Latest news with #HB244
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Sponsor of ‘Don't Say Gay' expansion plans to revive bill next year
Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, clapping on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on May 14, 2025, in the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Alabama. Butler said Thursday he would bring back the Don't Say Gay expansion next year after it did not receive final passage on the last day of session.(Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) An Alabama lawmaker plans to bring back a bill next year that would prohibit all discussions of gender identity and sexuality during instructional time in public schools. HB 244 got approval from the House on April 18 and from the Senate Education Policy Committee on May 1. Sen. Donnie Chesteen, R-Geneva, chair of that committee, told Butler after the bill was approved that it is unlikely the Senate will pass it because of the timing and said it needed to be in his committee earlier in the year to have a chance of passage; at the time, there were four days left in the session. A Democratic filibuster launched in protest of the House's handling of local bills on the last day of the session doomed Butler's bill and many others. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Butler said he was offended by Chesteen's comment that he should have filed the bill sooner but said both men remedied that after the committee meeting. A message seeking comment from Chesteen was left Thursday afternoon. Butler filed the bill in February, but it did not go before the House Education Policy Committee until April 3, when the committee held a public hearing. The committee did not approve it until the following week. Butler said he asked Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, chair of the committee, for it to be put on the agenda many times earlier in the session. 'I repeatedly asked for it, and I was assured it was coming, it was coming, it was coming,' he said. 'The chair had other things she said she was dealing with, and I think they waited to deal with several controversial bills at one time.' A message seeking comment from Collins was left Thursday afternoon. Butler said next year he plans to have a companion bill in the Senate to improve the bill's chances of passage, 'so we can move on both at the same time, and whoever gets there first wins,' he said. Butler said Sen. Keith Kelley, R-Anniston, was handling the bill in the Senate and plans to ask him to sponsor the Senate version next year. Kelley said in an interview that he and Butler will be meeting soon about companion bills for next session soon. 'There may be some changes to it, a little bit here, a little bit there,' Kelley said. 'We're planning on bringing that back next year.' The law currently prohibits such discussions in K-5. Butler's bill would expand it to pre-K-12, which he said would bring it inline with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in January. Critics of the bill said at the April 3 public hearing that the legislation is unconstitutional and unnecessary. A spokesperson for the Southern Poverty Law Center, a consistent critic of the legislation, said in an interview Thursday she was relieved that the bill did not pass but she still had concerns for the legislation next year. 'I'm hoping that it stays dead, and I'm hoping that we don't see a new extension, a revival of it,' Makhayla DesRosiers, state community organizer for the Alabama SPLC office, said. Many members of the LGBTQ+ community spoke against the bill throughout the legislative process, all with similar concerns: what defines instructional time. DesRosiers said the lack of a definition opens the door for a complete prohibition of discussion. 'If I do extracurricular activities, is it also instructional time? If I'm learning something outside of my regular school hours, is that instructional time?' she asked. 'Who gets to define instructional time?' Butler has repeatedly said discussions of gender identity and sexuality are only prohibited when a teacher is teaching, but that is not explicit in the legislation. 'People keep saying the student can't do this or that. No, they carry their First Amendment rights with them into the school, and they absolutely can talk to the teacher, the principal, the nurse, the counselor, about whatever they want to talk about,' he said. Butler said the bill next year would be the original bill that was filed in February. A House amendment this spring removed a part of the bill that would have prohibited teachers from referring to students by their preferred gender if it conflicts with their assigned sex at birth. He said that is because another bill would have done the same thing. HB 246, sponsored by Rep. Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, would give public educators legal immunity and students immunity from discipline for using a person's legal name and pronouns aligned with their reproductive organs, instead of the name and gender with which they identify. It did not receive final passage either. DesRosier said that while the people speaking out against the legislation may be small in number, legislation like this is not reflective of the state. 'Just because there is a majority of folks that are proposing and voting on these bills at the State House, that is not reflective of the communities they are elected to represent,' DesRosier said. 'As long as bigotry and hate and human rights violations are proposed and passed, there are always going to be folks that are resisting that.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
