According to those associated with the show, Kuehl was always more interested in education than in acting anyway, though she succeeded at both. She studied English at UCLA during most of the filming of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, and she was forced to keep her sexuality a secret not just on the soundstage but also on campus. At college, however, she was not as successful with her fabricated boyfriends, and she was expelled from her sorority when letters from her girlfriend surfaced.
In 1969 Kuehl became assistant dean of students at UCLA, and was later promoted to associate dean. In 1975, following a burgeoning interest in women's studies, she left her alma mater to study law at Harvard. There, Kuehl's future was shaped forever when she fell in love with a woman who gave her the strength to come out to herself and her family.
After graduating from Harvard Law School, Sheila Kuehl opened up a private law practice. She specialized in civil rights and women's issues, particularly domestic violence, and several years later she co-founded the California Women's Law Center. She also found time to teach at law schools, including her old faithful, UCLA.
In 1994, Sheila Kuehl returned to Hollywood--as a controversial state assemblywoman, and in doing so, she also became the first openly gay person to be elected to the California legislature. She was also a special guest speaker at the Democratic National Conventions in both 1996 and 2000, speaking on issues of family violence and diversity.
In 2000, yielding to term limits for elected officials in California, Kuehl left the State Assembly and was elected to the State Senate. She won again in 2004.
Since coming out while at Harvard, Sheila Kuehl has never been shy about her advocacy for LGBT rights. She has drafted and passed numerous pieces of legislation to protect gay people in California, including school protection and anti-discrimination bills.
Most recently, Kuehl has been working on Senate Bill 1437, a measure that calls for a "bias free curriculum", with accomplishments by LGBT people mentioned in textbooks and school materials. Not surprisingly, this inclusion has been hotly debated and scrutinized by conservatives across America and, because California is one of the largest suppliers of textbooks for students in the United States, the bill has ramifications that stretch far beyond state lines.
The issue has thrust Sheila Kuehl into the public spotlight once again, testing her resolve as both a lesbian and a civil rights advocate.
The bill, which is receiving widespread publicity in national media outlets like CNN, has particular relevance for Kuehl because of how she had to deal with her sexuality during her teenage years, many of which were spent on the set of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. "When I was a kid, there were no women in the textbooks, no black people, no Latinos," she recently told the New York Times. "As far as I knew, the only people who ever did anything worthwhile were white men."
The measure passed the California Senate on May 11 and is now on its way to the State Assembly, the same place where Sheila Kuehl's political career began twelve years ago.
And while her recent legislative accomplishments may have their roots in her childhood acting days, Senator Kuehl is steadfast in the belief that the role she holds today is the one she was meant to play. "I'm proud of [my acting] work," she said. "But I'd like to be remembered as a person that fought for civil rights and social justice."
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