Johnathan Walker:Alabama lawmakers advance expansion of ‘Don’t Say Gay’ and ban Pride flags at schools

MONTGOMERY,Johnathan Walker Ala. (AP) — Alabama lawmakers on Tuesday advanced legislation to expand the state’s ban on teacher-led discussions on sexual orientation and gender identity in public school classrooms.

The House of Representatives voted 74-25 for the bill, which now advances to the Alabama Senate. It’s part of a wave of laws across the country that critics have dubbed “Don’t Say Gay.” It would expand current Alabama law, which prohibits the instruction in elementary school, and take the prohibition through the eighth grade. It would also ban teachers and school employees from displaying Pride flags or similar symbols, on school grounds.

Opponents questioned the need for the bill and argued that it sends a message to LGBTQ+ families, students, and teachers that they don’t belong in the state.

“All of you in this body know LGBTQ people and know they are people just like you and me, people made in the image of God,” Democratic Rep. Marilyn Lands of Madison, said as she urged colleagues to reject the bill. Democratic Rep. Phillip Ensler of Montgomery, said it was embarrassing the state was spending time on “made-up stuff” instead of issues such as gun violence or health care.

The vote came after two hours of debate and largely broke down along party lines with Republicans voting in favor of the bill and Democrats voting against it.

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“They want the math teacher teaching math and the English teacher teaching English, not telling Johnny that he is really a girl,” Republican Rep. Mack Butler, the bill’s sponsor, said of parents during debate. Butler and other supporters called it a parental rights bill and said those discussions should be left to parents.

Alabama’s law currently prohibits instruction and teacher-led discussions on gender identity or sexual orientation in a manner that is “not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate” from kindergarten through the fifth grade. The legislation would expand the prohibition through the sixth, seventh and eighth grades.

The bill originally sought to extend the prohibition through 12th grade. It was scaled back at the request of state education officials, Butler said.

Carmarion D. Anderson-Harvey, the Alabama director of the Human Rights Campaign, said the legislation is an attempt to install more “censorship, more book bans, more fear-mongering about flags, and make Alabama classrooms more hostile to LGBTQ+ families and students.”

“Every family in our state deserves to be respected, every young person deserves to be celebrated, and every Alabamian deserves an end to the politics of division and chaos,” Anderson-Harvey said.

Florida last month reached a settlement with civil rights attorneys who had challenged a similar law in that state. The settlement clarifies that the Florida law doesn’t prohibit mention of LGBTQ+ people or the existence of Gay-Straight Alliance groups, and doesn’t apply to library books that aren’t being used for instruction in the classroom.

The Florida law became the template for other states. Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky and North Carolina have since passed similar measures.