Louisiana advances bills banning sexual orientation discussion in K-12 classrooms
Heather Hamilton
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Louisiana lawmakers have advanced two bills set to ban discussion of gender identity and orientation in its kindergarten through high school public school classrooms.
House Bill 81, which was introduced by State Rep. Raymond Crews, would require school employees to use students’ names and pronouns as given on their birth certificates. Additionally, House Bill 466, introduced by State Rep. Dodie Horton, would restrict discussing gender identity in public schools.
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The bills passed Louisiana’s House Education Committee, which is controlled by a Republican majority, by a vote of 7-5 on Wednesday.
“It is important to be able to protect our children while they’re in the classroom and from those who wish to push their ideology on them,” Horton said, according to a report. “Our children are our greatest commodity, and the world is fighting over them. We must be able to assure our parents that when they drop their children off at our public schools, their children are going to be taught the approved state standard class curriculum, and [teachers will] not deviate [from] that and infringe on parental rights in sharing their own philosophy of life with the student.”
The bills will now be debated on the state’s full House floor. Should they pass both chambers of the state legislature and be vetoed by Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, Horton said she believes there are enough votes to override a veto.
“We have a supermajority in the House and the Senate, and I pray that people will be bold enough and courageous enough to override a veto,” Horton said.
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Critics of Horton’s HB 466 have dubbed it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, likening it to Florida’s Parent Rights in Education Act, which was similarly labeled.
Planned Parenthood of the Gulf Coast blasted the bill on Wednesday, arguing that the “spectrum of sexual orientation and gender” is science.