Georgia’s “don’t say gay” bill is delayed for the 2023 legislative session

A watered-down version of a law opponent called Georgia’s version of the “Don’t Say Gay” legislation appears to be dead in the water after it failed in a key Senate committee on Wednesday.

The first version of the bill would have barred schools, camp counselors and other authority figures from answering children’s questions about gender identity or sexual orientation. The latest version would have required all local education authorities to develop a policy for dealing with parental involvement and children’s privacy in relation to gender identity issues.

It would also have required that all private schools or camps that wanted to educate children on gender identity issues first had to obtain parental signatures, with exceptions for religious schools or camps. Violation could have resulted in withholding of funds for a public school or loss of accreditation for a private school.

Tom Rawlings, a child protection attorney supporting Cordele Republican Sen. Carden Summers on the bill, said the changes were made in response to complaints from LGBTQ advocates.

“I’ve heard from our colleagues working on these issues that there have been some significant concerns,” he said. “And so we have done our best to address those concerns while staying focused on the very purpose of this bill, to ensure that when a child engages with an issue as important as gender identity, it does so to the extent.” , as appropriate, and ensure parents are involved in this decision.”

“We’re not trying to end any conversation here,” he added. “We’re not trying to limit ourselves. What we’re trying to make sure is that for private institutions, parents who sign up to send their child to a private school can talk about gender identity, if they have a syllabus or class in gender identity then they just have to tell the parents to get their approval.”

Many proponents were not convinced. More than 30 people signed up to speak out, mostly against the measure, although only a handful got a chance because the meeting included discussion of three bills and was allotted just one hour.

“I want us to say no to that,” said Tracey Nance, the 2020-21 Georgia Teacher of the Year. “I want us to trust the teachers, and I can tell you that one of the best ways to chase away the best teachers in this state is to tell us we have to lie to our students and turn them away.”

Nance said she believes the real problem is that too many children feel like they can’t trust their parents.

“I’ve had kids who came to me and came out to me, even in a foreign country to study abroad,” she said. “I had children from families with four mothers. What message are we sending when we reach out to our LGBTQ+ students and their families?”

Speaking to the recorder after the hearing, a group of LGBTQ students said the conversations they remembered with adults weren’t dramatic coming-out stories, but small acts of kindness.

Students requested that their last names not be published with their schools and extended families for privacy reasons.

Isabella, a Forsyth County student who identifies as lesbian, said her middle school choir teacher made a huge difference in her life by treating her like everyone else and talking about girlfriends and crushes the same way she does with straight people students did.

“In that moment, it really meant so much not to have a big gesture, to have support, but just to have that subtlety, that acknowledgment that I’m not really different from everyone else,” she said. “I can’t imagine what it would have been like if a bill like Senate Bill 88 was in place, I just didn’t have that freedom at all.”

Arya, a Gwinnett student who identifies as part of the LGBTQ community, said she recalled an incident where a student used homophobic slurs in class and the teacher interrupted the class to start a conversation about respect for others respectively.

“It was the first time I’ve had a teacher openly address queer issues and homophobia in his classroom, and I felt safe,” she said. “For example, I hadn’t felt safe in a classroom until that moment.”

Neha, a Metro Atlanta student who identifies as queer, had a similar story about an orchestra teacher who denounced another student for homophobia.

“It’s little displays of allies and little displays of people saying it’s not okay to do homophobic things and disrespect people who are different from you and we should be open and accepting of all kinds of.” be human,” she said. “Big shows of support aren’t really what I want, and I appreciate even the small shows like, ‘We’re here for you and we’re supporting you,’ even if it’s not aimed directly at yourself.”

Georgia School Board Association lobbyist Stephanie Tanner said a blanket policy could lead to child abuse cases and open educators to lawsuits. It could also prevent the types of soothing interactions the students described.

“It takes away from local autonomy by forcing local boards to have policies on gender identity and parent notification,” she said. “It is impossible to consider every situation, which opens the bodies to further lawsuits. Instead, GSBA wants to treat these on a case-by-case basis so that we can preserve the dignity of everyone involved.”

Even the Georgia Baptist Convention rejected the bill. Lobbyist Mike Griffin said he appreciates the goal of encouraging parental involvement.

“However, we have heard from many people, including our legal partners and activists across the state, on the issue with this bill, and we believe this bill will have dramatic unintended consequences for parents’ rights and also for children in public schools,” he said called. “Not all of these concerns have been addressed and it appears that this bill worries us, although we certainly share the motivation of the sponsors.”

Members of the Republican-controlled committee seemed to think the same way. A motion to table the bill passed almost unanimously, with Dahlonega Majority Leader Steve Gooch being the only one opposed.

Protesters silently held up signs during the vote on Georgia’s so-called “don’t say gay” law. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder

Jen Slipakoff, an LGBTQ advocate and mother of a transgender child, was among a large crowd celebrating in the hallway after the vote.

“I’m absolutely thrilled that it was submitted,” she said. “It looks like we’ve kept it in check for at least one more legislative session. I think this law doesn’t have the best interests of children in mind, so I’m glad we were able to avoid passing a law that would really harm LGBTQ+ kiddos.”

Georgia Equality chief executive Jeff Graham also smiled after the meeting but said the win was not a total victory.

“While I’m glad this particular bill was introduced, I’m concerned that these types of talks are attracting so much attention here in the legislature this year, and that the actual debate is harming children,” he said.

LGBTQ Georgians have sounded the alarm over other bills snaking through the legislative process, including SB 140 and 141, aimed at restricting gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, and SB 180, a freedom of religion bill.

Monday is Crossover Day, the deadline for a bill to pass the House or Senate without additional legislative maneuvering — last year, on the last day of the session, lawmakers revived a bill that would result in transgender girls being removed from school athletic teams excluded for girls.