Texas tors, LGBTQ advot cricize ph for “Don’t Say Gay” bill | The Texas Tribune

Contents:

• TEXAS GOP'S NEW PLATFORM LLS GAY PEOPLE 'ABNORMAL' AND REJECTS TRANS INTI
• NOT JT FLORIDA. MORE THAN A DOZEN STAT PROPOSE SO-LLED 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILLS
• CRICS OF TEXAS’ PH FOR A “DON’T SAY GAY” BILL SAY ACKNOWLEDGG LGBTQ PEOPLE ISN’T THE SAME AS TEACHG KIDS ABOUT SEX
• TEXAS GOP ADOPTS ANTI-LGBTQ PLATFORM, REFERS TO BEG GAY AS ‘ABNORMAL’
• SWEEPG ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL CLOSER TO BEG LAW AFTER TEXAS SENATE PASSAGE
• TEXAS JUDGE WHO DON'T WANT TO PERFORM GAY MARRIAGE CEREMONI HOP WEB SIGNER'S SUPREME COURT SE HELPS HER FIGHT

TEXAS GOP'S NEW PLATFORM LLS GAY PEOPLE 'ABNORMAL' AND REJECTS TRANS INTI

They were among several bills the Legislature nsired that would brg major chang to the liv of gay and transgenr Texans. But the lower chamber didn’t brg the amend legislatn up for nsiratn, killg the Senate’s third attempt at phg what crics dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” provisn.

Crics say the provisns about LGBTQ lsons — patterned on ntroversial “Don’t Say Gay” law om Florida — nta vague language that uld stifle even rmal discsn about LGBTQ people, such as teachers discsg their same-sex spo.

The Republin Party of Texas, which oppos any efforts to validate transgenr inti and claims that homosexualy is “an abnormal liftyle choice, ” also nsirs banng the “teachg, exposure, and/or discsn of sexual matters (mechanics, feelgs, orientatn, or ‘genr inty’ issu)” to be a legislative prry. One bill signalg a shift opn toward the LGBTQ muny was Hoe Bill 2055, which would have repealed the state law crimalizg gay sex. Venton Jon, a Dallas Democrat who is the first Black, gay and openly HIV-posive lawmaker to serve at the Capol.

NOT JT FLORIDA. MORE THAN A DOZEN STAT PROPOSE SO-LLED 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILLS

” Siar legislatn, lled the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by opponents, passed Florida. The motive the Colorado shootg is still unr vtigatn, but thori said the gunman fac possible murr and hate crime charg the fatal shootg of five people at the gay nightclub, “Club Q.

The bills are arrivg after the Texas GOP re-adopted party platform language claimg homosexualy is “an abnormal liftyle choice, ” though advot are quick to note that sexual orientatn is not a liftyle and of self. Supreme Court lg that stck down a Texas law crimalizg homosexualy and hered an era of signifint LGBTQ rights advancement. They mimic and expand on the Florida law that crics lled the “Don’t Say Gay” law.

CRICS OF TEXAS’ PH FOR A “DON’T SAY GAY” BILL SAY ACKNOWLEDGG LGBTQ PEOPLE ISN’T THE SAME AS TEACHG KIDS ABOUT SEX

In 2018, he succsfully led the effort to strike the nmnatn of homosexualy as “a chosen behavr” om the Texas GOP’s platform, but language llg “an abnormal liftyle choice” returned last year. Congrs has sce passed feral protectns for marriage equaly, but Texas uld still ci to stop issug marriage licens to gay upl if Obergefell is eventually overturned. But Mar Roberts, a longtime openly gay Republin and chair of the Texas Conservative Liberty Fom, se the need to stay and fight for chang om wh.

Martez cheered the recent electns of three openly gay Black people to the Texas Hoe: Democrats Jolanda Jon of Hoton, Christian Manuel Hay of Bemont and Venton Jon of Dallas. Ultimately, many voked Harvey Milk — one of the untry’s first openly gay elected officials — and strsed that the most effective tool is to live thentilly. The Texas Republin Party unveiled s official posn on LGBTQ issu over the weekend, fg homosexualy as an "abnormal liftyle choice" and also opposg "all efforts to validate transgenr inty.

TEXAS GOP ADOPTS ANTI-LGBTQ PLATFORM, REFERS TO BEG GAY AS ‘ABNORMAL’

"Thoands of Republin activists met at the party’s biennial nventn Hoton on Saturday to agree to the party's platform on a range of issu, cludg the rejectn of the 2020 electn rults and a ll to repeal of the 1965 Votg Right Act, which was enacted to prevent discrimatn agast Black a sectn tled "Homosexualy and genr issu, " the party suggted that LGBTQ people should not be legally protected om discrimatn and that beg gay or trans is a choice. "Homosexualy is an abnormal liftyle choice, " the 40-page rolutn reads. "We believe there should be no grantg of special legal entlements or creatn of special stat for homosexual behavr, regardls of state of orig, and we oppose any crimal or civil penalti agast those who oppose homosexualy out of fah, nvictn, or belief tradnal valu.

"The Texas Republin Party blocked the Log Cab Republins, a longstandg group of gay nservativ — which also supports many of the party’s anti-LGBTQ polici — om havg a booth at Saturday's nventn. "The party's new official stance on sexual orientatn and genr inty also cis wh a recent natnwi surge charged rhetoric om media punds and policians about LGBTQ recent months, nservative lawmakers, televisn punds and other public figur have acced opponents of a newly enacted Florida tn legislatn — which crics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law — of tryg to “groom” or “doctrate” children.

SWEEPG ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL CLOSER TO BEG LAW AFTER TEXAS SENATE PASSAGE

The word “groomg” has long been associated wh mischaracterizg LGBTQ people, particularly gay men and transgenr women, as child sex abers.

Across the Uned Stat, at least a dozen stat are nsirg new legislatn that several ways will mirror Florida's new ntroversial law, referred to by some opponents as "Don't Say Gay. "The stutnalizatn of the bills is an overt form of stctural transphobia and homophobia, and go agast all public health evince creatg a safe and supportive environment for transgenr, nonbary, queer, gay and lbian youths and teachers to thrive, " Arjee Rtar, assistant profsor of epimlogy at the Universy of Washgton, told NPR. Rtar, a social epimlogist and health equy advote, said the ntroversial bills will lim all youths to live to their fullt potential, addg "there should be no room for transphobia and homophobia — pecially the classroom.

TEXAS JUDGE WHO DON'T WANT TO PERFORM GAY MARRIAGE CEREMONI HOP WEB SIGNER'S SUPREME COURT SE HELPS HER FIGHT

" Tennsee's HB 800 bans books and stctnal materials "that promote, normalize, support, or addrs lbian, gay, bi-sexual, or transgenr issu or liftyle. Two years after Arizona lawmakers repealed a law barrg any stctn on HIV or AIDS that that "promot a homosexual liftyle, " they are close to enactg a broad remake of the state's sex tn laws wh a particular foc on LGBTQ issu. "Florida may be the first this wave, but there have been other laws the past that were lled 'no promo homo' laws, which forbid sayg posive thgs about lbian, gay, bisexual, and queer people classrooms, " Simmons told NPR.