Texas Senator proposes law forcing schools to out LGBT kids

Texas lawmaker and member of the Tea Party movement, Senator Konni Burton, has submitted a bill proposing that all public school employees must tell parents if their children identify as LGBT.

The bill, known as Senate Bill 242, could see public school staff punished if they fail to inform parents of their child’s gender identity or sexual orientation.

Students request for the information to be kept private cannot be honoured under the proposed law.

Senator Burton wrote on her website that the bill was a response to new guidelines pertaining to transgender students in Fort Worth, which forbade staff from informing parents if their child identified as trans* or gender diverse.

The Fort Worth guidelines were repealed after a successful campaign by Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, to which Senator Burton was aligned.

“We found these provisions in desperate need of clarity and expansion. That is why I am planning to file a bill that rewrites these provisions to make it unequivocally clear that a parent has a right to full and total information on their child’s academic performance, physical, mental and emotional health, and more,” Senator Burton wrote.

“Further, my legislation will make it expressly against state law for a district to adopt policies designed to undermine a parent’s right to know. No parent in Texas should ever have to fight for the basic right to matter in their child’s life again.”

Senate Bill 242 will not be considered until January 2017, when the Texas Legislature resumes at the beginning of President Donald Trump’s first year.

OIP Staff

Sources

• The New Civil Rights Movement

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