California’s Legislative LGBT Caucus has been adroit at getting dozens of laws passed and signed by the governor. Looking at the various California statutes, one would think California is heaven for GLBT kids, adults and GLBT couples (and domestic partners).

Even though California’s Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000 protects GLBT kids from abuse at school, the reality is that, locally, The Center receives thousands of calls from abused teens. The Youth Housing Project is full each night, and many are turned away. These openly GLBT teens almost uniformly report intolerable conditions at their schools and often an unhealthy environment at home.

Last year, a San Diego jury found that school officials at Poway High School – a school reputed to be supportive of openly gay teens – acted with deliberate indifference to what amounted to hate crimes against two gay teens.

And that’s why the Legislature passed Assembly Bill 606 (the Safe Place to Learn Act). It would have made it explicitly clear that schools condoning abuse can lose their state funding. The governor vetoed the bill, explaining that’s already the law.

The problem is that the law is not being enforced. That’s the role of law enforcement agencies. Locally, it’s the district attorney. In the state, it’s the role of attorney general. In California, that’s newly elected Jerry Brown.

During the last eight years, Brown’s predecessor, Treasurer-elect William Lockyer, was often absent when he was called for help. That won’t be the case with Jerry Brown, who has devoted his political career to serving the underdog.

The attorney general has several reasons to be aggressive in cases of school abuse. One, schools are violating the civil rights of GLBT students, who have the right to get an education free of abuse. Second, schools are failing to report abuse, such as hate crimes, violating criminal law. Third, schools are incurring huge monetary awards when victims sue schools for deliberate indifference. The money comes from state resources. So those are three good reasons why the A.G. needs to intervene.

The Legislative LGBT Caucus and the various political groups who backed Brown should join in asking him to develop a division for civil rights, with a focus on protecting the rights of GLBT youth.

New Jersey’s A.G. has developed a working partnership with schools throughout the state. It requires school officials to report abuse so that the A.G. can investigate complaints, bring charges where appropriate and resolve abuse cases.

Enforcing the rights of GLBT youth is one area the civil rights group can tackle.

Another area deals with the rights of domestic partners and fostering equality for gay and lesbian couples throughout the U.S.

State Senator Christine Kehoe championed a bill several years ago that prohibits state agencies, like the University of California and California State University, from entering into contracts with businesses and groups that do not provide domestic partnership benefits. The bill will take effect Jan. 1.

Here’s how it should work. Two weeks ago, the state of Wisconsin decided to ban not just same-sex marriage but also domestic partnership benefits. The University of Wisconsin is the only college in the Big Ten athletic conference that doesn’t provide domestic partnership benefits. This means that the University of Wisconsin can no longer play games against UCLA, Cal, SDSU and Fresno State.

I’ve also explained here that, also taking effect Jan. 1, California law prohibits state agencies from engaging in bias based on sexual orientation. That should preclude the California public colleges from engaging in contracts with colleges that openly discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation (e.g., BYU, military academies and other religion-based schools that discriminate).

I mention this here because my sources at SDSU indicate that SDSU athletics believes it is exempt from these laws. It isn’t.

The Legislature and the governor have made it clear that California won’t tolerate bias based upon sexual orientation or marital status.

A state university can hardly argue that it is not discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation when it contracts with schools that blatantly do. Engaging in bias means promoting it, aiding it or showing indifference to it. By hosting schools that blatantly discriminate, allowing them to use taxpayer-supported public facilities, these state agencies are, if nothing else, condoning discrimination.