America’s Republican politicians are afraid of, or abhor the rainbow?
In Tennessee, the right-wing Republican party passed by 70:24 vote in the House of Representatives a bill that would largely ban displaying LGBTQIA pride flags in public school classrooms by a school employee or other agents that wouldn’t fall under proposed criteria for what would be allowed in classrooms.
The bill has been sent to the Senate.
Republican politician Gino Bulso, representing Williamson County south of Nashville, authored the bill after – according to him – parents complained about “political flags” in classrooms. For Bulso, displaying the pride flag does not constitute protected free speech, at least for school employees, since his bill’s priority is to make sure “parents are the ones who are allowed to instill in their children the values they want to instill,” Bulso was quoted as saying.
Likely to be passed as state law, this bill will still allow certain flags to be displayed (e.g. US flag; Tennessee flag; those deemed protected historical items under state law; Native American tribes; local governments’ armed forces and prisoners of war or those missing in action; other countries and their local governments; colleges or universities; or the schools themselves).
Other flags will be allowed to be temporarily displayed if they are parts of curriculum, and some groups will be allowed to display their flags while using school buildings.
To punish “violators”, the enforcement system relies on lawsuits of parents or guardians of students who attend, or are eligible to attend, public school in any district in question.
Tennessee’s political offices are saddled with extremely conservative leaders who have passed anti-LGBTQIA policies – e.g. limiting classroom conversations about gender and sexuality; banning gender-affirming care; and limiting events with drag performers.
