More than a dozen stat propose so-lled 'Don't Say Gay' bills : NPR

Contents:

• IN SOME STAT, VERSNS OF ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILLS HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR AWHILE
• NOT JT FLORIDA. MORE THAN A DOZEN STAT PROPOSE SO-LLED 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILLS
• BEYOND ‘DON’T SAY GAY': OTHER STAT SEEK TO LIM LGBTQ YOUTH, TEACHG
• NOT JT FLORIDA. MORE THAN A DOZEN STAT PROPOSE SO-LLED 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILLS
• HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO
• WHAT'S THE SO-LLED DON'T SAY GAY BILL THAT ULD IMPACT THE WHOLE UNTRY
• WHAT DO THE DON'T SAY GAY BILL MEAN? CONTROVERSIAL DESANTIS LAW EXPLAED
• FLORIDA'S ERNOR SIGNS NTROVERSIAL LAW OPPONENTS DUBBED 'DON'T SAY GAY'
• OPPONENTS CALL IT THE ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL. HERE’S WHAT IT SAYS.
• FLORIDA HOE PASS NTROVERSIAL MEASURE DUBBED THE 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL BY CRICS
• STRICTLY LEGAL: SU OVER 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL FAILS
• GEN Z WON’T STAY QUIET ON FLORIDA’S ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL
• DESANTIS-BACKED 'DONT SAY GAY' BILL SPARKS OUTRAGE

IN SOME STAT, VERSNS OF ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILLS HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR AWHILE

Kay Ivey signed to law Hoe Bill 322, lloquially dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, rtrictg public school teachers om discsg LGBTQ+ history or people public elementary schools.

At least 20 stat have troduced “Don’t Say Gay” laws this year, which have ma wav around the untry.

READ MORE: Florida Legislature vot to strip Disney of self-ernment after opposn to ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill. Sce 1992, Alabama’s tn stipulated that teachers emphasize “ a factual manner and om a public health perspective, that homosexualy is not a liftyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual nduct is a crimal offense unr the laws of the state. A year ago, “Don’t Say Gay” laws that had passed the 1980s were nsired archaic, LGBTQ+ advot said, wh many of them repealed over the years.

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

Texas lawmakers have exprsed tert pursug a “Don’t Say Gay” bill like Florida’s and Alabama’s, even though the state has had a siar regulatn on the books sce 1991. In Texas, the state still stipulat that tnal materials for people unr the age of 18 “state that homosexual nduct is not an acceptable liftyle and is a crimal offense.

Oklahoma passed the natn’s first bill banng teachers om talkg about homosexualy an AIDS sex ed measure April 1987, and Louisana followed su that July. South Carola passed a “Don’t Say Gay” bill 1988.

In total, ne stat passed laws banng schools om teachg about “homosexualy” om 1987 to 2001, when Utah adopted s versn. For example, Louisiana still has a law on the books that stat, “No sex tn urse offered the public schools of the state shall utilize any sexually explic materials pictg male or female homosexual activy. Mississippi sex ed law requir that teachers simply teach current state law related to sexual nduct and lists “homosexualy” alongsi sensive topics such as “forcible rape, statutory rape, paterny tablishment” and “child support.

BEYOND ‘DON’T SAY GAY': OTHER STAT SEEK TO LIM LGBTQ YOUTH, TEACHG

Casey said the bills are relics of the AIDS crisis, when panic about homosexualy dictated school curriculum. WATCH: How Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law regulat school lsons on genr, sexual orientatn. “Once the HIV epimic me to the picture, then a bunch of stat started nsirg and enactg laws that banned stctn on sexualy and homosexualy public tn, channelg this ‘Save Our Children’ mpaign energy and the fear and prejudice durg the HIV epimic, ” Casey said.

Five stat repealed their “Don’t Say Gay” bills between 2006 and 2021, when Alabama rcd s law.

Advot say part of that surprise is that “Don’t Say Gay” statut have been revived after two s.

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

Vivian Toppg, director of advocy and civic engagement of the Equaly Feratn, a aln of state LGBTQ+ anizatns, said lol Florida anizers worked overtime to sound the alarms about their “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO

Advot say that the current ph for “Don’t Say Gay” bills is polil.

Ron DeSantis’ cisn to ph the “Don’t Say Gay” bill Florida is ls about kids and more about the Republin’s printial ambns. A hate crim bill South Carola no longer protects gay or transgenr people after a Republin lear said cludg them would likely lead members of his party to whdraw their support. Supporters of the bill as origally wrten qutned the worth of a hate crim law that don't clu gay and transgenr people, who they say are among those most need of protectn.

WHAT'S THE SO-LLED DON'T SAY GAY BILL THAT ULD IMPACT THE WHOLE UNTRY

"The mere fact 2021 there is any disagreement on whether gays should be clud a hate crime bill is ditive of why we need the bill, " said Democratic Rep. Hoe Judiciary Chairman Chris Murphy said protectns for gay and transgenr people uld be rtored as the legislatn heads through the rt of the Hoe or the Senate. Conservativ worried the hate crim bill might be ed agast relig groups who oppose homosexualy or abortn.

The State(s) of 'Don't Say Gay' and Other School Censorship Efforts.

Ron DeSantis signed the state's "don't say gay" bill to law Monday, but the Sunshe State isn't alone the efforts -- 's actually part of a natnal other stat are nsirg legislatn that would ban or rtrict classroom (or unselg office) discsn of LGBTQ+ issu and inty or books and other tnal materials that have LGBTQ+ ntent. The bills aren't surfacg only ral stat or the Deep South -- they've also e up such reliably blue stat as Illois, New Jersey, and Rho Island, although they have ltle chance of passg, The Advote looks at the history of "don't say gay" bills analyz the current state of the and other censorship attempts -- and the legislators behd them.