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.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 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. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alabama House passes ‘Don't Say Gay' expansion, drag performance restrictions
Rep. Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham, speaking on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives in the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Alabama, on April 17, 2025. Rafferty, the only openly gay representative, defended LGBTQ+ Alabamians Thursday. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama House of Representatives passed an expansion of the state's 'Don't Say Gay' law on Thursday. HB 244, sponsored by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, would prohibit public school teachers at all grade levels from teaching or discussing gender identity or sexuality, an expansion from K-5. The legislation also prohibits the display of pride flags and insignia in the classroom. 'This bill will expand the existing prohibitions that are currently in K-5 schools on the classroom discussions of gender identity or sexual orientation,' he said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The chamber adopted a committee substitute 76-8 that removed a portion of the bill that would prohibit educators from referring to students by their preferred gender if it conflicts with their assigned sex at birth. Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, objected to the measure, saying kids would be less receptive to learning if they did not feel welcome in a classroom. 'If they don't trust a teacher, if they think a teacher doesn't like them or use them differently or views them as unequal, they're not going to be as open to learning,' he said. Gidley rebutted, saying students could still confide in a teacher, but the teacher has to stick to the curriculum during instructional time. He said he has received complaints from a student that said their teacher could not teach without mentioning 'all things gay and transgender.' He did not say, and has previously declined to say, which school this happened in. 'That is not part of the curriculum, or what the parents signed up for, and not what the parents are paying for,' he said. Rep. Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham, the only openly gay member of the House, used his debate time to address LGBTQ+ Alabamians. 'I want you to know you are not the problem. You are not broken, and you're absolutely not alone,' Rafferty said. 'They're not theories. They're not talking points, not threats to be neutralized. They're people. They're Alabamian, and they deserve better than what we are offering them right now.' The bill now moves to the Senate. The House also passed a bill that prohibits public schools and libraries from hosting drag performances in the presence of children without parental consent. HB 67, sponsored by Rep. Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, passed 76-9 with no discussion. The legislation defines drag performances as 'a performance in which a performer exhibits a sex identity that is different from the sex assigned to the performer at birth using clothing, makeup, or other physical markers.' The bill now moves to the Senate. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Don't Say Gay' expansion passes House committee
Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, speaking to the House Education Policy Committee on April 9, 2025, in the Alabama House in Montgomery, Alabama. Butler's bill that would expand the state's "Don't Say Gay" law passed the committee on April 9, 2025.(Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) An Alabama House committee approved legislation to expand the state's 'Don't Say Gay' law throughout K-12 public schools on Wednesday. HB 244, sponsored by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, would prohibit public school teachers at all grade levels from teaching or discussing gender identity or sexuality. The legislation also prohibits the display of pride flags and insignia in the classroom. An amendment from Rep. Mark Gidley, R-Hokes Bluff, was adopted unanimously to remove a portion of the bill that would prohibit referring to students by their preferred gender if it conflicts with their assigned sex at birth. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX HB 246, sponsored by Rep. Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, would give public educators legal immunity and students immunity from discipline for using a person's legal name and pronouns aligned with their reproductive organs, instead of the name and gender with which they identify. 'Some felt there was another bill that is addressing that issue. So it's still there to some degree,' Butler said. The law currently bans such discussions from kindergarten to fifth grade, but Butler said the expansion aligns with President Donald Trump's agenda and executive order. 'We're trying to get as close as we could to President Trump's executive order,' Butler said. The House Education Policy Committee held a public hearing on the legislation last week, which drew significant criticism from mostly transgender and nonbinary Alabamians. Former Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, the first openly gay representative elected to the Alabama Legislature, said her sexuality did not make her colleagues gay. 'And you all who served with me know that. Just because I served with you doesn't mean that you became gay either,' she said last week. Butler said the law will improve public education. 'If you saw the headlines yesterday, there were almost 40,000 applicants for the CHOOSE Act, telling you that clearly there's dissatisfaction of what we're doing with public education, and this will actually help,' he said. The bill will now be considered by the full House. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Don't Say Gay' expansion, misgendering bills draw criticism in House public hearing
