"Don't Say Gay" Bill Marches On

Tennessee’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill has made it through the Tennessee Senate, with a few changes made:

The final version got watered down a bit, explains the Tennessean: K-through-8 teachers can respond to questions on gay issues, but they can’t make the topic part of a prepared lesson plan. “They couldn’t say, ‘Today, we’re going to teach about homosexuality, lesbianism,'” says the bill’s longtime sponsor, State Sen. Stacey Campfield. “That can’t be part of the course work.”

So basically, you can encourage your children to ask as many questions as they like about homosexuality, but even then, it’s pretty unlikely that they’ll actually receive any useful information.

If you live in a state that wants to sweep the topic of homosexuality under the rug as much as possible, it’s unlikely that if children do ask questions, their teachers will be Tennessee’s answer to Annie Sprinkle.

The potentially good news is that the bill can’t become a law until the state House approves it next year. And if you think that every Tennessee resident is rolling over and accepting this law as is, you’ll be glad to know that’s not the case:

One high school senior who lobbied against it and showed up for the vote said the fight will continue. “I know that we have juniors that are ready to take it head on next year,” he said. “This is the civil rights movement of our times. We have to take advantage of the opportunity to stand up for what we believe in.”