By this logic, we could ask whether people regularly read gay newspapers. When we find those who do have twice the rate of suicidal thoughts those who don’t, we could conclude that reading The Blade or The Advocate makes people suicidal.
I checked the footnotes to the section of the report called, "Research on LGBT youth, risk, and the school environment." Some were reports from groups like Safe Schools Coalition of Washington, and the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, a group that organizes Gay Straight Alliance Clubs on high school campuses. One of the key recommendations of all these reports is, "Identify and eliminate barriers to the formation of Gay Straight Alliances and other student anti-bias clubs, and support their formation on every campus." In other words, these reports are marketing documents for GLSEN, and should be taken with a grain of salt.
I found six of the seven academic articles cited. Not a single one proved that harassment causes students to become suicidal. Some didn’t even address the question of whether discrimination was to blame. Of the ones that did address the question, none came near showing a significant causal link. Most simply documented the higher rates of suicidal thoughts and plans and attempts among gay studentz. It is actually an open question whether the rates of actual suicide, as opposed to suicide attempts or fantasy, are greater for gay teens than for straight.
You might think the advocates of changing all the textbooks for all the students in California would report the best evidence they have. If this is their best shot, it isn’t very good.
A policy that wanted to help a group that is afflicted with suicidal thoughts, would focus on men. Three-quarters of all completed suicides are committed by males. And if textbooks are appropriate vehicles for making an oppressed group feel better about themselves, we ought to add a section on the contributions of divorced fathers. They have twice the suicide rate as married men. Many of them wanted to keep their marriages together, were divorced against their will, and are cut off from contact with their children. I somehow doubt that male disadvantage carries much weight with Senator Kuehl and her allies.
Even though the governor has said he will veto the "Bias-Free Curriculum Act," the ideas behind it still deserve to be refuted. You may be sure these factoids will be recycled for use in another round of guerilla political warfare. But they won’t be any more true the next time they are repeated.