AUSTIN \u2014 School-sponsored LGBTQ clubs would be against the law under a bill that is headed to the governor\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n
Senate Bill 12 would not only prohibit school-sanctioned clubs based on sexual orientation or gender identity, but also forbid public and charter schools from providing any instruction, guidance or programming that acknowledges homosexuality or transgender identities.<\/p>\n
The bill follows numerous proposals Republican lawmakers have forwarded that seek to inject conservative ideology and religion into public schools, including ones requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms and provisions furthering prayer in schools.<\/p>\n
Republican lawmakers have broadly supported the measures in party-line votes that have pushed their agenda to the governor\u2019s desk, where Abbott is expected to sign each measure.<\/p>\n
SB 12\u2019s passage came after a nearly two-hour, emotional debate in which Democrats pleaded with their Republican colleagues to vote down the bill. The party-line vote was 77-40. The Senate also passed the bill on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Rep. Erin Zweiner, D-Driftwood, called the bill a \u201chyped up version on steroids\u201d of Florida\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d law, which prohibited discussing homosexuality in schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis bill is hate,\u201d Zwiener said. \u201cThis is one of the most, maybe the most, nakedly hateful bills we have had on the floor of this house.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her comments came after several Democrats decried the sponsor of the bill, Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Allen, for calling clubs based on sexual orientation or gender identity \u201csex clubs,\u201d comments he later apologized for.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be sexualizing our kids in public schools, period,\u201d Leach said. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t have clubs based on sex.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. Rafael Anch\u00eda, D-Dallas, said his daughter had a leadership role in a school club focused on sexual orientation. He questioned why lawmakers would fear what he said was a positive experience for his child.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a sex club,\u201d Anch\u00eda said. \u201cThey would get together, and they\u2019d watch movies, they\u2019d color, they\u2019d go to musicals. It was about a kid who felt weird, who found her people, and everything about it was good. And I don\u2019t know why grown-ups in this body are so triggered by that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bill bans public and charter schools from enacting diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The prohibitions include DEI hiring practices, requiring diversity statements and provisions that would allow districts to discipline or fire any employees found in violation.<\/p>\n
Republicans have called the bill a \u201cparent bill of rights\u201d to give parents more power in guiding their child\u2019s instruction. <\/p>\n
It would require schools to get a parent\u2019s permission before a child could join any school club. Sexual education would also require a parent\u2019s permission. <\/p>\n
Parents would have access to their child\u2019s curriculum, library records and attendance records. Parents would be provided daily updates on any physical or mental health screenings prior to them happening, and the bill would force teachers and counselors to inform parents of any changes to their child\u2019s mental or physical health.<\/p>\n
Bill Prohibiting LGBTQ Clubs in Schools Heads to Governor’s Desk AUSTIN \u2014 School-sponsored LGBTQ clubs would be against the law under a bill that is headed to the governor\u2019s desk. Senate Bill 12 would not only prohibit school-sanctioned clubs based on sexual orientation or gender identity, but also forbid public and charter schools from providing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":6751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/56L3EXTTLJCF5B6DWLXUBJREO4.jpg?auth=cc210d98dec5239de52423cc8ebd0993c2f5090d9b688f2cf904db251ef9864c&height=630&width=1200&smart=true&quality=80","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6750"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6752,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6750\/revisions\/6752"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}