The North Carolina Senate passed the controversial Parents' Bill of Rights, sending the Republican-backed measure to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper — the latest bill expected to result in a veto showdown.
The bill would ban discussions of sexual orientation or gender identity in public schools from kindergarten to fourth grade, and it would ban teachers and staff from keeping a student's secrets from parents.
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Sponsors of the bill say they heard from parents having a hard time getting schools to give them information about their children and what the students are learning.
Opponents of the bill say students questioning their sexuality or gender identity often confide in teachers or counselors at school before talking to their families. And they worry that the bill could cause undue danger for children who come from households that may not be accepting of LGBTQ people.
The bill would also require public schools to get parental permission for everything from anonymous student surveys to counseling appointments. And it would allow parents to complain to the state if they feel schools aren’t obeying the law.
Sen. Lisa Grafstein, D-Wake, is the only openly LGBTQ member of the Senate. "Those who are engaging in this culture war have already lost," Grafstein said.
Grafstein called out her Republican colleagues for targeting some of the state’s most vulnerable kids. "Right now, you have the power to do this and you've done it and you're gonna keep doing it, but power and strength are actually two different things," Grafstein said. "What I think we've seen with these bills is that that weak people punch down."
Sen. Michael Lee, R-New Hanover, and other Republicans insisted that the bill was about making sure young children aren’t taught inappropriate things.
"This bill is not about how I personally feel about someone who is LGBTQ," Lee said.
Added Sen. Benton Sawrey, R-Johnston: "This is not a part of the culture war. This is a part of maintaining the family values and traditions that make North Carolina a great state and recentering the focus on family."
Sen. Graig Meyer; D-Orange, a former teacher, asked how teachers are supposed to handle the inevitable questions from curious students.
"About why families are the way they are?" Meyer said. "Why there are people in families who look different from one another? Why some families have two parents that are women?"
Sen. Amy Galey, R-Alamance, said it’s not the teacher’s job to answer them.
"The child should be referred back to their parents, who should be seen as the source of authority in that child's life," Galey said. "We should not have public schools substituting themselves for parents."
Cooper is expected to veto the bill, but Republicans hold a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers of the General Assembly and have been successful in rejecting a number of Cooper’s vetoes this session.
The NC Values Coalition released a statement calling on Cooper to sign the bill.
"Parents are fed up with public schools and healthcare professionals counteracting their values, hiding critical information about their children, encouraging their children to adopt identities and lifestyles that are harmful, using obscene books and materials in the classroom, teaching LGBT ideologies and how-to’s to their children," the coalition wrote.
Equality NC called the bill "a tremendous error."
"Erasing LGBTQ+ students from school curriculum sends the message that their identities still carry stigma and shame," the group said in a statement. "The law effectively erases LGBTQ+ students, LGBTQ+ parents, and LGBTQ+ history by ambiguously banning 'classroom instruction' about sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades."