Two Initiatives Target California Law Requiring That Gay History Be Taught In Public Schools, Wyoming School District Apologizes To Staff And Students Over Homophobic “Hurt Feelings” Questionnaire, Former University Of Michigan Student Body President Chris Armstrong Announces Creation Of Scholarship Designed To Aid Bullied LGBT Students, Warren Beatty’s Transgender Daughter Attacks “Misogynist” Chaz Bono, Alan Ritchson

Opponents of a new law requiring California public schools to teach students about the historical contributions of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals have filed two proposed initiatives to challenge the statute. One proposed initiative would repeal the section of Senate Bill 48 mandating LGBT history, leaving in place new requirements that students learn about the role of disabled individuals and members of different cultural and ethnic groups. A second would give parents the ability to opt their children out of instruction related to "social science and family life" that conflicts with their religious beliefs, reports The Sacramento Bee. Both measures were filed with the state attorney general's office by Richard Rios, who is listed online as the president of the Yorba Ranch branch of the conservative California Republican Assembly. Calls for comment to the phone number listed on the initiative proposal and Rios' home were not immediately returned. The proposed initiatives mark the second attempt at challenging the law, which was approved by the Legislature and signed by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown earlier this year. A drive to place a referendum of SB 48 for next year's ballot fell short earlier this year, with organizers saying they collected close to the roughly 505,000 needed to qualify but not enough to freeze the law and ask voters to decide whether to reinstate it next year. The recent initiatives are not connected to the referendum effort, but Karen England, the conservative activist who led the referendum campaign, said her coalition is considering a possible initiative of their own. "We are moving forward with some other language that we hope to file shortly," England said, adding that her coalition does not support an opt out provision. Unlike a referendum effort, which must be qualified within 90 days of the law signing, initiative proponents have 150 days to circulate petitions and gather signatures. Proponents of the measures must submit to election officials at least 504,760 valid voter signatures to make it on the ballot. It is not clear whether proponents of the two new measures will have funding to launch a campaign to qualify the initiatives.

The Johnson County School Board opened its meeting Monday evening with a public apology addressed to students and parents affected by the Pat Lynch incident. Lynch distributed an offensive survey, titled “Hurt Feelings Report,” that included sexist and anti-gay rhetoric before Buffalo High School’s first-round playoff football game against Star Valley in Afton on October 28. He was subsequently prevented from coaching that game and later resigned his coaching duties at Buffalo High School. He had been head coach for 13 straight years. However, district officials decided to keep him as a guidance counsellor, under administrative supervision. The statement the board made Monday, which was read by member Rich Hall, said in part: “These are difficult times, but this will become a teachable moment.” The decision to allow Lynch to keep his current post has drawn growing criticism after national media outlets and websites retold the story, reports The Casper Star-Tribune. A student who spoke to the board during the public comment segment of Monday’s meeting asked the board, “What’s going to happen?” Superintendent Dr. Rod Kessler responded, “People are aware of it, people are working on it,” adding that since it is a personnel matter, the board could not comment on specifics. The student also noted that national media outlets have reported on the story and students, he said, are concerned about the school’s reputation. Another student who spoke choked with emotion. She said she knows Lynch is not a “bad person,” but he made a mistake. “He messed up,” the student said. “He needs us now. He’s been behind us when we’ve messed up.” The board’s statement Monday said it does not agree with media suggestions that it supports Lynch’s action. The board does not approve of the survey, Hall said specifically. However, Mary Plank, a Buffalo resident, told the board that by allowing Lynch to keep his guidance counsellor post, they were, “in essence, agreeing with his handout.” Plank also echoed the first student’s thoughts about national media attention, saying she felt embarrassed by the attention for this type of incident. “You really need to re-think this,” she said in closing, “because it’s not going to go away.” Deborah Dillinger, who has a son who plays football for the Buffalo team, also spoke to the board. She said she was “appalled, ashamed and embarrassed” by the survey, which she called “disgusting,” and added, “He is a teacher — a teacher first. And if he’s not, then what are we doing?” Dillinger specifically asked the board who else could her child see at the school in regard to guidance counselling. “My kid doesn’t trust him,” she said. Kessler named three other counsellors that students could see beside Lynch. He noted that that has been the case since prior to the survey incident. Roughly 25 people attended the Monday evening gathering.

