Tennessee State Senator Stacey
Campfield on Tuesday reintroduced his infamous “Don't Say Gay”
bill, which seeks to outlaw the discussion of sexual minorities in
Tennessee's public schools before the ninth grade.
The controversial bill, renamed the
Classroom Protection Act (SB234), was approved by the Senate two
years ago but died in the House last year.
Campfield first introduced similar
legislation eight years ago in the House.
The bill seeks to prohibit schools from
teaching anything that is “inconsistent with natural human
reproduction.” And classifies such subject matter as
“inappropriate for the intended student audience.”
The new version does allow counselors
to discuss such issues in private with a student. But the counselors
cannot keep such conversations private. The bill would mandate that
parents be informed that such counseling has taken place.
The Tennessee Equality Project, a gay
rights advocate, called the new bill “dangerous,” saying
that students and school personnel are not well served by the
measure.
Republican Governor Bill Haslam has
objected to previous versions of the bill.
“It's not something that I think is
particularly helpful or needed right now,” Haslam said last year.
“I think the state already has rules in place about what can be
taught.”