Texas Senate aga advanc proposed “Don’t Say Gay” bill | The Texas Tribune

gay bill texas

In their qut to bee the party of “parental rights,” Republins Florida and other stat are attemptg to muzzle discsn of gay and civil rights school.

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

The Legislature banned puberty blockers and hormone therapy for trans kids, rtricted the llege sports teams trans athlet n jo and expand the fn of sexual nduct to clu some drag shows. But a “Don’t Say Gay” provisn for schools missed key adl. * gay bill texas *

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One bill signalg a shift opn toward the LGBTQ muny was Hoe Bill 2055, which would have repealed the state law crimalizg gay sex.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.

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

The legislatn closely mirrors a Florida bill passed last year, dubbed by crics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which tractors say would further isolate LGBTQ stunts and open teachers and school districts to legal risks. * gay bill texas *

Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands, and Jared Patterson, R-Fris — closely remble legislatn out of Florida that crics dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law. Like Florida’s law, the two Texas bills don’t explicly ban the e of the word “gay” schools.

” It also labels homosexualy as “an abnormal liftyle choice, ” even though most people have “ltle or no sense of choice about their sexual orientatn, ” acrdg to the Amerin Psychologil Associatn. Creighton amend a Senate mtee to add the parental ntrol and LGBTQ stctn language, the latter of which opponents ll the “Don’t Say Gay” Sarah Eckhardt, D-At, qutned Creighton durg bate about whether LGBTQ stunt clubs would be allowed unr the bill. ”Lears om LGBTQ rights groups have blasted Creighton for addg the “Don’t Say Gay” language to what was once a nonntroversial bill that passed unanimoly the Hoe.

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.

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

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

TEXAS SENATE ADVANC STRICT ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL

Hoe of Reprentativ was disarray due to Republin fightg, a lawmaker Texas troduced his versn of a "don't say gay" Rep. "A school district, open-enrollment charter school, or district or charter school employee may not provi or allow a third party to provi stctn regardg sexual orientatn or genr inty: (1) to stunts enrolled krgarten through eighth gra; or (2) a manner that is not age-appropriate or velopmentally appropriate, " the bill's text a statement on his webse, Patterson touts his bill as an improved versn of Florida's dranian Parental Rights Edutn Law, more often referred to as the "don't say gay" law. Crics are portrayg as an even more extreme versn of a Florida proposal that opponents dubbed the "don't say gay" law, one that uld even ban stunt LGBTQ clubs Texas high schools.

"It is unnscnable that lawmakers would attempt to sneak a 'Don't Say Gay/Transgenr' requirement to a bill that was not at all crafted for this purpose and prevly received bipartisan support, " Texas Freedom Network Senr Polil Director Carisa Lopez said a statement. • The queer activists of today have ltle mon wh gay and lbian activists of yore and "we are gog backward, not forward, " argu Andrew Sullivan. This vote also marks the third time the GOP-ntrolled body has passed what crics dub the “Don’t Say Gay” provisn, which they say is both unnstutnal and harmful to LGBTQ Texans.

WHAT THE BILL DUBBED ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BY CRICS ACTUALLY SAYS

Sarah Eckhardt, D-At, asked Creighton about different scenars that the “Don’t Say Gay” provisn uld affect. For stance, she asked whether would ban gay-straight allianc. The send setback for this effort me as Senate Bill 1072, which pied SB 8’s “Don’t Say Gay” clse, also failed to pass out of s Hoe mtee by a key Saturday adle.

‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL EMERG GEIA DAYS AFTER TEXAS SENATE PASS RTRICTIVE LEGISLATN

“It is unnscnable that lawmakers would attempt to sneak a ‘Don’t Say Gay/Transgenr’ requirement to a bill that was not at all crafted for this purpose and prevly received bipartisan support, ” Carisa Lopez, senr polil director of the Texas Freedom Network, said a May 18 prs release. Patrick said Monday that he will make a “top prry” durg next year’s legislative ssn to pass a bill that mimics a Florida law crics dubbed “Don’t Say Gay. Equaly Texas CEO Rirdo Martez said the LGBTQ advocy nonprof would do everythg s power to stop a Texas versn of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

Ron DeSantis recently fend a bill his opponents ll a “don’t say gay bill” by claimg that this law prohibs “sexual stctn gras pre-K through three, ” and then followed that wh the qutn of “how many parents want their krgartners to have transgenrism or somethg jected to classroom stctn? People like DeSantis, Paxton and Abbott want to stigmatize the mere knowledge, acceptance and cln of transgenr and gay people.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY BILL TEXAS

‘Don’t Say Gay’ Language Add to Texas Edutn Bill .

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