ballot that would exclude sexual minorities from the list of groups whose roles in history and social science schools must teach. Snider estimates that the all-volunteer petition circulating effort, which focused largely on churches, collected about 446,000 signatures out of the 504,760 required.

SB 48 went into effect in January, but most school districts haven't yet implemented it.