Alabama Senate committee approves ‘Don't Say Gay' expansion
Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City (center) speaks to Rep. Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, in the Alabama House of Representatives on April 29, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. A Senate committee Wednesday approved a bill sponsored by Butler that would extend the state's 'Don't Say Gay' law through all grades in public school. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
An Alabama Senate committee Wednesday approved an expansion of the state's 'Don't Say Gay' law.
HB 244, sponsored by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, prohibits discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation during instructional time in public schools. The law currently prohibits such discussions in K-5, but Butler's bill expands it to pre-K-12 to be in line with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in January.
'When a student enters a school, they still carry with them their First Amendment rights. They can absolutely talk to a nurse, a teacher, a counselor, whoever they want,' Butler said. 'This is banning classroom discussions.'
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The Senate Education Policy Committee also held a public hearing on the legislation, which was heavily populated by opponents.
Paige Gant, a math professor, said the legislation does not accomplish anything.
'Kids in middle school and high school are aware that gay and transgender people exist as they have access to the internet,' she said. 'Attempting to stifle discussions of such topics will not change these realities.'
The legislation also bans insignia like pride flags from being displayed in a classroom. Gant added that the bill only bans such in a classroom and not in a hallway where students could still be around them.
'This bill is frankly a waste of the Senate's time,' she said.
Erin DeJager also spoke against the bill, arguing that it bans something that is not defined in Alabama law. The Legislature rushed a bill that defines sex-based terms at the beginning of the 2025 session.
'This term, 'gender identity,' is used to describe flags or insignia. This can be interpreted to be a box of girl scout cookies, as the Girl Scouts are certainly based on gender identity,' she said.
The lone supporter of the bill that spoke, Ted Halley, who said he 'detransitioned' back to male after 12 years of identifying as a woman, repeated his comments from other related public hearings.
'When you enter the glitter club, you're welcomed. But when you leave, you get a target on your back,' he said.
Detransition and regret are different concepts, a Harvard Medical School study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism suggests, which may overlap in some people, but they are 'sometimes mistakenly viewed as synonymous.' Halley also spoke in favor of a bill Wednesday to allow parents to claim religious exemptions from vaccines without giving a reason.
Sen. Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery, said the Legislature does not get to legislate morality.
'You lost me when you said the executive order of President Trump. The gentleman has 34 felonies,' he said. 'In addition to that, woke is this strange kind of language that's being used. I'd rather be woke than asleep.'
Hatcher was the sole 'no' vote, but Sen. Randy Price, R-Opelika, said he had reservations about the bill.
'If you're going to take a bill that's going to take this type of stand in our school systems, we should have seen this bill the first week,' he said in an interview. 'It's just a timing thing.'
Sen. Donnie Chesteen, R-Geneva, the chair of the committee, told Butler after the bill was approved that it is unlikely the Senate will pass it because of the timing.
'We're going to get it out of committee, but I'm not going to make any promises as to where this bill goes from here,' Chesteen said. 'If you're going to bring something like this next year, you need to get it early so that we're not backed up with all the House bills that we currently have before we try to move forward with anything like this.'
Although the bill was filed early in the session, the House Education Policy committee did not approve the legislation until April 10, after a public hearing on April 3.
There are four legislative days left in the 2025 legislative session.
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