ABOVE: Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards. Photo via Facebook.
A sweeping bill that would bar school employees from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity in K-12 classrooms in the state was killed in the Louisiana House Education Committee May 2.
House Bill 837 was introduced by state Representative Dodie Horton, (R-District 9-Bossier).
It would have enacted a law that allowed:
- No teacher, school employee, or other presenter [to] cover the topics of sexual orientation or gender identity in any classroom discussion or instruction in kindergarten through grade eight.
- No teacher, school employee, or other presenter [to] discuss his own sexual orientation or gender identity with students in kindergarten through grade twelve.
Horton spoke with ABC News’ Baton Rouge affiliate WBRZ-2 when she introduced the legislation. She told the station that “I wasn’t aware of the need [for this legislation] until I looked at some things on Twitter and Facebook,. It just solidified for us to protect our Louisiana children, as well.”
“I started to pray about how we could protect our children here from inappropriate conversations until they are able to dissect it and old enough to understand it,” Horton explained. “I talked to my pastor and he challenged me and said, ‘we definitely need to do this.'”
This legislation follows passage of a similar bill in Florida and efforts in Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia and 16 other states in at least 40 bills have been introduced to ban classroom discussion of LGBTQ+ people which opponents charge leads to erasure of LGBTQ+ identity and increased risks of suicide by LGBTQ+ youth.
Passage was opposed by LGBTQ+ advocacy groups as well as Democratic Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards whose office had released a statement:
“Some of the bills being brought up this session do nothing to make lives better. Nothing to continue moving us forward. They only serve to divide us. And frankly, some are reminiscent of a dark past that we should learn from, not relive.”
