Louisiana the latest state to advance ‘Don’t Say Gay' bill

The Louisiana House on Tuesday advanced its own “Don’t Say Gay” bill, a measure that would ban teachers from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity statewide in K-12 public schools, The Times-Picayune reports.

HB466 passed 67-28 in a mostly party-line vote.

The Times-Picayune’s Chris Granger reports that the measure “would ban school employees and presenters from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity in the classroom ‘in a manner that deviates from state content standards or curricula’ or during extracurricular activities.”

The bill would also ban school employees from discussing their personal sexual orientation or gender identity and compel employees to use pronouns that align with a student's sex as described on their birth certificate, unless a parent provides permission to call them by different pronouns.

Axios reports that New Orleans has among the nation’s highest concentrations of LGBTQ+ residents, with 4.7 percent of the adult population identifying as such.

Florida earlier this year became the nation’s first state to pass a “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Louisiana is among a growing number of states in which such bills are under consideration.

Rep. Candace Newell, a New Orleans Democrat, called the bill “mean” and “discriminatory.”

“Sometimes children have a deeper relationship with their teachers than they do with most family members,” Newell said, according to the report.

“We are taking away another safe space from children by limiting the opportunity to go and talk to a trusted adult about how they feel.”

Rep. Joseph Marino, a Gretna Independent, voiced opposition to the bill, according to the report.

“This is a cultural war bill designed to impose one group’s values upon the rest,” Marino said. “It’s designed to divide us, and I hate these bills.”