Louisiana lawmakers discussing LGBTQ-related bills
BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) - Lawmakers are expected to talk about two LGBTQ-related bills on Wednesday morning.
Six bills are up for discussion in the House Committee on Education Wednesday morning. Two of the bills are HB466 and HB81.
HB466, authored by state Rep. Dodie Horton, has to do with the "discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools." HB81, authored by state Rep. Raymond Crews, focuses on the "use of certain names and pronouns for students."
HB466 is the first of the two bills up for discussion in front of the committee.
Rep. Dodie Horton said HB466 is a parental rights and education bill to make sure students are learning the state standard curriculum. Horton said, “Our children go to school to learn, to be taught, not to be indoctrinated or confused by anyone else's ideology."
Rep. Freiburg asked Rep. Horton why this isn’t being left to the local school boards to decide this issue. Rep. Horton said she wants to “protect all children.”
Rep. Jefferson said he is concerned about the bill prohibiting children from having conversations with trained educators about these subjects.
Melissa Flournoy is board chair of 10,000 Women Louisiana and spoke in front of the committee. Flournoy said the legislation creates a culture of intimidation. She talked about how growing up gay is hard. Flournoy said she was in church every day of her life and still turned out gay.
A LSU student who is trans talked about the high suicide rates in LGBT people.