A Louisiana House bill dubbed a “Don’t Say Gay” bill has failed to pass this year, but its author says she will bring it back next year. Last month, House Education Committee members voted in a bipartisan manner to end the bill’s progress. Bill author and Haughton Representative Dodie Horton says fellow Conservatives in the House moved the bill to a Committee of the Whole, meaning ALL members can debate and vote on it. However, she withdrew the bill from further consideration this year.
“To bring it to the Committee of the Whole has just never been done, except for our budget bills…so I just didn’t want to put the body through that,” Horton says.
Horton says she will rewrite the bill to address some concerns that were voiced about it, and she will file the bill again next year. Many say the proposed legislation is a “solution seeking a problem”, but Horton says indoctrination of the very young to alternate lifestyles is very real.
“There is a select group that is going around and destroying the innocence of our children by trying to validate their own lifestyle choice. That’s not what school is about. It’s about teaching a standard.”
Horton says her bill is NOT anti-gay, anti-trans or anti-any other group. She says it’s about assuring inappropriate topics are not discussed with children during what is supposed to be educational classroom time.
“My bill would prevent the teacher from discussing their own personal life at all. K through 12. That is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for the student.”