North Carolina Senate OKs limits on LGBTQ school instruction

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Public school teachers in North Carolina would be required in most circumstances to alert parents before they call a student by a different name or pronoun, under a bill passed by the Republican-controlled state Senate on Tuesday.

Senators rejected a wave of warnings that the measure could endanger some LGBTQ students who have unsupportive families.

While sponsors say the bill is needed to keep parents informed about what their children are being taught in public schools, critics say it would destroy the trust between teachers and their students and make schools unsafe spaces for LGBTQ and questioning children to explore their identities at their own pace.

The proposal, which passed the Senate 29-18, would also prohibit instruction about gender identity and sexuality in K-4 classrooms, with an exception for “student-initiated questions.”

It now heads to the House, where Republicans are one seat shy of a supermajority and likely would need some Democratic support to push it through. A similar version had passed the Senate last session but didn't get a vote in the House.

Some parents, teachers and students who testified in committee hearings blasted the bill as an attempt at censorship, likening it to the Florida law that opponents dubbed “ Don’t Say Gay.” Others applauded the proposal for keeping what they considered inappropriate topics out of elementary classes.

Bill sponsor Sen. Amy Galey, an Alamance County Republican, refuted criticisms Tuesday that it might jeopardize the physical safety of transgender and nonbinary students who could be outed to their parents without consent. She pointed again to an exception in the bill that would keep parents from accessing school records if there’s reason to believe it would lead to abuse or neglect.

.

..