MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama lawmakers advanced a bill Wednesday that would ban teachers from displaying LGBTQ+ pride flags on public school property and extend the state’s ban on teacher-led discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Senate Education Policy Committee voted 5-2 for the House-passed bill, putting the proposal in line for a possible final passage in the last four days of the legislative session. The bill, which now moves to the full Alabama Senate, is part of a wave of legislation across the country that critics have dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” laws.
The legislation would expand current Alabama law, which prohibits instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in elementary school, to take the ban through the eighth grade. It would also ban teachers and school employees from displaying pride flags or similar symbols of sexual or gender identity “in a classroom or on the property of a public K-12 school.” Students could display the symbols, but teachers could not.