Former Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, speaking to the House Education Policy Committee in the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Alabama. Todd was the first openly gay representative in Alabama. She was opposing HB 244, sponsored by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, at a public hearing on April 2. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) Legislation that would expand the state's 'Don't Say Gay' law and extend legal protections to those who misgender other people drew a large number of opponents to an Alabama House committee meeting Wednesday. HB 244, sponsored by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, would prohibit public school teachers at all grade levels from teaching or discussing gender identity or sexuality. The legislation also prohibits the display of pride flags and insignia in the classroom. The law currently bans such discussions from kindergarten to fifth grade, but Butler said the expansion aligns with President Donald Trump's agenda and executive order. 'This simply is in line with President Trump's executive order, and I would encourage you guys to pass it as is,' he said. The committee also held a public hearing for HB 246, sponsored by Rep. Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, that would give public educators legal immunity and students immunity from discipline for using a person's legal name and pronouns aligned with their reproductive organs, instead of the name and gender with which they identify. Opponents, many of whom identified as transgender or nonbinary, significantly outnumbered supporters 10-2. Susan Stewart of Huntsville, a critic of the legislation who is cisgender and heterosexual, said the Don't Say Gay expansion was unconstitutional. 'You're going to tell that teacher that they have to use words that they know will harm their student? You're actually going to tell a teacher that if students ask questions about a classmate with two mommies, they have to drag students aside for private conversations, creating an atmosphere of shame and confusion in their own classroom?' Stewart said Wednesday. Becky Gerritson, executive director of Eagle Forum, a conservative organization, said schools should be 'neutral' in their curriculum. 'Schools should be places of learning, not activism, and this provision ensures that classrooms remain neutral and focused on education,' Gerritson said. Former Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, the co-chair of Alabama Equality, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group and the first openly gay person elected to the Alabama Legislature and testified that seeing a Pride flag or hearing about other gay people did not make her gay. 'It was a feeling of the heart,' Todd said. 'We're here. We're not going away. We're going to continue to be loud and proud.' Butler claimed a small minority of teachers were pushing gender ideology on their students. He would not name schools where that is happening. 'I've talked to a student in my county talking about one teacher that cannot teach the curriculum without spending all their time focused on gender ideology,' he said. The legislation bans discussion of gender ideology in 'instructional time.' Rep. Jeanna Ross, R-Guntersville, said that does not apply to private conversations between a student and a teacher, fellow student or nurse. 'A student could still have a conversation with the teacher,' she said. Stadthagen's bill would require students to get a permission slip signed by their guardian for teachers to call them by a different name. Opponents said it would create an unnecessary burden for teachers. Allison Montgomery, a member of Alabama Trans Rights Action Coalition (ALTRAC), said the bill could require students with non-English names that go by a nickname for ease of pronunciation to get a permission slip. 'This bill would prevent teachers from calling them by their nickname, because it is not a derivative thereof, even with the permission slip,' Montgomery said. 'This would place an undue burden on teachers to keep track of who has the permissions lit and who doesn't.' Paige Gant, a former math professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, said the legislation was a solution in search of a problem. 'In my eight years of teaching I have not come across a single situation in which a lawsuit would've been appropriate against a university regarding what pronouns someone did or did not use,' she said. Gerritson said she did not want to be forced to go against her own moral and religious beliefs to adhere to somebody else's life. 'No one should be forced to speak or act in a way that violates their conscience, especially within our schools and universities,' Gerritson said. Montgomery said the bill would not protect parents' rights, but instead protect people with bad intentions. 'There's a narrative about things like these that they're trying to protect kids. But how does it protect kids to require teachers to know what genitals their students have?' she said. 'Only a certain type of person would want this, and we don't want to empower those types of people.' The committee did not vote on either bill on Wednesday. Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, the chair of the committee, said they would return soon. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
