Shreveport LGBTQIA community pushes back against Louisiana ‘Don’t say gay” bills

The LGBTQIA+ community may face reduced liberties with the advancement of two pieces of legislation in Louisiana.

The two bills which prohibit pronoun usage and discussion of gender and sexuality in the classroom were advanced April 10 by the House Committee on Education.

The local LGBTQIA+ community has offered vocal opposition to the newly proposed legislation.

"The Louisiana legislature is once again proposing government overreach in bills that target the LGBTQ community now that Governor John Bel Edwards, who previously vetoed such bills, is gone and Governor Jeff Landry is now in office," PACE President Heather Goodman D'Anna said. "Landry, who was elected by a small minority of eligible Louisiana voters, has a long history of depriving LGBTQ people basic rights such as the right to work in a government job."

Republican Representative Dodie Horton's "Don't Say Gay" bill which restricts the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools passed in a 67-28 vote. The bill, Goodman said, is completely devoid of common sense, that a teacher could not even refer to their own heterosexual spouse or identity, or allow an extracurricular club to host a speaker on LGBTQ issues.

"When asked for examples of why these restrictions are needed, no legislator can come up with any," D'Anna said.

HB 121, authored by Republican Representative Raymond Crews, bares a school employee from knowingly and intentionally addressing a student by a name other than the student's legal name unless given written permission from their parents to do so. The House added an amendment to the measure that prohibits schools from disciplining students who deadname or misgenders a peer.

Deadnaming is the act of referring to a transgender or non-binary person by a name they used prior to transitioning, and misgendering is to identify the gender of a person, such as a nonbinary or transgender incorrectly, as by using an incorrect label or pronoun.

Shreveport LGBTQIA+ advocate Steven Knight said there is no doubt in his mind that the two pieces of legislation are rooted in anti-transgender and wider anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiment.

"While the notion that parents should be able to rear their children in a manner they choose is not outlandish, everything in the language of these bills dehumanizes and respects the autonomy of young people," Knight said. "The idea that our youth cannot or should not be able, with full freedom, to express and explore their identities is absurd. Schools are meant to mimic real world experiences and teach youth how to navigate exposure to people who are not like themselves. Difference is what's developed our country into the beautiful melting pot of diversity it is."

Knight said we cannot ask children to be resilient, loving, kind and to care for all people and in the same breath say that if an adult educating you, even after taking the appropriate steps, is uncomfortable (suing your pronouns) to just find someone else who will instruct and respect you.

"What signal does that send other students about behaviors that are acceptable when it comes to meeting those who are unlike themselves?," Knight said. "I, sincerely hope that there will be more publicized opportunities for families who will be impacted by these bills and advocates to share their stories. Moving forward with these bills in their current formats, if at all, is bound to be more harmful than not."

D'Anna said with Louisiana continually ranked at or near the bottom of states with respect to education and healthcare, and with the state suffering from severe "brain drain" as young people leave why are our legislators, with the encouragement of our governor, focusing on solution to problems that don't exist.

The two bills will be reviewed by a Senate committee.

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This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Shreveport's LGBTQIA community speaks out against Don’t Say Gay in Louisiana