WHAT DO THE DON'T SAY GAY BILL MEAN? CONTROVERSIAL DESANTIS LAW EXPLAED

What Is a 'Don't Say Gay' Bill and What's the History? "Don't say gay" bills have gotten much publicy this year, but they're really nothg new. Stacey Campfield troduced a bill that would ban any lsons related to homosexualy through eighth gra.

Campfield is no longer office, but other Tennsee lawmakers are tryg there was "don't say gay, " there was "no promo homo" -- bills that proliferated the 1980s and '90s as nservative legislators rpond to the AIDS crisis by seekg to ban what they nsired "promotn of homosexualy" schools, pecially sex tn urs. What's the Difference Between "Don't Say Gay" and "No Promo Homo" Bills? A major difference between "no promo homo" bills and "don't say gay" bills is that the latter often have a "heavy-hand mandate on parent and fay volvement, " says Melanie Willgham-Jaggers, GLSEN's executive director.

"The mandat are harmful and risk relsly outg LGBTQ+ young people to fai who do not affirm their children's inti, " Willgham-Jaggers when "don't say gay" bills don't pass, the anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric that up the bat over them do harm, pots out Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senr unsel at the Human Rights Campaign.

FLORIDA'S ERNOR SIGNS NTROVERSIAL LAW OPPONENTS DUBBED 'DON'T SAY GAY'

She also not that the bills are more accurately scribed as "don't say gay or trans" bills, as they target transgenr people along wh everyone else unr the LGBTQ+ umbrella. Those who support "don't say gay or trans" bills across all stat are virtually all chief sponsor of Florida's bill is Sen. Louisiana's versn of a "don't say gay or trans" bill, Hoe Bill 837, is pretty drastic.

"Chris Kaiser, advocy director for the Amerin Civil Liberti Unn's Louisiana affiliate, noted to the paper that the bill "seems to be part of a trend to file a lot of different typ of legislatn that is jt aimed at villaizg gay and transgenr people and basilly removg them om public life. It's not hard to image homophobic or transphobic parents not wantg their kids exposed to the "liftyl.

OPPONENTS CALL IT THE ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL. HERE’S WHAT IT SAYS.

"No public school district, public charter school, or public school library shall mata s ventory or e s curriculum books that make as their primary subject the study of lbian, gay, bisexual, or transgenr issu or recreatnal sexualizatn, " reads. Tennsee was one of the earlit stat to nsir "don't say gay" legislatn, but backers of such measur haven't managed to get them passed.

FLORIDA HOE PASS NTROVERSIAL MEASURE DUBBED THE 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL BY CRICS

Hoe Bill 800 would ban the e of "textbooks and stctnal materials or supplemental stctnal materials that promote, normalize, support, or addrs lbian, gay, bisexual, or transgenr (LGBT) issu or liftyl. An early versn of the bill sgled out pictns of homosexualy, but Rep. " Notably, was jt three years ago that Arizona repealed s "no promo homo" law regardg sex tn.

Conservative legislators some stat aren't proposg explicly "don't say gay" bills but stead want to give parents broad powers to object to books and other tnal materials they don't want their children seeg, potentially rultg censorship of LGBTQ+ ntent or anythg that als wh the history and effects of racism and sexism the U. An earlier versn listed pictns of homosexualy as "harmful to mors, " but the latt one has more general language.

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.

STRICTLY LEGAL: SU OVER 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL FAILS

" 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.

New York Cy is lnchg a digal billboard mpaign, supportg LGBTQ visibily that will be displayed five major markets Florida for eight weeks, to lure Floridians unhappy wh their state's "Don't Say Gay" law to the Big Apple, Adams announced. “One of the old accatns agast our muni, and I thk this fs to this, is that mental health screengs are this tool to be ed to fd out who might be gay, and somehow the tools might be ed to help solidify people to genr inti or sexual orientatns that aren’t cisgenr, ” he said.

ATennseebill would prohib schools om adoptg or g textbooks or materials “that promote, normalize, support, or addrs lbian, gay, bisexual, or transgenr (LGBT) issu or liftyl. ”A Kansasparent-rights and curriculum transparency proposal, as troduced, would have prevented both public and private enti om g materials that clud pictns of homosexualy. ” Inially, the proposal clud homosexualy that fn, but that language was stripped out before was passed the Hoe.

GEN Z WON’T STAY QUIET ON FLORIDA’S ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL

Two proposals Oklahoma would subm library books to scty over sexual them; one of them specifilly would prohib public schools or librari om holdg or promotg “books that make as their primary subject the study of lbian, gay, bisexual, or transgenr issu or recreatnal sexualizatn. A versn of this article appeared the April 27, 2022 edn of Edutn Week as Beyond ‘Don’t Say Gay’: Other Stat Seek To Lim LGBTQ Youth, Teachg.

DESANTIS-BACKED 'DONT SAY GAY' BILL SPARKS OUTRAGE

Tennsee's HB 800 bans books and stctnal materials "that promote, normalize, support, or addrs lbian, gay, bi-sexual, or transgenr issu or liftyle. But Florida’s Parental Rights Edutn act — which crics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — has sudnly sparked a natnal war of recent weeks, lears of global rporatns, edorial boards of major newspapers and Hollywood actors have all weighed on the proposed legislatn, wh some llg “eply disturbg” and others “nonntroversial.

” Conversely, opponents say would unfairly target the LGBTQ muny — particularly gay and trans stunts — and is “pretendg to solve a problem that don’t exist. For starters, cricism that the “Don’t Say Gay” bill do not fact say “gay” anywhere s text is te.