First published in The Press-Enterprise

The Temecula Valley school board made national headlines when, in May, its conservative majority blocked a social studies curriculum that mentions slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk.

Then, in the face of a state investigation, a potential state fine and a feud with Gov. Gavin Newsom, trustees rejected the curriculum again in late July before approving it days later — with an important exception.

Board President Joseph Komrosky’s report to the board called for “age-appropriate curriculum” that is “also consistent with this Board’s commitment to exclude sexualized topics of instruction from the elementary school grade levels.”

Outside of the Milk biography, there appear to be two places in which the unit’s supplemental online materials mention the LGBTQ+ community.

Alana Byrd, national field director for People for the American Way, said her mother was an early member of the group and the child of a Holocaust survivor who has “heard firsthand how this kind of Authoritarianism happens.”

Book bans and limits on what can be taught are warning signs, Byrd said.

Read the full story on The Press-Enterprise