Latest news with #HB246
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alabama House committee approves bill giving educators immunity for misgendering students
House Minority Leader Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, speaks with staff on the floor of the Alabama Senate on Feb. 4, 2025 in Montgomery, Alabama. The House Education Policy Committee Wednesday approved a Stadthagen-sponsored bill that prohibits teachers from using students' preferred pronouns if they do not align with their biological sex. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama House Education Policy Committee approved a bill Wednesday that would prohibit teachers from using students' preferred pronouns if they do not align with their biological sex. HB 246, sponsored by Rep. Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, drew criticism from people who identify as transgender or nonbinary at a public hearing earlier this month. The bill 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. The substitute removed the section of the bill that did not allow a student to go by a name that is a derivative of their legal name. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'We're going to omit 'other than the student's legal name or a derivative thereof or by' and then the sentence will continue 'a pronoun or title that is patently inconsistent with the student's name, with the student sex, without the written permission of the student's parent or guardian,'' Rep. Susan Dubose, R-Hoover, who read the substitute, said. The committee adopted a substitute that added pronouns or names 'patently inconsistent' with a student's biological sex. The legislation requires students to get a permission slip signed by their parents if they use pronouns that do not reflect their biological sex. The bill passed with no discussion. It moves to the full House. 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
