‘Don't Say Gay' expansion, misgendering bills draw criticism in House public hearing
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.
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