Sheila Kuehl
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Sheila James Kuehl (born February 9, 1941 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American politician and former child actress. As of 2005, she is a Democratic member of the California State Senate, representing the highly urbanized 23rd district in Los Angeles County, California and parts of Southern Ventura County, California.
As an actress in her youth, she played Jackie, Stuart Erwin's tomboy daughter in the television show Trouble with Father. She is better known for her portrayal of the "irrepressible" Zelda Gilroy in the long-running 1950s TV show The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Her own spinoff series as Zelda was cancelled (four episodes were filmed, but never aired) after rumors of her homosexuality circulated, the reason given being that she was too "butch".
Kuehl then changed her focus to academics and was accepted in the first group of women admitted into Harvard Law School. She became known as a feminist lawyer in her professional life.
Kuehl was first elected to the California State Assembly in 1994, becoming the first openly homosexual member of the California legislature. In the 1997-1998 legislative session, she was the first woman to be named Speaker pro Tempore of the Assembly. She was elected to the State Senate in 2000. In 2004, she was reelected to her position by with 65.7% of votes. She was repeatedly voted the "smartest" member of the California Legislature by the California Journal. Senator Kuehl is additionally well known for her work in health care policy, having introduced a bill to establish a single-payer health care system in California (SB 840, 2004).
She has been criticised for blocking reform of California paternity law [link][link] and recently sponsored a bill that would require history textbooks used in California's public schools to highlight the contributions of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people in California's history [link].
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