Ban on LGBTQ issues being taught in K-3 classrooms passes NC Senate
A controversial proposal that would ban elementary schools from teaching K-3 students about gender identity or sexuality passed the North Carolina Senate on Wednesday.
House Bill 755, “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” proposed just over a week ago with backing from top Senate Republicans including GOP leader Phil Berger, was approved almost entirely along party lines. It will now be considered by the state House, which could pass the bill and send it to the desk of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who is expected to veto it.
Moments after the bill passed, 28-18, opponents of the legislation seated in the gallery yelled out in protest, “We’re here, we’re queer, we’re not going anywhere.”
All Republicans voting on Wednesday approved the bill, and all Democrats who were present voted against it except for Sen. Ben Clark of Cumberland County. Clark is currently running for Congress against U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson from North Carolina’s 9th district.
During discussion of the bill, Sen. Deanna Ballard, a Republican from Watauga County and one of the bill’s main proponents, told lawmakers that HB 755 is “critical and common-sense,” and described the bill as a “safeguard for all of our students.”
In addition to regulating classroom instruction about LGBTQ issues, the bill would also require schools to inform parents if the pronouns by which their children are identified are changed in school records, or by school employees. LGBTQ advocates have strongly opposed the bill, particularly over the provision about pronouns, which they say could negatively impact students with families that aren’t LGBTQ-affirming.
Sen. Michael Garrett, a Guilford County Democrat, urged lawmakers to vote against the bill and instead support Senate Bill 860, an alternative bill put forward by Democrats.
Garrett said the Democratic proposal hadn’t been “imported from another state,” echoing criticism from some opponents who have likened HB 755 to so-called “Don’t Say Gay” legislation that was passed by Republican lawmakers in Florida earlier this year.
GOP lawmakers here in North Carolina who have spoken in favor of HB 755 have pushed back against that comparison, arguing that their bill is less restrictive than other proposals.
HB2 comparisons
“Unfortunately, this proposal is nothing more than HB2, classroom edition,” Garrett said, referencing the deeply controversial legislation enacted by lawmakers in 2016, which required transgender people to use public restrooms in schools and government buildings that matched the gender on their birth certificates. That bill was partially repealed in 2017 after a major backlash.
During another committee meeting last week, Ballard said HB 755 was not “prohibiting any conversation” in classrooms, The N&O reported. As an example, Ballard told legislators that same-sex teachers wouldn’t be restricted from talking about their personal lives.
Shortly after the vote, a group of protesters and LGBTQ activists gathered outside the General Assembly. Speakers, including an educator who is transgender and a woman who said she has a transgender son, said the bill would be a major setback for transgender children who struggle with their gender identity.
“This is political pandering, and it’s a manufactured crisis,” Kendra Johnson, the executive director of Equality NC, one of the largest LGBTQ advocacy organizations in the state, said in an interview. “There was never a crisis with bathrooms, during HB2; there is no crisis in classrooms. LGBTQ identity, anything about sexual orientation or gender identity, is not in the curriculum.”
Johnson said she believed the bill is being advanced through the legislature for political purposes. If it is vetoed, Johnson said she expects Republicans to campaign on the bill in the November general election.
“Republicans want to be able to say that Democrats do not support parents’ rights,” Johnson said.
Expecting the bill to move through the House, Johnson said Equality NC would urge House members to vote against the bill, and Cooper to veto it if it were to reach his desk.
Wednesday’s protests at the General Assembly followed similar protests at a meeting of the Senate Rules Committee the day before.
About two dozen protesters led by the Rev. Vance Haywood, the senior pastor at St. John’s Metropolitan Community Church, showed up to the committee meeting to voice their opposition to the bill, The N&O reported. The protesters wore T-shirts and held signs with pro-LGBTQ messages on them.
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This story was originally published June 1, 2022 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Ban on LGBTQ issues being taught in K-3 classrooms passes NC Senate."
