One week after Florida legislators passed a widely derided measure that opponents warn will marginalise LGBT+ students and chill classroom speech, a Republican state legislator in Louisiana has introduced a similar bill.
A bill from Republican state Rep Dodie Horton mirroring Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” legislation would prohibit Louisiana’s teachers and school instructors from “cover[ing] the topics of sexual orientation or gender identity” in kindergarten through eighth grade classrooms.
It also prohibits all school staff from “discuss[ing] his own sexual orientation or gender identity” with students of any grade.
Rep Horton told Baton Rouge ABC affiliate WBRZ that she “wasn’t aware of the need [for this legislation] until I looked at some things on Twitter and Facebook.”
“It just solidified for us to protect our Louisiana children, as well,” she said. “I started to pray about how we could protect our children here from inappropriate conversations until they are able to dissect it and old enough to understand it … I talked to my pastor and he challenged me and said, ‘we definitely need to do this.’”
She also said one’s sexual orientation and gender identity is “a choice.”
Forum For Equality said the bill “is meant to stigmatize LGBTQ people, isolate LGBTQ kids, and make teachers fearful of providing safe, inclusive classrooms.”
A statement from the office of Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards echoed comments from his recent State of the State address, saying that several bills in this year’s legislative session “do nothing to make lives better. Nothing to continue moving us forward.”
“They only serve to divide us. And frankly, some are reminiscent of a dark past that we should learn from, not relive,” he said.
Republican state legislators in Louisiana have also introduced bills banning gender-affirming healthcare for minors and transgender women and girls from school sports.
Georgia Republicans have introduced a similar bill that would restrict private school classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Under the Georgia measure, sponsored by a group of GOP state legislators, private schools and programmes in the state would not be allowed to “promote, compel, or encourage classroom discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels or in a manner that is not appropriate for the age and developmental stage of the student.”
The measures join a nationwide effort among GOP officials targeting classrooms in legislative proposals and in their 2022 campaigns, from increased surveillance of classroom discussion to bans on transgender students from school sports.
Opponents warn such measures are being used to strip away civil liberties and erase already vulnerable LGBT+ Americans from public life while drawing teachers and schools into costly and frivolous lawsuits.
Recent polling from Ipsos in partnership with ABC News found that 62 per cent of Americans oppose so-called “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, while 37 per cent support it.
Meanwhile, Republican state legislators have proposed more than 266 bills targeting LGBT+ Americans this year, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Of those proposals, at least 125 directly target transgender people
In 2021, at least 25 anti-LGBT+ measures were signed into law across the US, including 13 laws targeting transgender people in eight states, according to the organisation.
