Indiana bill pivots to gender identity
Opponents claim legislation would alienate LGBTQ students; supporters argue for parent empowerment
INDIANAPOLIS — Teachers in Indiana public schools could be required to tell parents if a student changes their gender identity or preferred name under a bill House committee members approved Monday.
A vociferous crowd lingered outside the House chamber through hours of testimony, cheering opponents of the measure and booing Republican lawmakers who back it.
Opponents of the bill — which lawmakers voted 9-4 to send to the full House for consideration — said it would alienate LGBTQ students, particularly transgender youth, and possibly force kids to come out to their parents.
Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, said it was, once again, an example of the Republican supermajority injecting government into the classroom while preaching less government.
Supporters argued the legislation would empower parents to choose how their children are raised.
If a student questions their gender identity to a teacher, “the best answer is, you can talk to your parents,” said Micah Clark, executive director of the Indiana Family Association.
Claire Curran, a Brebeuf High School student who is Director of the Youth Advocacy Program at Shelly’s Voice, questioned the message the legislature is sending to the LGBTQ+ community through the bill.
“When did respecting everyone became predatory?” Curran said. “They are parents, friends, students, and they exist.”
The parental notification proposal was among several amendments to a bill that started out more closely resembling Florida legislation enacted in March 2022. The so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill drew intense national scrutiny from those who argue it marginalizes LGBTQ people. Proponents say the measure is reasonable because parents, not teachers, should handle such subjects with their children.
The original Indiana bill would have prohibited teachers from teaching kindergarteners to third graders about topics related to gender identity and sexuality. It was amended to limit the banned topics solely to sexual education —
something already uncommon in early grades. Many who testified argued that it would create a chilling effect in school communities, by limiting discussion of personal topics, drive LGBTQ+ teachers out of the profession, and make samesex families unwelcome at their children’s schools.
Missouri lawmakers also rejected a more restrictive version of the “Don’t Say Gay” law. A Senate committee in that state voted to advance a measure that would require public school teachers to tell parents if a child “express discomfort or confusion” about their gender identity or if they request to use different pronouns.
Haras Shirley, a transgender man who testified Monday, said the House legislation is “a direct conflict of interest to what I’m sworn to do” for students as a school resource officer at an Indianapolis high school.
“I will continue to be a beacon for my students, no matter the cost,” Shirley said.
Indiana’s House bill, authored by Republican Rep. Michelle Davis, of Whiteland, would only apply to public schools and would prohibit them from disciplining teachers or staff who use “a name, pronoun, title, or other word to identify a student that is consistent with the student’s legal name.”
“This is some common sense legislation to support transparency and parents’ fundamental rights, which shouldn’t get dropped at the classroom door,” Davis said Monday.
But Chris McGrath, a teacher from Lafayette disagreed.
“How do I not have the right to compel (a school) to call my child a name that I told them that I want my child to be called?” McGrath asked. “I could be insisting that they use the name that she’s got right now, and that they use she/her pronouns. How can I not compel the institution to do that?”