PITTSBURGH — The state Senate Education Committee on Tuesday passed two bills intended to address discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation in Pennsylvania schools.
The proposals, which Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has promised to veto if they land on his desk, have similarities to legislation enacted in Florida earlier this year that opponents criticized for marginalizing the LGBTQ community and labeled as the "Don't say gay" bill.
Republican state Sens. Scott Martin and Ryan Aument, both of Lancaster, said they proposed the bills because of concerns they have received from parents about age-inappropriate conversations occurring prematurely and without parental knowledge in elementary school classrooms.
"Parents should know what their children are being exposed to in school, period," Aument said in a statement. "And beyond that, they should have the opportunity to opt their child out of exposure to certain explicit curriculum and be provided with alternative options by the school. At the end of the day, parents — not the government — should have final say in how their children are educated."
The bills — known as the "Empowering Families in Education Act" and "Parental Control of Sexually Explicit Content" bill — still need to be approved by the full Senate and House before they would go to the governor.
The bills would forbid classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation for pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. In addition, the bill would require schools to adhere to existing state standards of age-appropriate content for any discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation that occur in grades 6-12.
They would also make public schools create a policy for notifying parents when there is a change to a student's services or monitoring and prohibit a school from withholding information from parents in accordance with existing state and federal laws.
The language in the legislation resemble Florida's "Parental Rights in Education" bill, which drew the "Don't say gay" moniker from opponents across the nation.
The senators countered the notion that the bills were Pennsylvania's version of the Florida's legislation because they do not prohibit organic, student-initiated discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity for any age group. The bill only bans formal discussions and instruction led by the teacher, they said.
The Pennsylvania State Education Association and the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers both expressed apprehension over what the bill would mean for an already marginalized group of students as well as the limits it would place on teachers.
And state Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-West View, who serves as the minority chair of the Senate Education Committee, noted that parents and guardians already have the right to review curriculum and opt their children out of lessons that conflict with religious or deeply held beliefs.
The proposal of the bills comes amid a wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation filed this year in states across the country.
NBC News reported in March that the annual number of anti-LGBTQ bills filed rose from 41 in 2018 to 238 in less than three months of 2022. In 2021, 191 anti-LGBTQ bills were filed, according to NBC News.
