By Ross Williams | ATLANTA, Georgia | A bill that was introduced on Tuesday passed by a Senate committee that would have prohibited transgender students from using restrooms, require schools to inform parents every time their child checks out a book from the library, prohibit transgender kids from playing female ‘ activities, and ban sex education before the sixth grade.
As the number of days until the 2024 Congressional program is dwindles, lawmakers are tempted to bone legislation onto bills that have already passed, giving their sworn-in bills a second chance to get to the governor’s desk.
Lt. Governor. supports each clause of this act. Senate Education and Youth Committee Chair Clint Dixon, in his capacity as chairman of the committee, said,” Burt Jones, I’m grateful for the opportunity to introduce this policy as well as these various pieces of legislation,” many of which we have heard in this commission and passed out of commission this program. Although this act has several elements, I believe that each has a string that empowers parents to ensure that kids are learning and competing in secure, supportive environments while even engaging in sports.
But LGBTQ+ proponents called the act and the congressional maneuvering contemptible. A bill expanding the supply of opioid protection drugs was introduced by condition senators earlier this month, which added language to prohibiting the prescribing of puberty-preventing drugs to transgender minors.
According to Georgia’s Human Rights Campaign Georgia Director,” This is terrible politics: kidnapping one bill to handle student-athlete mental health concerns and another to solve the opioid problems, and replacing them with assaults on Georgia’s LGBTQ+ youth.”
The initial expenses had the potential to improve the lives of people in turmoil, but they received overwhelming support in the House. Rather, they have been transformed into policy that jeopardizes the properly- becoming of our LGBTQ+ youth. Legislators in Georgia really concentrate on passing solutions that address the true issues our citizens face.
Decatur Democrat Rep. Omari Crawford, the original partner of the mental wellness costs, did not appear happy with the changes. He stated that he wants the speech in his bill changed and that the commission should not vote. With the exception of private schools, the text of his bill is still largely intact in the new version.
Liberals on the committee expressed disapproval of the procedure.
” I wanted to really first acknowledge that Rep. Crawford’s bill is then filled with a bunch of bills that have, as they’ve been vetted through this commission, been some of the more controversial discussions that we’ve had over the course of this biennium”, said Atlanta Democrat Sen. Sonya Halpern.
” And so I feel guilty for the person, Rep. Crawford, who’s then, for his first act, got it filled with stuff that’s not going to be simple for everybody to get behind as his act was when it came through the House”, she added.
Sexual Ed
The bill’s sex education portion, which Dixon had previously authored as Senate Bill 532, was the subject of questions from Atlanta Democrat Sen. Elena Parent. The bill permits discourse of menstruation but does not mandate training on fertilization for the first fifth grade.
How can people reproduction, which is prohibited before fifth grade, be discussed in schools without being discussed? Parent asked.
” I am not a person, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once”, Dixon said with a grin. ” But I would say to the reproductive organ part of it or whatnot, I do n’t think that would align with sex education”.
You do n’t think you can discuss menstruation with a girl without bringing up any aspect of human reproduction, do you? Because that’s what the costs – How? Kindly let us know”.
” That’s a great question”, Dixon said. ” I’ve got two girls. One is now going through puberty, and my wife and I have been able to successfully, with her advice and her command, my sister’s authority, have had those discussions with her without talking about duplication”.
” So you talked about – you do n’t give any explanation for why the menstruation is happening”? Parent asked. I’ll just propose that I think that is a practical difficulty that is contained in the bill because if you give an explanation for why it’s happening, that involves human duplication, and I can quit going down this series.
” It was a great question, I appreciate you bringing that forward”, Dixon said. My wife may have handled that aspect of it with my daughter as I did it with my son, but I believe it is appropriate for parents to do that.
School Libraries
Cumming Republican Sen. Greg Dolezal is pushing for libraries to require parents to be informed of the books their children are checking out as well.
Local boards of education would have to create policies that would allow parents to opt-in to be automatically notified whenever their child checks out a book from the library, according to what was originally Senate Bill 365.
Another Dolezal library bill that would end the state’s law requiring school librarians to distribute harmful materials to minors is regarded as dead because it did n’t pass the legislative deadline.
A group that conservatives claim has become too awake is still alive thanks to a bill introduced by Perry Republican Sen. Larry Walker that pulls Georgia out of the American Library Association. The House Higher Education Committee on Monday did not cast a vote, but it was debating it.
Transgender Bans
Another recent addition to the bill is based on Cordele Republican Sen. Carden Summers ‘ Senate Bill 438, which affirms Georgia’s ban on transgender students from participating in school sports.
No matter the gender identity one may have at the time of entry into a sport event,” This bill requires public schools and private schools that participate in sport leagues with public schools to not permit boys to compete in sports that are designated for girls,” Dixon said. Additionally, it forbids schools from allowing boys to use multiple occupant restrooms for changing areas designated for girls.
Dixon made an effort to portray the bill as pro-feminism.
” I’d just like to go back to, you know, females, which I’m not one, y’all have been fighting for your rights for equal places in all aspects of our lives, and here we are, carving or digging away at this, allowing biological males to beat in female sports, and it’s a common sense thing to protect females here, in the restroom and in sports”, he said.
The men on the committee, all Republicans, agreed, voting unanimously in favor of the bill, but the three women on the committee, all Democrats, voted no.
Before the end of the session, March 28, the bill must pass the Senate and the House.
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Ross Williams covered local and state government for the Marietta Daily Journal before joining the Georgia Recorder. The Georgia Associated Press Media Editors and the Georgia Press Association recognized his work in areas such as beat reporting, business reporting, and non-deadline reporting.
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The Georgia Recorder previously published the previous article, which is now republished with permission.
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