After Florida passed its cruel and oppressive “Don’t Say Gay” law, more than a dozen states nationwide proposed or discussed plans to propose their own copycat bills. These bills would bar educators from discussing issues of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms, despite (or because of) those being things the Republicans backing this legislation clearly don’t understand in the slightest.
Now Louisiana legislators have introduced their own version of the bill and it’s possibly the worst, strictest version yet. Proponents of Florida’s bill claim that it only applies to children through third grade but the language in it and its copycats is deliberately vague enough to scare educators into avoiding these subjects altogether.
In Louisiana, though, the bill explicitly prohibits teachers and other school officials and staff from talking about anything related to sexual orientation and gender identity through grade eight, and bans those educators from discussing anything related to their own sexual orientation and gender identity through grade 12.
This means, without any equivocation, that teachers and other school employees are being told they must stay in the closet, no matter what grade they teach. They cannot bring a same-sex partner to a school event. They cannot transition while working in education in the state. This is a ban on living openly as an LGBTQIA+ person for educators and school officials in the state of Louisiana.
It’s also not just about the adults in these situations. It will prohibit any student from finding an adult ally with whom they might be able to discuss their own journeys with these issues. And as NPR wrote earlier this year describing the concerns of one Florida teacher, “Teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity isn’t part of the first–grade curriculum … But talking about families is part of her curriculum, and some of her students may have two moms or two dads.”
“It makes me wonder,” that teacher told the outlet. “When I talk about families in my classroom, am I going to be violating this law because the children were having discussions about what their family looks like?”
The bill was killed, so why isn’t it dead?
Louisiana’s bill was killed in committee by a 7-4 vote. But state representatives used a reportedly unprecedented maneuver to discharge it from the Education Committee and bring it for a full House vote anyway.
Louisiana’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill is back alive. By a vote of 55-39, the House voted to discharge it from the House Education Committee, where it failed. The House will later need to schedule a meeting to hear it. #lalege
— Blake Paterson (@BlakePater) May 10, 2022
SarahJane Guidry, the Executive Director of Forum for Equality, said in a statement to Louisiana Trans Advocates: “Anti-LGBTQ+ politicians are pulling out all the stops in their attempt to censor and control students and teachers. It’s absurd that politicians are resorting to this kind of behavior. Moving this bill forward at the expense of LGBTQ+ students’ well-being is a shameful political trick. It’s time for our elected officials to halt this bill once and for all and return their focus to the real issues facing families in our state, like quality health care and economic programs.”
(image: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
