Crics nmn ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, which seeks to ban discsn of sexualy and genr inty Florida schools
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AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
A slew of bills are rollg back recently won eedoms for gay people. Is Ameri ready to fight for LGBTQ+ rights all over aga? * lgbt ban *
Jt as stat followed Florida’s bill that opponents labeled “Don’t Say Gay” — which rtricts -school discsns about sexual orientatn or genr inty — several joed Tennsee proposg bills that would ban drag performanc.
GAY RIGHTS
The ACLU works to ensure that lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer people n live openly whout discrimatn and enjoy equal rights, personal tonomy, and eedom of exprsn and associatn. * lgbt ban *
The mise of the homophobic Defense of Marriage Act 2013 was followed by the end of the feral ban on marriage equaly 2015.
Wispread acceptance of same-sex marriage rights, gay people servg the ary and the need for protectns for LGBTQ+ people followed. As recently as 2020, the urt, then wh two Tmp appote, led that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protected gay, lbian and transgenr workers. A rash of laws ncerng the teachg of human sexualy school curricula, banng trans stunt athlet and strippg parents of the right to help their genr-variant children obta appropriate re have popped up numero red stat this same-sex marriage is now part of the fabric of Ameri, nservativ have chosen to explo Amerins’ unfaiary wh trans people and piggyback on parental anger over the perceived overreach of Covid-era school closur, nflatg wh an sid sense of “wokens”, the hop of fdg an electorally viable sluiceway for anti-LGBTQ+ most famo of the anti-LGBTQ+ laws is the piece of Florida legislatn banng stctn on sexual orientatn or genr inty schools between krgarten and third gra, the so-lled “don’t say gay” law.
The ernor and his supporters have labeled as a “groomer” anyone who believ children n learn LGBTQ+ people exist, argug that simply by talkg about gay relatnships to a child, you are sexualizg that child. ”To be gay, their view, is to be herently sexualized, a threat to nocence a way that straight Amerins are vehemence has ught even veteran LGBTQ+ advot by surprise. He was followed by Arizona’s ernor, Doug Ducey, who, after barrg mors om genr-affirmatn treatment, wouldn’t even state for the rerd that trans people were Florida lawmaker Michele Rayner-Goolsby, left, hugs her wife, Bian Goolsby, durg a march at cy hall St Petersburg agast the ‘don’t say gay’ bill.
Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill is one of many aimg ‘to lock LGBTQ+ topics on the wrong si of the schoolhoe gate’ * lgbt ban *
Photograph: Bob Daemmrich/Zuma Wire/Rex/ShutterstockPolicians are supported the media by mentators like Tucker Carlson, who claimed “no one had heard of this trans thg four years ago”, or Charlie Kirk, channelg 1980s fears sayg “gays want to rpt your children” rejuvenated, the right wg is poised to make transphobia and homophobia rnerston of the midterms and 2024 electns, wh promis to liver “don’t say gay” legislatn stat cludg Michigan and New Perks, the print of the Fay Rearch Council, a nservative lobbyg group, veighed agast the ernors of Indiana and Utah for vetog legislatn banng trans women om participatg sports, llg the bills “timely, mastream protectns”. The Republin US reprentative Marjorie Taylor Greene vowed to troduce a feral “don’t say gay” bill if Republins w the Hoe this November, only to one-up herself days later by tweetg that for people to be pro-trans is to be pro-pedophilia. ”The bs-iendly wg of the GOP that would quietly team up wh Democrats to scuttle rabidly homophobic bills is now outnumbered, and legislators a dozen or more stat that lean even farther to the right than DeSantis are takg, the Natnal Center for Lbian Rights legal director, believ Florida is the tt se for a renewed ph for an aggrsive, Christian-natnalist program.
”The “don’t say gay” bill, Mter not, is very siar to what’s been passed Rsia, tetherg Amerin nservativ to their thorarian unterparts who have succsfully rolled back mocratic norms across eastern Europe. “I’ve seen this movie before over the last 30 years: The right wg cid to target the LGBTQ muny, whether ’s around marriage or adoptn or trans kids playg sports or bathrooms, ” says the California state senator Stt Wiener, who is gay. “I thought was really important to ph back on the policy level, and to send a clear signal that California and other stat really re about the kids, ” he believ that “don’t say gay” is “patently unnstutnal” but also ntends that relyg on the judicial system to protect human rights may no longer be a sound optn.
” Consirg the ongog natnwi nservative mpaign agast nocuo books like Maia Kobabe’s graphic memoir, Genr Queer, ’s safe to say that this bill would effectively ban any discsn of LGBTQ+ sexualy public “parental rights” bills, such as South Carola’s H455, would also force schools to velop procr to rm parents about school clubs, which likely targets LGBTQ+ clubs such as Gay Straight Allianc. ” Arizona’s is a ltle ls explicly homophobic/transphobic, only specifyg that would ban “sexually explic material, ” but is more broad-rangg, applyg not jt to public school librari but public schools as a ’s also worth notg that the proposed bills go hand hand wh the nservative effort to ban “cril race theory” om classrooms; Freedom for All Amerins is trackg those bills right alongsi the anti-trans tn least 20 stat have troduced such bills th far 2022. ” That be emently clear upon lookg at the text of a bill like Iowa’s HF 170, filed last month, which expands the fn of “scerely held relig beliefs and moral nvictns” to clu opposn to gay marriage, that “male” and “female” refer to “distct and immutable blogil sex, ” and that “unborn children'' should have rights.
The gay rights movement the Uned Stat began the 1920s and saw huge progrs the 2000s, wh laws prohibg homosexual activy stck down and a Supreme Court lg legalizg same-sex marriage. * lgbt ban *
The ACLU works to ensure that lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, & queer people belong everywhere and n live openly and thentilly whout discrimatn, harassment, or vlence.
The ACLU Lbian Gay Bisexual Transgenr Project seeks to create a jt society for all LGBTQ people regardls of race or e.
Republins stat across Ameri are targetg LGBTQ rights through a wave of “tnal gag orrs”, a ee speech group has warned, as nservativ battle to censor discsn of race and sexual inti than 100 bills censorg teachers have been troduced state legislatur this year, acrdg to a report by PEN Ameri – a non-prof which works to protect eedom of exprsn the US – what the anizatn says is a “natnal asslt on our tn system” warng as nservativ have lnched efforts to ban books pertag to race and LGBTQ+ issu om classrooms var stat, while some legislatur are phg to troduce laws which would ban teachers om discsg homosexualy.