In a Senate committee on Tuesday, a bill that would protect the emotional health of student athletes turned into a bill that would prohibit trans students from using bathrooms, require schools to inform parents whenever their child checks out a book from the library, forbid transgender kids from playing female ‘ activities, and outlaw sex education.
As the number of days until the 2024 Congressional session is dwindles, lawmakers are tempted to transplant legislation onto bills that have already passed, giving their sworn-in bills a second chance to get to the governor’s desk.
Lt. Gov. supports each delivery of this act firmly. Senate Education and Youth Committee Chair Clint Dixon, in his capacity as chairman of the committee, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to introduce this policy and these various pieces of legislation, many of which we have heard in this commission and passed out of commission this conference, said Burt Jones. Although this bill has several parts, I believe that the idea of empowering kids to ensure that their children are learning and competing in secure, supportive environments while even engaging in sports is apparent in each.
But LGBTQ+ proponents called the costs and the congressional maneuvering contemptible. In a bill expanding the supply of opioid prevention drugs, state senators earlier this month added vocabulary that prohibits the prescribing of puberty-preventing drugs to transgender minors.
This is terrible politics: replacing the opioid crisis with attacks on Georgia’s LGBTQ+ youth, according to Human Rights Campaign Georgia Director Bentley Hudgins, who both had one bill intended to address student-athlete mental health concerns and another that was designed to address the issue of the opioid issue. The initial costs had the promise of making people’s lives better, and they won the House over. Rather, they have been transformed into policy that jeopardizes the nicely-becoming of our LGBTQ+ youth. Legislators in Georgia really concentrate on passing solutions that address the real issues that our people face.
Decatur Democrat Rep. Omari Crawford, the initial sponsor of the emotional health expenses, 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 commission 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 piece, which was previously authored by Dixon as Senate Bill 532, was the subject of Atlanta Democrat Sen. Elena Parent’s inquiries. The bill does not permit discussions of menstrual but does not permit lessons about fertilization before the seventh grade.
How can people duplication, which is prohibited before sixth 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 laugh. “But I would say to the reproductive organ part of it or whatnot, I don’t think that would align with sex education”.
So you don’t think you can talk to a girl about menstruation without bringing up any aspect of human reproduction? Because that’s what the costs –How? Kindly let us know”.
“That’s a great question”, Dixon said. “I’ve got two sons. 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 don’t give any explanation for why the menstruation is happening?” Parent asked. I’ll just propose that I think that’s a useful difficulty because if you provide an explanation for why it’s happening, that involves people reproduction, and I can quit going down this path.
“It was a great problem, I appreciate you bringing that frontward”, Dixon said. My partner may have handled that aspect of it with my child as I did it with my child, but I believe it is ideal for families to do that.
School Books
Cumming Republican Sen. Greg Dolezal is pushing for books to require parents to be informed of the books their kids are checking out as well.
Local board of education would need to develop policies that would allow parents to choose to be notified whenever their baby checks out a book from the library, in accordance with what was actually Senate Bill 365.
Another Dolezal library bill that would remove a provision in state law prohibiting school librarians from distributing harmful materials to minors is deemed dead because it didn’t pass the legislative deadline.
A group that conservatives claim has become too awake is still intact 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 ballot, but it was debating it.
Transgender Bans
Another recent addition to the act is based on Cordele Republican Sen. Carden Summers’ Senate Bill 438, which affirms Georgia’s restrictions on transgender kids from participating in school activities.
No matter the gender identification one may have at the time of entry into a game event, “This expenses requires public schools and private schools that participate in sport leagues with public schools to not allow boys to engage 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.
