Alabama is looking at expanding the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, as lawmakers in Montgomery on Wednesday debated a new version of the legislation that the sponsor says would “purify the schools.”
The bill, HB130, expands on legislation Alabama passed in 2022, enacting a law similar to the Florida legislation nicknamed “Don’t Say Gay,” The current law prohibits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in K-5 classrooms in Alabama.
This year’s bill would expand the ban to include all of K-12.
Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, said his bill is intended to prevent the indoctrination of Alabama youth with information about LGBTQ people.
“It is happening all over, and it is a component of Marxism where we’re destroying the family,” said Butler. “It’s seeking to purify the schools just a little bit.”
During the public comment period, Dr. Marisa Allison of Huntsville shared her experience as a gay parent through a friend who read a statement on her behalf. She and her wife began homeschooling their 6-year-old following the 2022 legislation.
She said both mothers were educated in Alabama public schools and have generations of schoolteachers in their families, so it was a difficult decision.
“This bill will inevitably restrict children with LGBTQ plus parents and caretakers from being able to talk openly about their families at best, and at worst, it creates a hostile and dangerous educational environment.”
Cecil Pinkston, a pre-nursing major at UAB said being a teenager is hard enough and is almost unbearable if “the government is against you.”
“This bill actively prevents young queer individuals from having representation in their schools that would help foster a sense of self-confidence and identity. It’s how I got to where I am today.”
Another speaker, Jordan Price, pointed out that restricting discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in schools would prevent teachers from talking about heterosexual marriages and the accomplishments of females in history.
“Queer people are not the only people who have gender identities and sexual orientations,” said Price.
Amy Minton, a proponent of the bill, compared classroom discussions about gender dysphoria to conversations about eating disorders, saying both should be treated as illnesses.
“When I think of a person, especially a child or teenager, that is not comfortable in their own body, such as one suffering from an eating disorder, I do have great compassion,” she said. “When they suffer with an eating disorder and feel fat, we don’t teach them to throw up, we don’t teach them to starve themselves.”
Minton said she would like an amendment added to the bill to prevent any schoolteacher, counselor or any school communication from allowing students to use preferred pronouns.
Rep. Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, said he was shocked and disappointed by the bill. He said he would like the legislature to understand the plight of all communities.
“I think that what we’ve been trying to do here in the state is trying to make certain that we don’t make any community feel ostracized or not being loved,” said Daniels.
Daniels asked what the purpose of the legislation is, and Rep. Butler said it is about focusing on reading, writing, arithmetic and career and college readiness in schools.
“We’re not doing a good enough job academically to wade into these other things,” said Butler.
“I haven’t seen one bill to address closing the achievement gap,” Daniels said in response.
Rep. Barbara Drummond, R-Mobile, questioned Butler’s use of the word “purify,” asking where “purity” was defined in the bill.
Butler said it is not defined in the bill.
“What I was trying to do is keep that discussion away from the kids.”
“Is purity not subjective?” she asked.
“Very subjective, yes, and that was my bad.”
“Is that what we should be aiming for, someone else’s subjectivity?” she asked.
“No Ma’am,” he said.
Rep. Mark Gidley, R-Glencoe, spoke in favor of protecting children from authority figures imposing a “certain ideology” and asked Butler to confirm that children would not be prevented from speaking about their families. His question was in response to comments of Allison, the Huntsville mother, who said that children of gay families would feel stigmatized by the bill.
“I don’t think there’s anybody that would be restricted from sharing about their family, their home,” said Gidley, adding that that is a student’s right. “But it’s a different story when those people of authority begin to impose their ideas.”
He noted the possibility of an amendment to ban flags or other insignia representing sexual orientation or gender identity in public schools.
The committee plans to finalize discussion on the bill in two weeks.