![Newsom and other leftists enraged after school board president said Harvey Milk was a 'pedophile'](https://www.theblaze.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=34003396&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C4)
Image source: YouTube video, Temecula Valley Unified School District - Screenshot
The president of the Temecula school board in California has drawn the ire of leftists, including Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, for having dared to point out an iconic gay activist's documented appetite for boys.
The Temecula Valley Unified District governing board convened on May 16 to debate the adoption of a new social studies curriculum for its elementary schools.
Dr. Joseph Komrosky, TVUSD president, and board members Jennifer Wiersma and Danny Gonzalez, signaled their opposition to elements of the propagandizing curriculum recently piloted by teachers in the district and approved by the California Department of Education, reported KABC-TV.
The trio, backed in their election to the board last year by the conservative Inland Empire Family PAC, voted 3-2 against the implementation of the curriculum, citing a lack of parental input and the presence of inappropriate content.
"I don't want my 3rd grader studying an LGBTQ issue. I don't want them going into gender ideology," said Wiersma, adding, "Parents need to be involved. ... With something as important as history, we need to take another look."
After Gonzalez alerted the board to text concerning a pedophilic activist in the course materials, Dr. Komrosky asked for clarification.
Board member Allison Barclay preempted Gonzalez's response, stating, "There is a lesson on Harvey Milk in the curriculum."
After Barclay's telling interruption, Gonzalez specified that the proposed fourth-grade materials included biographic detail and a photo of Harvey Milk, adding he found it to be "wildly inappropriate based on [Milk's] lifestyle choices and some of the things he was involved in outside of his political career."
When an advocate for the curriculum explained to the board that the Harvey Milk materials to be impressed on children were supplemental, not in the new textbook, Dr. Komrosky replied, "My question is why even mention a pedophile?"
The suggestion that Milk was a pedophile, confirmed by the activist's biographer Randy Shilts in "The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk," immediately caused a stir.
Barclay fired back, "He's not a pedophile."
Dr. Komrosky said, "I beg to differ," stressing the invocation of Milk in the curriculum "is a form of activism."
Barclay continued defending the inclusion of Milk in the student-facing materials, recommending that Komrosky read the activist's biography.
"You might have a different impression of the definition of pedophilia," said Barclay.
Shilts revealed in his biography of Milk that the politician, whose early campaign was funded by the notorious cultist Jim Jones of the Jonestown Massacre, "had a proclivity for male minors, who included 16-year-old Jack Galen McKinley. ... Milk would prime troubled, underage boys and young men with booze and drugs, then coerce them into sexual acts," reported the Federalist,
Shilts, a San Francisco Chronicle reporter and close friend of Milk who died of AIDS in 1994, wrote, "Sixteen-year-old McKinley was looking for some kind of father figure. … At 33, Milk was launching a new life, though he could hardly have imagined the unlikely direction toward which his new lover would pull him."
McKinley later committed suicide.
The age of consent in California is 18. The Daily Caller indicated that in light of California's current statutory rape law institute in 1970, having sex with a 16-year-old is statutory rape. It would appear, therefore that even if not a pedophile by Barclay's preferred definition, Milk may have been both a statutory rapist and a pederast.
Advocate, an LGBT magazine, accused Dr. Komrosky of "falsely" asserting that Milk was a sexual predator.
The One Temecula Valley PAC is doubling-down on their push for Dr. Komrosky, Gonzalez, and Wiersma to resign, having pursued that end since the conservatives' election, reported the Guardian.
Newsom — who recently ratified law enabling judges to keep men who prey on grade schoolers 10 years their junior, between the ages of 14 and 17, off sex-offender registries — responded to Dr. Komrosky on Twitter, writing, "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. Komorsky you have our attention. Stay tuned."
Neither Dr. Komrosky nor Gonzalez were shaken by Newsom's threat. They both fired back Wednesday on the conservative podcast "Our Watch with Tim Thompson."
Dr. Komrosky suggested the governor "should have learned more about the exploitation of young children during the #MeToo movement to help ... avoid celebrating pederasts and those who would steal our children's virtue."
"Gov. Newsom, I’m glad that I have your attention. Now you have mine," added Dr. Komrosky. "I received my first death threat after your tweet and relentless attacks on my job as a well-standing tenured professor. ... My remarks about Mr. Milk were not based on him being a homosexual, but rather based upon him being an adult having a sexual relationship with a minor," said the board president.
Concerning the board's decision not to adopt the new curriculum, the TVUSD stated:
The district is currently extending the window for viewing and feedback on textbook materials that were piloted and recommended by our teachers. We will continue to gather additional community and parent feedback for the board. At this time, we are not looking at changes with the publisher since TCI is a CDE approved curriculum that complies with the FAIR Act. TCI is also our approved Social Studies textbook at the middle school level. We are working with TCI and our pilot teachers to provide additional parent/community nights to share the materials again and provide an opportunity for additional questions. We want to ensure that parents and community members have as much information as possible and are able to provide even more feedback.
May 16, 2023, 6:00 PM - Open Session - TVUSD Governing Board Meetingyoutu.be
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