Sheila Kuehl has done a few things that someday may merit mention in the history books: more than a decade in the California Legislature, a public crusade against domestic violence and a stint as the tenacious busybody Zelda on the classic sitcom "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis."

But if such immortality were to happen, Ms. Kuehl says, she would want one fact listed with the rest of her accomplishments: she is gay.

So this year, Ms. Kuehl, a state senator representing western Los Angeles, introduced a bill to assure that lesbians and gay men get what she feels is their due in California textbooks. The bill, which passed the Senate on Thursday and is now headed to the Assembly, would forbid the teaching of any material that "reflects adversely on persons due to sexual orientation," and add the "age appropriate study of the role and contributions of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender."