Bill to expand Alabama’s “Don’t Say Gay” law died because everyone was confused about what it meant

A bill to expand Alabama’s Don’t Say Gay law and ban Pride flags from classrooms has died after the legislative session came to a close without a vote on the bill.

State Rep. Mark Butler (R), who sponsored the bill, said that he doesn’t know why his bill didn’t pass other than that it was “deemed a little controversial.”

Related: Alabama just got a step closer to jailing librarians who provide LGBTQ+ books

The state is pursuing bills banning drag, LGBTQ+ discussions in schools, and criminalizing queer library books.

Alabama public school teachers are already prohibited from leading discussions on LGBTQ+ identities through fifth grade. The new legislation, H.B. 130, would extend that restriction through 12th grade.

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The bill would also remove a line from existing law stating that teachers cannot discuss LGBTQ+ identities “in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards” and completely ban such discussions.

Opponents of the bill said that it would force LGBTQ+ students and staff to go back into the closet in schools since the law was vague about what discussions, exactly, would be restricted.

“That chilling effect is absolutely what is intended by bills like H.B. 130,” the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) policy associate Katie Glenn told the Alabama Reflector. “It’s not actually to punish people, although it can be used to do that. It’s to scare people, to scare administrators, staff, teachers, and students into hiding who they are while they’re at school.”

Some of the confusion about the bill was discussed in the Alabama Senate, where state Sen. Larry Strutts (R) asked whether it would apply to bumper stickers on cars in school parking lots. Butler replied that school property doesn’t include parking lots.

“The property is not the parking lot?” Stutts asked.

“Well, we’re talking about the actual building,” Butler replied.

Butler later told reporters that the concern was “ridiculous” but admitted that confusion around the bill may have prevented it from passing.

“There were lots of questions from legislators on both sides of the aisle,” the SPLC’s Glenn said.  

State Rep. Anthony Daniels (D), the House minority leader, likened the bill to “bullying.”

“We’re bullying a certain class or group of people because they don’t have the representation to fight back,” Daniels told the Associated Press.

Butler also reportedly tried to add an amendment – which failed – specifically stating that the state’s Space Camp may not teach children about LGBTQ+ issues. The amendment was issued in reaction to the revelation that a single employee of the Huntsville Space Camp is transgender. The revelation angered a slew of parents and politicians who called for the employee to be fired.

“I have some concerns about calling out one institution when we have camps and things all over,” said Republican Committee Chair Terri Collins, according to AL.com.

The discussion of the bill started off on the wrong foot, with Butler writing in its initial description that it would “purify” schools in the state, something Democrats called him out for. State Rep. Barbara Drummond (D) said that the idea of purifying schools was subjective.

“Is that what we should be aiming for?” she asked. “Someone else’s subjectivity?”

“No, ma’am,” said Butler.

Drummond brought up the word “purity” again at a later hearing.

“Where does it stop? Do we just patchwork and keep doing it over and over again – and I’m using your word from the last public hearing – until you ‘purify’ the state of Alabama?” she said.

“Most Americans, in addition to Alabamians, see these bills for what they really are – disgraceful, MAGA-led attempts to recycle false and outdated tropes about LGBTQ+ identities,” the Alabama chapter of the Human Rights Campaign said in a statement. “Alabama has real issues facing education, voting rights, and criminal justice reform, and now it’s time that lawmakers turn their attention to those issues instead of wasting taxpayers’ money to demonize an entire community.”

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