Tennessee Lawmaker Pushes 'Don't Say Gay' Bill

Although GOP state leadership has asked him to back off the issue, the Republican sponsor of Tennessee's so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill will continue to press for legislation banning discussion of LGBT issues in elementary and middle schools, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday.

The bill would limit sexual education to "natural human reproduction science" from kindergarten to eighth grade. The bill's sponsor, State Rep. Joey Hensley (R-Hohenweld), said it would be delayed by up to three weeks.

"We don’t want students to be exposed to alternate lifestyles," Hensley said, according to The Tennessean. “If their parents want them to know about that, they can teach them at home.”

The House Education Committee was ready to debate the proposal on Tuesday, but Hensley said he needs more time to work on the bill's language. A legislative subcommittee approved the measure on Feb. 16.

Although he did not say he would veto the measure, Republican Gov. Bill Haslam called last week for lawmakers to drop the bill, arguing state legislators should focus on more pressing matters.

State Sen. Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville), who sponsored the Senate bill, told the Los Angeles Times that schools need what he called "Don't Teach Gay" legislation.

Campfield has previously claimed -- incorrectly -- that HIV spread to humans when a gay man had sex with a monkey, a statement that earned him the ire of gay rights supporters and led one restaurant in Knoxville, Tenn., to refuse him service, according to the Los Angeles Times.

School counselors said that the "Don't Say Gay" bill would hurt their ability to help students, according to an article published in The Tennessean last week.

Other legislators are also under fire for the legislation. State Rep. John DeBerry (D-Memphis), a minister and supporter of the bill, will likely be challenged by a Democrat this year in his new district, which includes a larger proportion of the Memphis gay community.

"The basic right as an American is my right to life, my right to liberty and my right to the pursuit of happiness," DeBerry said in defense of the bill earlier this month. "Within that includes being able to run my home, raise my children as I see fit and to indoctrinate them as I see fit."

Comments

[Kathy Levittown]

10:56 AM on 04/04/2012

Did you EVER NOTICE that these GOTEA legislators who are the most violently opposed to gays and lesbians are...well....a little weird....

"Me thinks they doth protest too much"...

[Sighsmic Activity]

08:47 AM on 03/05/2012

I am officially sponsering the "don't say Republican" bill. Who is on board?

[Kathy Levittown]

10:50 AM on 04/04/2012

M E!!!!!!

[JackMcSpades]

01:18 AM on 04/19/2012

I'm there....
actually, can we make it the "don't say GOP bill"?? cause theres nothing "grand" about them. We should call them the OBP "Old Bigoted Party"

[Pho3n1xSun]

10:50 AM on 03/02/2012

the only thing I needed to hear was the word Indoctrinate. he can "INDOCTRINATE" his children anyway that HE wants (sorry kids :( ) but that does not mean everyone else has to.

[Keyser77]

09:32 AM on 03/02/2012

"Banning Discussions" Anyone who doesn't consider that to be Un-American is underestimating the intelligence of their children.

[JackMcSpades]

01:19 AM on 04/19/2012

Agreed!!

[westcoastprog]

08:36 AM on 03/02/2012

The next word he'll want to ban is "alternative".

[DCmykl]

06:47 AM on 03/02/2012

Tennessee is a problem state. It's a problem for all the reasons stated by those commenting here, but it's also a problem because for the most part with the exception of AIDS related organizations and university oriented LGBT student organizations and a state-wide lobbying organization that does have a representative in Nashville, there are no strong, active, grassroots LGBT political action organizations throughout the state to take on these viciously anti-gay Republican politicians. There are several reasons what this is the case. First, of course, because being an "out" and vocal gay person isn't all that easy in Tennessee. But, it wasn't easy to be an out and vocal gay person in any of the places where LGBT people spoke up in the past and changed conditions around them for the better. In Tennessee the fight for equality has been left largly up to the HRC with local HRC-related organizations holding monthly events and fundraisers to support the national organization. The problem is, as with the GOP's economic philosophy, "Trickle Down" just doesn't work any more with equality than it does with the economy.

[Kathy Levittown]

10:53 AM on 04/04/2012

GREAT post..

I never understand ANYTHING the backward state of Tennessee does, but your post gives me a little insight..

F&F..;-)

[standish]

11:19 PM on 03/01/2012

The man has no freakin eyebrows! You just know that somewhere in his medicine cabinet are a well used pair of tweezers and a Marlene Dietrich eyebrow pencil.

[westcoastprog]

08:35 AM on 03/02/2012

He plays Streisand music late into the night, wears a caftan and uses a silver cigarette holder.

[sf1000000]

10:24 AM on 03/02/2012

F&F but he forgot his turban !! Lol

[standish]

12:29 AM on 03/03/2012

With long red lacquered nail polish and, and, and..........I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

[Kathy Levittown]

10:53 AM on 04/04/2012

O no you didnt..lol lol lol!!!

Hilarious!! ;-)

[AngryHarpy]

10:33 PM on 03/01/2012

He looks, and sounds, like he is made of plastic.

[grandpamike]

10:15 PM on 03/01/2012

It's almost time for Joey to come out of the closet . It seems the pattern of most of the anti-gay legislators, especially, Republican ones. Do it Joey, you will unburden yourself of the guilt you have been carrying around.

[mulee]

08:23 PM on 03/01/2012

This coming from a state that created a "right to bully" bill. The names of these bills are sounding as ridiculous as the bills themselves. Don't we have recession...high gas prices...unemployment...you know actual things that these state governments should actually be worrying about right now instead of who's allowed to get married?!

[Bob Morrow]

08:13 PM on 03/01/2012

"DeBerry said in defense of the bill earlier this month. "Within that includes being able to run my home, raise my children as I see fit and to indoctrinate them as I see fit.""

So he needs the State schools to assist him? Funny, people raise their kids 'indoctrinating' them on all sorts of things without requiring everyone else to also indoctrinate their children the same way. Something tells me he has no problem filling his own kid's heads full of all sorts of factoids he pulls out of his nether regions. Is he that bad a parent that he needs assistance from the State?

[Ron in NYC]

07:40 PM on 03/01/2012

Any day now, this guy will be caught in some seedy motel in Memphis with a rent boy and his pants around his ankles. Wait for it.

[DandaPanda]

08:54 PM on 03/01/2012

Or in an airport mensroom widstancing and footapping.

[westcoastprog]

08:39 AM on 03/02/2012

Is that Senator Lindsay Graham on the phone?

[Ron in NYC]

07:34 PM on 03/01/2012

Just say hate!

[Siera Griffin]

05:57 PM on 03/01/2012

I feel sorry for his kids for having a father who's a hate-filled, homophobic bigot. I also feel sorry for all children in the TN school system, especially LGBT kids. Hensley is essentially giving anyone free reins to discriminate against LGBT kids in TN schools, as if they didn't have it hard enough already, esp. in the South.

[Turtlenewz]

05:13 PM on 03/01/2012

Tennessee : A State of H8te and Ignor ance

[Swisher67]

01:47 PM on 04/04/2012

Unless of course one is a professional musician, in which case Nashville is one of the finest places to be in my experience. It's the music which permeates through the city and generates good energy. The music cuts through all the other nonsense and puts everyone on the same level. It is truly a shame that this vibe doesn't extend throughout the state