Ban on talk of gender identity advances

Published: April 27, 2023

By: Claire Sullivan and Gabby Jimenez, LSU Manship School News Service

The House committee room was packed Wednesday at a hearing on a bill to ban classroom discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation outside of school curriculum. (Photo credit: Claire Sullivan/LSU Manship School News Service)

BATON ROUGE, La. – A bill that would ban classroom discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation outside of school curriculum passed the House Committee on Education 7-5 on Wednesday.

The proposal, House Bill 466 by Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haughton, also would require transgender students to get a permission slip from their parents for teachers to use the pronouns matching their gender identity.

And it enshrines in law that school employees do not have to use those pronouns “if doing so is contrary to the employee’s religious or moral convictions.”

A similar proposal authored by Rep. Raymond J. Crews, R-Bossier City, requiring signed permission from parents for trans students to use a different name and pronouns at school also passed 7-5. Both bills will go next to the House floor.