A Tennessee Republicans-majority House committee approved a measure March 8 that would ban all K-12 public schools from using textbooks or materials that “promote, normalize, support or address LGBTQ issues or lifestyles.”
H.B. 800, introduced by state Rep. Bruce Griffey, would ban textbooks and other instructional materials in Tennessee public schools that “promote, normalize, support, or address controversial social issues, such as lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender (LGBT) lifestyles.”
“I think most parents would like the sexuality of our children to be left to our parents in the home and not part of a curriculum,” Griffey told local media after the committee voted to send the measure to the full House for a vote. “And the vast number of parents also feel like materials that promote LGBTQ issues and lifestyles that should be subject to the same restrictions and limitation that there are on religious teachings that are not allowed in our schools.”
The legislation states that LGBTQ issues and lifestyles are “inappropriate” and offend a “significant portion” of students, parents and Tennessee residents with “Christian values.”
“The promotion of LGBT issues and lifestyles should be subject to the same restrictions and limitations placed on the teaching of religion in public schools,” the bill reads.
Chris Sanders, the executive director of the statewide LGBTQ rights group the Tennessee Equality Project, said the bill would have a “devastating” effect on LGBTQ students.
“It erases them and stigmatizes them. It marginalizes students who have LGBTQ parents. It gives the green light to bullies because it sends the message that there is something wrong with our community, a message that many students are already hearing loud and clear without extra help from the Legislature,” Sanders told the Blade in an email.
According to the legislation, the state’s Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission would be banned from recommending textbooks and instructional materials that “promote, normalize, support, or address lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, or transgender (LGBT) issues or lifestyles” that would be used in public schools. If approved, the measure would apply to textbooks approved by the commission after July 1, ABC News affiliate WATN-TV 24 reported.
A House panel on Tuesday approved sending it to the full chamber for a vote. The bill has not yet made much progress in Senate. https://t.co/1Z8Iyax69A
— ABC24 Memphis (@ABC24Memphis) March 9, 2022
