Governor Ron DeSantis just signed into law Florida’s discriminatory “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which prohibits discussions about gender identity and sexual orientation in schools.
Right now, there’s a similar bill working its way through the Georgia General Assembly, and both our Republican-held chambers look poised to pass it. If they do, it will signal a massive, state-sponsored marginalization of LGBTQ+ youth in our state.
We’re at a time in our country when LGBTQ+ rights have fallen under attack. Emboldened by Trumpism, Republican governors and state legislatures have turned into the worst kinds of bullies. Texas Governor Greg Abbott recently ordered state officials to investigate parents of transgender youth for child abuse. Child abuse. Here are Texan parents, driven by love to make sure their children are receiving health care and affirmation, being accused of child abuse by a man who has never even met them.
It’s heart wrenching, and unless we do something about it, Georgia schools could become the next institutions to be used as weapons against LGBTQ+ Americans.
Our schools should be places of learning and inclusion, where students benefit from listening to others and sharing their own perspectives. But if Georgia enacts the proposed “Don’t Say Gay” law, it will effectively tell countless LGBTQ+ children that their perspectives don’t matter, and that they need to suppress their identities. It’s hard to think of a policy that is more cruel or more detrimental to the mental health of our children.
Let’s tell our state lawmakers: We should be respecting and empowering our children, not belittling them and making them feel “less than.”
My thanks, John.
— Hank Johnson (he/him)
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