Two bills that target the LGBTQ+ community in Louisiana public schools are heading to the Senate for final approval after passing the House on Monday, as the state continues to delve into national “culture war” issues.
House Bill 122 by state Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haughton — which critics dub the "Don’t Say Gay" bill — would ban teachers from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity during instruction or extracurricular activities, unless that discussion is part of a government-approved curriculum.
The second bill, House Bill 121 by Rep. Raymond Crews, R-Bossier City, shields students and teachers at public and charter schools from discipline if they refuse to use a student’s preferred pronouns in cases where those pronouns differ from the student’s sex assigned at birth.
If the bill passes, parental permission would be required for teachers to refer to students by a name other than their legal name or nickname.
Both proposals easily passed the House, with opposition coming almost exclusively from Democrats, who said Horton's bill could be so broad as to put at risk even heterosexual teachers who make stray comments about a spouse.
HB 121 passed with a 69-29 vote, and HB 122 passed with a 69-28 vote.
Afterward, LGBTQ+ advocates worried about how such policies would impact LGBTQ+ youth, who already face a higher risk of suicide.
“I just wish (the bill authors) tried to understand (the transgender community) more,” said Peyton Rose Michelle, a transgender woman and the head of Louisiana Trans Advocates. The bills send a message to LGBTQ+ youth “that their state doesn’t care about them, doesn’t love them, and doesn’t support them,” she said.
On the House floor, Horton — who acknowledged her bill could limit discussions of sexuality in health class—said her goal was to protect children from “inappropriate influence and intrusion.” Crews said his bill is about protecting teachers from “(having) to do something that’s morally unconscionable for them.”
Crews also said he believed his bill would alleviate suicide risk for LGBTQ+ youth. But a 2020 national survey by The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention organization focused on LGBTQ+ youth, found that transgender and nonbinary youth whose preferred pronouns were used by most people in their lives attempted suicide at half the rate of those whose preferred pronouns were not used.
“Why do we think suicide is greatest in this segment of the population? Because they are confused, and we need to help them, and help them does not mean purport to their version of reality,” he said of transgender youth.
LGBTQ+ advocates expressed dismay at Crews’ comments.
“Rep. Crews said a lot of things that were untrue, that the evidence does not bear out,” said Dr. Logan Kinamore, a psychiatrist and member of the LGBTQ+ community. “They don’t care about what the science says.”
The proposals mirror laws passed in other red states, including Florida, which made national headlines when it became the first state to pass a "Don’t Say Gay" law in 2022.