Louisiana lawmakers advance bill prohibiting gender identity discussions in K-12 school classrooms

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Lawmakers in Louisiana have advanced two bills that aim to prohibit classroom discussions about gender identity and orientation and require teachers to remain transparent with parents of students about pronoun usage.

The measure banning classroom discussion of gender identity was narrowly approved in a 7-5 vote by the Republican-controlled House Education Committee Wednesday. It now heads to the full House, where it is expected to receive a passing vote.

Specifically, the bill would ban K-12 public school staff from teaching or discussing gender identity and sexual orientation, including during any extracurricular activity.

Republican state Rep. Dodie Horton, who authored House Bill 466, said the bill has "nothing to do with someone’s personal lifestyle," but rather was created to "protect all children."

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Lawmakers in Louisiana have advanced two bills that aim to prohibit classroom discussions about gender identity and orientation and require teachers to remain transparent with parents of students about pronoun usage. (Chris Graythen, Craig Hudson for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Opponents of the bill said it would do the opposite and harm students. Many advocates and Democratic lawmakers claimed that students who will be impacted by the legislation are already at high risk of bullying and depression and that the bill could send vulnerable members of the community spiraling further into depression and anxiety.

"Coming out was not an option for me. It was that or death. I don’t mean that as a hyperbole, I mean that literally," Elliot Wade, a member of Louisiana Trans Advocates, told lawmakers as he railed against the bill. "If I didn’t come out and live as my truth then I was going to end my life. ... I wouldn’t be here talking to you today — I just wouldn’t be here. There are a lot of people who are not here, even without a bill like this passing."

Louisiana GOP lawmakers also advanced a measure Wednesday that would require or allow teachers to use the pronouns that align with a student’s birth sex.

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The Louisiana State Capitol April 17, 2020, in Baton Rouge. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

House Bill 81, which will now receive a vote by the full House, would require school employees to use pronouns and the name of a student that correlate with their birth certificate. Both pieces of legislation have an exception if the student’s parent provides written permission to do otherwise.

Republican state Rep. Raymond Crews, who authored the bill, said the legislation was created to "solidify and identify parents' rights to raise children," to decrease the "distraction" that he says pronouns are causing in classrooms and to protect teachers and school board members from "this type of politicization."

The pronoun legislation in Louisiana is among a wave of interchangeable bills being considered in statehouses across the country that would formally allow or require schools to use the name given to transgender students by their parents.

An empty classroom at an elementary school. (FNC)

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Should both bills receive a passing vote by the House and be subsequently vetoed by Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, Horton said she believes there are enough votes to override the governor's action.

"We have a supermajority in the House and the Senate, and I pray that people will be bold enough and courageous enough to override a veto," Horton said, according to the Washington Examiner.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.