Bill banning LGBTQ subjects in schools includes penalties up to $50K for violations
by Robin Opsahl, Iowa Capital Dispatch
Parents of LGBTQ students told lawmakers Thursday a bill banning gender identity and sexual orientation from school materials will hurt their children.
Lawmakers also heard from parents with Moms for Liberty and others who said the legislation will restore “parental rights.”
A Senate Education subcommittee recommended passage of Senate File 159 after an hour of testimony from parents debating whether or not curriculum or school materials for students in kindergarten through eighth grade should be allowed to contain LGBTQ subjects.
“Not all students, parents or families agreed with the viewpoint held by many schools regarding sexual orientation, gender identity issues,” Sen. Sandy Salmon, R-Janesville, said. “Therefore teaching on this subject should be left with the family at home.”
While other bills brought forward by Republicans only included restrictions on “gender identity” materials and instructions, Salmon’s proposal broadens the scope to include sexual orientation.
Schools could be subject to a civil penalty between $10,000 and $50,000 for violations.
The bill also requires schools to notify parents of changes to their students’ physical, mental or emotional well-being, and that school policies must “reinforce the fundamental right of parents and guardians to make decisions related to the upbringing and control of the parent’s or guardian’s children.”
Parents with Moms for Liberty, a conservative nonprofit organization, said LGBTQ material in the classroom promotes the “philosophical belief” that people have the authority to choose their gender identity or sexual orientation, which runs counter to some parents’ Christian religious beliefs. Multiple mothers asked for legislators to expand the limits to cover all grades.
Pam Gronau, a Moms for Liberty member, said LGBTQ issues are sensitive subjects that should not be discussed in any form in schools.
“The mere question of asking a young child their pronouns puts ideas in their heads which might have never been there before,” Gronau said.
Gov. Kim Reynolds and GOP lawmakers spoke at a Moms for Liberty event last week.
But others said young children need information about gender issues.
Kristian Maul, a transgender man living in Urbandale, said his parents shut down discussions of his gender identity as he was growing up. He said he didn’t find peace with his gender identity until young adulthood.
“Look, I was never taught about any of this in elementary, middle or even high school,” Maul said. “And yet, I’m transgender.”
Maul said the legislation will not stop transgender people from existing, and prohibiting any mention of LGBTQ issues in K-8 schools will just further marginalize kids who aren’t straight or cisgender.
But Angela Wenell, also with Moms for Liberty, argued that disagreement is not the same as hate. She said LGBTQ people were not being mistreated or disrespected because others had opinions on the philosophical questions of what autonomy people have about their identities.
“These are logical and philosophical questions that have long been answered by religion,” Wenell said. “Educators are presenting these issues in a school setting as verified truth. Answering a theological question as truth that cannot be questioned — that’s not education, it’s indoctrination.”
But advocates said intolerance does have a direct negative impact on LGBTQ youth.
Keenan Crow with One Iowa said there was a misconception that schools were teaching students how to be gay and transgender, instead of simply informing students that people with these identities exist. What the bill will do, Crow said, is stop schools from preventing bullying by teaching students how to accept people who are different than they are.
“If you can’t name the problem, you can’t address the problem,” Crow said.
Republican lawmakers said this bill will not affect anti-bullying measures in Iowa schools. Damian Thompson with Iowa Safe Schools disagreed. He said the bill could affect school administrative duties, and that passing it will create a “chilling effect” on school staff’s ability to support LGBTQ students for fear of punishment.
A study by the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ suicide prevention nonprofit, found that LGBTQ youth who report having at least one accepting adult in their life were 40% less likely to report a suicide attempt in the past year.
“Administrators, as they should be, are very vigilant for legal interpretations of bills like these, and so they can be overly cautious when telling their educators to reel in the curriculum, especially when you have those exorbitant fines,” Thompson said.
These restrictions will put teachers in difficult positions, he said, of having to ask “Oh, am I going to be able to talk about this, if I’m a teacher that is in a same-sex marriage? Can I have a picture of my husband or wife on my desk? If I have a kid from a same-sex household and another student asks about that, am I able to bridge that conversation without violating the law?”
The bill joins a slew of other Republican proposals this session on “parental rights” involving both schools’ class material on gender identity and policies allowing students to socially transition without their parents’ knowledge. The House Oversight Committee also held a hearing Monday with mothers who sought to take books like “Gender Queer,” “The Hate U Give,” and “Fun Home” out of school libraries in their local districts for explicit material.
Sen. Lynn Evans, R-Aurelia, said Iowa needs to take a critical look at what’s being taught in the state’s public school classrooms.
“Public schools need to be neutral on a lot of these things, and we need to get back to neutral on some of this,” Evans said. “And that doesn’t mean that we’re not going to support (LGBTQ) people … It’s just not going to be in the written and delivered classroom instruction.”
Senate File 159 moves to the Senate Education Committee for further consideration.
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