Current:Home > MyTeaching of gender in Georgia private schools would be regulated under revived Senate bill-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
Teaching of gender in Georgia private schools would be regulated under revived Senate bill
View Date:2024-12-23 21:20:48
ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia Senate committee is advancing a long-stalled proposal aimed at stopping private school teachers from talking to students about gender identity without parental permission, but both gay rights groups and some religious conservatives remain opposed to the bill.
Senate Bill 88, which majority Republicans on Tuesday passed out of the Senate Education and Youth Committee on a party-line vote, now says private schools would have to obtain written permission from all parents before instruction “addressing issues of gender identity, queer theory, gender ideology, or gender transition.”
“We worked in earnest to make this bill fair while still achieving our goal of making sure children’s parents are involved in a sensitive and often life-changing issue,” said Sen. Carden Summers, a Cordele Republican.
Liberal opponents say the measure, which goes to the full Senate for more debate, remains a thinly veiled attack on LGBTQ+ students.
“There has been no evidence presented that kids are being taught gender identity issues in school that would lead to any kind of confusion or coercion,” Jeff Graham, executive director of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Georgia Equality, said after the hearing.
Some conservatives say the law is a flawed attempt to regulate private schools that unwisely introduces the concept of gender identity into state law. They also say it would let public schools override Georgia’s 2022 parental bill of rights, which gives every parent “the right to direct the upbringing and the moral or religious training of his or her minor child.”
Some gay people testified in favor of the bill Tuesday, saying that transgender activists don’t represent them.
“They are proselytizing this queer sex sexuality ideology to children,” said Jeff Cleghorn, a former board member of Georgia Equality. “Activists in schools have no business interfering with the parent-child relationship. Do not let schools teach kids to keep secrets from their parents.”
Graham said proponents like Cleghorn don’t represent a majority opinion in their community.
Committee Chairman Clint Dixon, a Buford Republican, didn’t let opponents testify, which Democratic Sen. Elena Parent of Atlanta said was “really a black eye on moving ahead on this.”
The measure requires public schools to create policies by Jan. 1, 2025, that would determine how the schools would handle issues of gender identity or a child wanting to dress as a different gender or use a different name.
Public schools that violate the law would have their state aid withheld and be banned from participating in the Georgia High School Association, the state’s main athletic and extracurricular body. Private schools that violate the law would be banned from getting state money provided by vouchers for children with special educational needs. Public school teachers and administrators would be threatened with the loss of their state teaching license.
veryGood! (499)
Related
- Man waives jury trial in killing of Georgia nursing student
- Michigan football sign-stealing investigation: Can NCAA penalize Jim Harbaugh's program?
- Barbie no party? Union lists Halloween costumes prohibited for striking actors
- Refugee children’s education in Rwanda under threat because of reduced UN funding
- Rare Alo Yoga Flash Sale: Don’t Miss 60% Off Deals With Styles as Low as $5
- 'Marvel's Spider-Man 2' game features 2 web slingers: Peter Parker and Miles Morales
- From Israel, writer Etgar Keret talks about the role of fiction in times of war
- The leaders of Ukraine and Russia assess their resources as their war heads into winter
- Ryan Reynolds Clarifies Taylor Swift’s Role as Godmother to His Kids With Blake Lively
- A new memoir serves up life lessons from a childhood in a Detroit Chinese restaurant
Ranking
- Veterans Day restaurant deals 2024: More than 80 discounts, including free meals
- Major water main break that affected thousands in northern New York repaired
- Ohio Woman, 23, Sentenced to 15 Years to Life in Prison For Stabbing Mom Over College Suspension
- Owner of California biolab that fueled bio-weapons rumors charged with mislabeling, lacking permits
- Jessica Simpson’s Sister Ashlee Simpson Addresses Eric Johnson Breakup Speculation
- We Can’t Keep These Pics of Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez and Zoë Kravitz’s Night Out to Ourselves
- Dutch king and queen are confronted by angry protesters on visit to a slavery museum in South Africa
- Ohio embraced the ‘science of reading.’ Now a popular reading program is suing
Recommendation
-
Infowars auction could determine whether Alex Jones is kicked off its platforms
-
Stock market today: Asian shares slip further as higher US 10-year Treasury yield pressures Wall St
-
Rafah border remains closed amid mounting calls for Gaza aid: Reporter's notebook
-
The White House details its $105 billion funding request for Israel, Ukraine, the border and more
-
Black and Latino families displaced from Palm Springs neighborhood reach $27M tentative settlement
-
Month after pig heart transplant, Maryland man pushing through tough physical therapy
-
Woman’s dog accidentally eats meth while on walk, she issues warning to other pet owners
-
Baltimore firefighter dead, several others injured battling rowhome blaze