3 days ago
Texas ‘Parent's Bill of Rights' targets LGBTQ+ clubs, DEI programs in schools
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — On Saturday night, the Texas Legislature sent Senate Bill 12 — unofficially titled the Parent's Bill of Rights — to Gov. Greg Abbott's desk. If signed, the bill would ban diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts from the Texas public schools, including banning DEI student groups.
When the Texas House first heard SB 12 on May 24, the bill's sponsor State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-McKinney, added what's commonly-known as a 'perfecting amendment.' The term is typically used for amendments the bill's author puts forward at the beginning of the floor debate to address any late concerns they have with the bill. Like most perfecting amendments, Leach's passed overwhelmingly with only two votes against.
Leach said his amendment was to clarify language after a similar bill in Florida led to a lawsuit. Both sides reached a settlement, which reinstated the rights of teachers to talk about LGBTQ+ issues in the classroom and protected LGBTQ+ student organizations.
''Classroom instruction' means the provision of information as part of a curriculum by a teacher, or other person designated by a school district to serve in the role of a teacher, in an academic instructional setting,' the amendment says. 'The term does not include… the sponsorship of or participation in a club or other extracurricular activity.'
However, the language defining classroom instruction was removed from the bill during conference committee — a process where five members of each chamber meet to hash out the differences between their versions of a passed bill.
'Does this bill, or does it not, now have language to explicitly deny students from being able to organize Gay-Straight Alliance clubs?,' State Rep. Erin Zwiener, D-Hays County, asked Leach. Zwiener is openly bisexual.
'Our bill does put a ban in that would prevent a — let's say a fourth grader or an eighth grader from joining a club that is sexual in nature,' Leach responded.
'I'm sorry Representative Leach, are you saying the fact that sexual orientation exists is more sexual than straight people existing?' Zwiener responded.
'If a student is struggling with their sexuality or their identity and they want to talk to their friends at school about it or talk to a teacher or talk to a counselor, that's fine if they have the parent's consent,' Leach said. 'But we do not need to have school-sponsored and school-sanctioned sex clubs, period.'
'I don't know what you all think happens in [LGBTQ+ student organizations], but for them to be described as sex clubs is astonishing to me,' State. Rep. Rafael Anchía, D-Dallas, said. 'It equates a child's orientation or identity with sex. Let me tell you, these clubs are no more about sex that 4-H or ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps) or the basketball team.'
'Would you call a homecoming king and a homecoming queen a heterosexual couple? Would you call that a sex act? No. What about a prom king and a prom queen? No. So why is it that when there are gay kids that get together to form a club that's called a sex club,' State Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, rhetorically asked Anchía.
'Because it's a freaking double standard,' Anchía replied. 'And the fact that grown-ass people on this House floor will say (LGBTQ+ organizations are sex clubs) is a problem, and that's not okay.'
When Leach got the chance to respond, he apologized for his characterization.
'Especially to you Representative Anchía,' Leach said. 'I misspoke and I apologize for that word blunder.'
On social media, Zwiener pointed out that Leach personally apologized to Anchía, a straight man, and not her.
'The tone on the House Floor has gotten more and more callous this session. Texas deserves better. Texas kids deserve better,' she said in a following post. 'Instead of a bunch of overgrown frat boys looking to score a point on the microphone, we should be able to have robust debates on the House Floor.'
In addition to banning student clubs based around sexual orientation, the final version of SB 12 removes a House protection to ban targeted recruitment to encourage a diverse applicant pool, includes a House provision banning public schools from helping with social transitioning and allows parents to inspect what library books their children have signed out.
'SB 12 imposes a 'Don't Say LGBTQIA+' rule that mimics Florida's widely criticized law. It also requires school districts to adopt policies that could 'out' transgender students to unsupportive parents or guardians, putting them at risk of abuse or homelessness,' Ash Hall with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas, said. 'Our students and educators deserve so much better.'
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