Georgia Senator, Carden Summers, has called for a law that would prevent teachers from discussing gender identity with their students. Senate Bill 88, already on its second draft, is designed to stop teachers from indoctrinating their students about changing gender identity and from hiding a student’s gender identity change from parents. Summers has admitted that his bill is full of unintended consequences and must be redrafted. Critics have likened the measure to bills in Florida and other states that try to stop teachers from discussing LGBTQ issues with students. The Georgia measure is limited to gender identity, but dovetails with bills in many states that seek to limit gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Such a bill is pending in Georgia, but so far has not advanced.
During the Senate Education and Youth Committee on Tuesday, Summers said that the bill would limit the exposure that a person would have on a child regarding gender. However, the committee took no action, promising another hearing after dozens of opponents didn’t get a chance to speak. Jeff Graham, executive director of LGBTQ advocacy group Georgia Equality, said at a news conference after Tuesday’s hearing that “bills that force teachers to out LGBTQ+ kids to their parents are extremist political stunts that pit teachers, parents, and students against each other”.
But the bill would do other things as well. Parents at both public and private schools would have to opt their children into sex education classes. Now, public school parents are allowed to opt out children. Some conservative parents have been trying to abolish sex education in Georgia schools in recent years. It would also bar any adult overseeing a child in any public or private institution, including schools, camps, libraries and social service agencies, from dressing “in a sexually provocative manner, applying current community standards.”
Education groups say the bill could block teachers from fulfilling their mandatory duty to report abuse unless they get parental permission, even if a parent is the suspected abuser. The bill would sanction violators, withholding funds from public schools, threatening to yank the state licenses of teachers, and revoking the tax-exempt status of private entities. The American Civil Liberties Union has said that the bill would violate free speech rights of teachers and students, unconstitutionally discriminating against speech on particular topics. Opponents also said the bill would keep teachers from counseling students with questions about their gender identity, especially when their parents may not offer support. They suggested the bill targets students who are emotionally vulnerable and even prone to suicide.