AUSTIN, Texas — LGBTQ advocacy groups are blasting a Republican senator for adding what they call a “don’t say gay” provision banning the teaching of gender and sexuality onto existing bipartisan legislation.
During a meeting of the Senate Committee on Education this week, Sen. Brandon Creighton amended House Bill 890 to include a new section banning the “instruction, guidance, activities, or programming regarding sexual orientation or gender identity to students enrolled in prekindergarten through 12th grade.”
Creighton also proposed added language to state education law stating that parents have the right to “direct the moral and religious training” of their children, including making decisions about education and medical treatments “without obstruction or interference from this state” or any other government entity.
The committee approved the amended bill by a party line vote of 10-3, according to Creighton’s staff. It next heads to the Senate, which has a Republican majority. The House must agree to the changes before it can be sent to Gov. Greg Abbott.
The underlying legislation deals with how school districts handle complaints. The bill was voted out of the Texas House unanimously before the LGBTQ language was added. It’s unclear what its authors in that chamber, which include one Democrat, think about the Senate additions.
The authors, including main author GOP Rep. Keith Bell, did not respond to a request for comment.
The effort comes as more young Americans are identifying as LGBTQ, according to recent Gallup poll data.
The Texas Freedom Network, a liberal advocacy group, flagged the change and sent out a news release about the addition on Thursday. TFN Political Director Carisa Lopez criticized the effort as an attempt to mimic Florida legislation, which opponents have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
“It is unconscionable that lawmakers would attempt to sneak a ‘Don’t Say Gay/Transgender’ requirement into a bill that was not at all crafted for this purpose and previously received bipartisan support,” Lopez said in a statement. “We will not let their attempts to use public education as a mechanism to harm and discriminate against LGBTQIA+ Texans go unnoticed.”
Ricardo Martinez with LGBTQ rights organization Equality Texas said a bipartisan bill was co-opted with “deplorable language to alienate the LGBTQ+ community.”
“This legislation stigmatizes LGBTQ people, isolates LGBTQ kids, and punishes teachers who would create safe spaces for LGBTQ students,” he said. “All kids deserve to feel safe and succeed in school, but this bill will make school unsafe for LGBTQ+ kids.”
This week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law that would expand that state’s ban on LGBTQ instruction in schools to kindergarten through eighth grade, according to NBC News. The new law also prohibits schools from requiring students or staff to use pronouns contrary to one’s sex at birth and transgender employees from telling students their pronouns.
Several lawsuits filed against the Florida law have been dismissed, some on the grounds that plaintiffs failed to show they had legal standing, according to The Associated Press.
A Senate voucherlike bill included LGBTQ instruction restrictions. But lawmakers in the House stripped this language from its own version of the legislation. Those bills are stalled.
The GOP-led Legislature is advancing several other bills that would restrict the rights of LGBTQ people, with a particular target on transgender rights.
Bills to restrict transgender collegiate athletes and ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors are in the final stages of the lawmaking process; a bill originally pitched as a way to bar minors from attending drag shows, which no longer explicitly targets these performers, was passed in the House on Friday.
