A Georgia Senate committee is moving forward with a long-stalled proposal aimed at preventing private school teachers from talking to students about gender identity without their parents’ permission, but gay rights groups and Some religious conservatives remain opposed to the bill.
Senate Bill 88, which passed the Senate Education and Youth Committee on a party-line vote by the Republican majority on Tuesday, states that private schools must be able to “address gender identity, queer theory, gender ideology, or gender transition.”
“We worked hard to make this bill fair, but also to ensure that parents of children are involved in sensitive and often life-altering issues,” said Sen. Caden Summers, R-Cordele. We have achieved our goal of making it happen.”
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Liberal opponents say the bill, which has been sent to the full Senate for further debate, remains a thinly veiled attack on LGBTQ+ students.
Jeff Graham, executive director of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Georgia Equality, said after the hearing: “There is no evidence that children are being taught gender identity issues in schools that lead to any sort of confusion or coercion.” “It has not been done.”
Some conservatives say the law is a flawed attempt to regulate private schools and foolishly introduces the concept of gender identity into state law. It also said public schools could override Georgia’s 2022 Parental Bill of Rights, which gives all parents “the right to direct the upbringing and moral or religious training of their minor children.” ing.
Sen. Kaden Summers speaks on Senate Bill 88 at the Georgia State Capitol on Tuesday, February 13, 2024. (Natrice Miller/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
On Tuesday, some gay men testified in favor of the bill, saying transgender activists do not represent them.
“They’re proselytizing this queer sex ideology to children,” said Jeff Cleghorn, former director of Georgia Equality. “School activists don’t have to interfere in parent-child relationships. They can’t have schools teaching children to keep secrets from their parents.”
Graham said advocates like Cleghorn do not represent the views of the majority of the community.
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Committee Chairman Clint Dixon, a Buford Republican, did not acknowledge the opponents’ testimony, while Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, said it was “a real black eye to move forward with this issue.”
The bill would require public schools to establish policies by 2025 that would define how schools respond to gender identity issues and children who wish to dress as a different gender or use a different name. It is required to be completed by January 1st.
Public schools that violate the law will have their state aid withheld and will be barred from participating in the Georgia High School Association, the state’s main athletic and extracurricular organization. Private schools that violate the law will be prohibited from receiving state funds provided by vouchers for children with special educational needs. Public school teachers and administrators are at risk of having their state teaching licenses revoked.
