Tennessee lawmakers backed away from controversial legislation that restricts discussions about homosexuality before high school, presumably ending a running, two-year battle over sex education and conversations about gays in schools.
The sponsors of the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill agreed Tuesday to put off debating the measure until the committee’s last meeting of the year — a procedural move that usually signals they do not intend to pursue it. Backers said they would instead shift their focus to an abstinence education measure that they believe would clarify how sex education is taught in public schools.
Sponsors had been under pressure to amend the Don’t Say Gay bill, which would have banned any teaching about sexuality apart from “natural human reproduction” before eighth grade. The measure was meant to keep schools and teachers from initiating discussions about gays and lesbians, but even its backers conceded Tuesday that it might have unintended consequences.
“We found out there really is not sex education curriculum in K-8 right now,” said state Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville, the bill’s original sponsor.
The decision came after Gov. Bill Haslam again criticized the Don’t Say Gay bill this week as an unnecessary distraction that could serve to create more problems than it solved.
Backers of the measure said it would ensure that schoolchildren would hear only age-appropriate messages about sexuality. Critics said it would make it harder for schools to develop anti-bullying policies that address issues such as the use of gay slurs while simultaneously opening the door for teachers to begin teaching about heterosexual procreation at younger ages.
Attention will now shift to a different measure, House Bill 3621, favored by social conservatives. That measure attempts to update the state’s sex education curriculum, which already stresses abstinence, by adding a focus on “risk avoidance” and discouraging “gateway sexual activity.”
HB 3621 makes no mention of homosexuality. The measure is scheduled to come up for its first hearing Wednesday in the House Education Subcommittee.
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