A former University of Michigan student body president who garnered national attention when his homosexuality was criticized by a then-Michigan state assistant attorney general is establishing a scholarship to help bullied students attend U-M. Chris Armstrong made the announcement in a video posted to YouTube today. The announcement comes as part of U-M’s celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Spectrum Center, the school’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, support center, according to The Detroit Free Press. U-M says the Spectrum Center was the first such center in the nation at a university. In the video, Armstrong, who in the 2010-2011 school year was the first openly gay student body president at the school, references the controversy that began last fall. He says he was attacked on a blog and at public meetings by Andrew Shirvell, a U-M alumnus and then an assistant state attorney general. “(Shirvell) tried in any way he could to get me kicked out of my office,” Armstrong said in the video. In the video, Armstrong is sitting and wearing an U-M T-shirt. “It was one of the hardest times I’ve dealt with.” Armstrong said the university and its alumni “rushed to help” him get through the year. “We were able to turn it around. My attacker lost his job.” Armstrong said he and his parents want to make sure other young people who have been bullied because of their sexual orientation are able to attend U-M. The exact details of the scholarship weren’t released in the video, or in an e-mail from the university announcing the scholarship. More details are expected to be released tomorrow night at a gala celebrating the Spectrum Center’s anniversary. Shirvell, who saw the video after a Free Press reporter asked him for comment, said Armstrong’s comments in the video were “defamatory.” In an e-mail, he said, “The public protests that I engaged in during 2010, as well as my former blog, are protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. There was no ‘bullying’ and no stalking. Last October 2010, the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s office refused to file charges against me, finding that my activity constituted constitutionally-protected speech…” Armstrong and Shirvell are locked in multiple legal battles. Armstrong sued Shirvell in the summer for defamation over statements made on a Web site attacking Armstrong’s homosexuality. Shirvell quickly countersued, and the case has been making its way through the courts. Shirvell has also sued Armstrong’s attorney, Deborah Gordon, accusing her of masterminding his firing. The Attorney General's Office fired Shirvell in November 2010, saying he used his work computer to write his blog about Armstrong and other topics, and that he lied to investigators. Shirvell recently lost a motion in federal court seeking to have a good chunk of Armstrong's suit against him tossed out. In a separate filing, Armstrong and Gordon asked the state bar to strip Shirvell's law license.

Chaz Bono's media tours, reality show and widely-seen stint on Dancing with the Stars have made him the world’s most well-known transgender advocate, but RadarOnline.com has learned the daughter-turned-son of Cher doesn't have a fan in Stephen Ira, the transgender son of Warren Beatty and Annette Bening. Stephen, 19, (who was born a girl named Kathlyn) writes a blog titled Super Mattachine in which he identifies himself as "a gay trans man for whom both identities are equally important, a white anti-racist, a feminist, and a poet." He went on to express that Chaz “has appointed himself as the representative of a group of people who are not all like him. He has said misogynistic... things about gender. I take particular issue with his comments on trans embodiment and on women." Stephen said he was infuriated when Chaz told the New York Times that being transgendered is essentially having a “mismatched” brain and body, akin to a “birth defect like a cleft palate.” Stephen wrote, "I do not have a birth defect. If you feel like you have a birth defect, fine. That’s how you feel. Go feel that. Do not put it onto me. Do not define me that way, and do not define other trans people that way unless they claim that label. It’s beyond that, though. Chaz is a misogynist. He is a trans man who seems to believe that his female-assignedness and his female socialization makes him immune from being a misogynist, and he is manifestly wrong." He continued, "This man doesn’t represent our community... The next time you hear Chaz’s name brought up in a conversation about trans issues, point out the things he’s said about surgery, ‘birth defects,’ and women. Because I don’t want a single person thinking this guy is the best of us."

AfterElton.com interviews the incredibly cute Alan Ritchson of Blue Mountain State.