RALEIGH, N.C. — Advocates for LGBTQ youth spoke out Tuesday in opposition to outing students against their will.
A provision in House Bill 755, “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” sponsored by Senate Republicans, would require schools to inform parents if their student has changed their pronoun.
The bill also bans instruction or curriculum about LGBTQ issues in kindergarten through third grade and creates a list of requirements for parental and school communication.
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is expected to veto the bill if it reaches his desk. It is expected to go to a floor vote in the Senate on Wednesday after passing the Senate Rules Committee on Tuesday.
Before Tuesday’s meeting began, around two dozen protesters gathered inside the Legislative Building. Led by the Rev. Vance Haywood Jr., the senior pastor at St. John’s Metropolitan Community Church in downtown Raleigh, many wore shirts and held signs with pro-LGBTQ messages.
Haywood said he was forced out of the closet himself, and he strongly opposes any legislation that would require school employees all around the state to do the same to their LGBTQ students. On average, he said, every 45 seconds a queer youth in the United States will attempt suicide — something laws like the one being proposed here would only make worse, he said.
”Bills like this continue to exacerbate those numbers and continue to create unsafe environments in schools and in homes,” Haywood said.
“This bill proposes forced outing of queer kids. ... I can imagine what that would be like, because I was forced out of the closet. That puts people’s lives in danger. And from the very body that should be protecting people.”
The News & Observer reported that in the last decade, the rate of children dying by homicide or suicide in North Carolina has doubled. A 2019 study found that nearly half of LGBTQ high school students had considered suicide in the last year, the N&O reported, and more than one in every five had attempted suicide.
In 2020, the N&O reported, suicide was the fourth-leading cause of death for children, and the state reported an additional 2,700 emergency room visits by children due to self-inflicted injuries.
Multiple speakers cited the parental notification as impacting children’s well-being if they live in households that are not LGBTQ-affirming.
In the bill text, under a list of mental and physical health items requiring parental notification, the bill says “any changes in the name or pronoun used for a student in school records or by school personnel.”
After listening to the speakers, which included a former K-3 teacher who supported the bill, Republican state Sen. Ralph Hise of Spruce Pine talked about the process for his son, a student in public school, to bring over-the-counter antacids to school. Several forms and signatures are involved.
Hise shared it as an example of why parents should be involved in anything about their children’s mental and physical health.
Tyler Beall of Greensboro told lawmakers that the proposal is a “Don’t Say Gay” bill because it requires parents to be notified and is targeted at LGBTQ students.
Republicans disagree with the characterization of it as a “Don’t Say Gay” bill, arguing that they view it as less restrictive on teachers than what some other Republican-led states have proposed. Some have said that informal classroom discussions would be allowed as long as they’re not part of the curriculum.
In an earlier committee meeting, state Sen. Deanna Ballard, a Watauga County Republican, said the bill is “in no way restricting or prohibiting any conversation” in classrooms. “If a teacher has a same-sex partner, we’re not stifling discussion,” she said.
Beall also called the bill “a school version of don’t ask, don’t tell.”
The phrase “don’t ask, don’t tell” refers to the Department of Defense’s former policy about service members who are LGBTQ, which was repealed in 2011.
Beall said the bill would create a “culture of fear” for students who may be too afraid to ask school personnel for help.
Tania Jimenez, a transgender woman, said that students should be able to be proud of themselves.
“I think it’s time for North Carolina to move forward and not backwards,” she said.
State Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, a Raleigh Democrat, said in a previous committee meeting that the bill could be interpreted as “sending a signal outside North Carolina that our state is not a welcoming place,” likening it to the mostly repealed HB2 “bathroom bill.”
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