Senators in Georgia have advanced what many LGBTQ+ advocates are calling its answer to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The bill’s (SB 88) official name is the “Parents and Children Protection Act.”
It would force schools to get written permission from parents if they want to talk to kids about “issues of gender identity, queer theory, gender ideology or gender transition.”
Schools would also not be allowed to change a child’s name or records without consulting parents. Opponents say it would basically force schools to out trans kids to their parents.
Politics, but make it gay!
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Lawmakers in the Peach State have been trying to pass legislation similar to this for the past three years. There has been to-ing and fro-ing over whether the legislation should apply to both public and private schools. The latest reworking of the legislation covers both types of schools. It has removed some of the language around sexuality. However, it still restricts schools in the support they might extend to kids questioning their gender identity.
On Tuesday, the Senate held a committee hearing. Several people who support the bill spoke out in its defense. Despite a crowd turning up for the hearing, nobody who opposed the bill was allowed to speak. Afterwards, lawmakers advanced the legislation on a 6-3 vote along party lines.
Atlanta Democratic Sen. Elena Parent said the decision not to allow opponents to voice their opinion, despite many being present, seemed “fundamentally unfair,” reports the Georgia Recorder.
Republican Sen. Clint Dixon, the committee chair, defended the decision.
“We’ve had four public hearings that have gone for hours,” he said. “And we’ve vetted this bill very extensively. It’s changed quite a bit based on each public hearing, so the bill we’ve got in front of us is because of all the public comment that we’ve heard over the past year. So this bill, in my opinion, has been vetted very thoroughly.”
“Indoctrinating kids”
One of those to speak in favor of the legislation was gay attorney Jeff Cleghorn. On his X bio, Cleghorn describes himself as a “1990’s gay rights advocate fighting against Queer ideology.”
He has previously described trans people as “mentally ill sex fetishists.”
“SB 88 is necessary because the former gay rights movement has been hijacked by those pushing this dishonest gender ideology on children,” he said during his allocated time spot.
“This is about indoctrinating kids into a belief system that is not real.”
He claimed trans advocates were “piggybacking” on the success of the gay rights movement.
“Do not let schools teach kids to keep secrets from their parents. These are not Georgia values.”
Cleghorn also pointed to the fact that a SubReddit about destransitioning has 52,000 members. He suggested many young people regret embarking on transition.
Although the Subreddit in question has many members, that doesn’t mean they all wish to detransition or have done so. In fact, the latest US Transgender Survey, which polled 92,000 trans Americans found the vast majority felt happier after embarking on their transition.
Ninety-four percent “who lived at least some of the time in a different gender than the one they were assigned at birth reported that they were either ‘a lot more satisfied’ (79%) or ‘a little more satisfied’ (15%) with their life. Three percent (3%) reported that transitioning gender made them ‘neither more nor less satisfied’ with their life, 1% were ‘a little less satisfied’, and 2% were ‘a lot less satisfied’ with their life.”
Log Cabin Republicans
Besides Cleghorn, the Washington Blade reports that the other people allowed to speak were a former president of the Young Republicans, a representative from Gays Against Groomers, and a representative from the Georgia Log Cabin Republicans.
Human Rights Campaign Georgia Director Bentley Hudgins turned up to speak against the bill. However, they were not allowed to do so.
“Senate Bill 88 is a clear attempt by lawmakers to reframe curriculum censorship as parental involvement,” they said afterward. “We know that Georgia schools are no place for curriculum censorship and for discrimination against trans and non-binary students. A few lawmakers see a political upside in attacking LGBTQ+ young people, but this is the fourth time that this legislation came into committee, and the only time that it passed out of this committee was when they shut out a dozen of the people who came here to speak against it.”
Although the bill passed along party lines, it is not supported by all Republicans. Some conservatives want private schools to be exempt, so SB 88’s future remains unclear.
The next step for SB 88 is for it to pass the full Senate before February, 29. If that happens, it will go to the House for debate and approval.
Related*
Lawmaker who supports Florida’s anti-LGBTQ laws attends Pride. Guess what happened.
Meet Republican Rep. Fabián Basabe.
Chasten slams DeSantis for expanding ‘Don’t Say Gay’ to all school years
DeSantis previously said ‘Don’t Say Gay’ was just for younger kids.
dbmcvey
I bet it’s Shaver.
abfab
aka Jeff’s bitch
Diplomat
Jeff Cleghorn got it right in all respects however not allowing the opposing side to speak is total BS.
Ronbo
More knowledge is always better. Unless you are a sociopath or politician. Censorship is the enemy,
abfab
Or you. Or Jeff.
Ronbo
The more abfab posts, the more we KNOW. The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people with limited competence in a particular domain overestimate their abilities.
ShaverC
How could anyone believe teachers keeping secrets from parents is good thing? Whether you like it or not, it’s parents who have the right to raise their kids how they seem fit, not for teachers to undermine them. Good for Jeff Cleghorn, we need more lawyers like him.
abfab
Teachers are undermining parents?
dbmcvey
See, the self-hating gay man IS Shaver.
abfab
Shaver is a narrow minded simpleton. His parents sure raised him right…….
dario717
Easily, if the parents in question have donated a sperm and an egg and nothing more to the child’s well-being.
Bosch
My teachers were my support system after I came out at school. If they had outed me to my parents I would have been homeless at 15 instead of 17.
But baffling that you, as a supposed gay man, need this explained.
Fname Optional Lname
Because many LGBTQ children are not all embraced at home – this is nothing new. We all know where this could lead when parents are less than supporting, conversion therapy, runaways and sometimes suicide. No., Jeff Cleghorn’s ego is running amok and certainly is not thinking about what’s best for children
abfab
Yes, Bosche, it’s not a teacher or a guidance counselor’s right to take note and intervene when a child is getting the shit kicked out of them at home by thier republican parents who send the kids to school malnurished and mentally abused and brainwashed.
We see the results….read what the Trolls have to say about public education and life in general.
abfab
Jeff Cleghorn is worthless. Another Gay Troll charging way too much money and laughing all the way to Key West. Jeff…get back into your moldy log cabin…Shaver C needs a lawyer.
Baron Wiseman
This is a perfect example of why more and more American parents are either enrolling their children in private schools or homeschooling their kids.
It was reported just today, Illinois State Rep. Anne Stava-Murray (D-Naperville) has proposed House Bill 4876 to amend current legislation, the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act, to say an “abused child” is one whose parents deny “gender-affirming services.”
In Illinois, parents who are considered child abusers can lose custody of their children, if in this case they do not affirm transgender drugs, surgical procedures such as penis and breast removal.
Why are non-familial adults so preoccupied with the sex/sexuality/gender of children when they have no parental authority? Children are not the property of the state or the school district!
abfab
Blah, blah, blah.
dbmcvey
You think parents are enrolling children in private schools because the schools are too inclusive.
God, you’re dumb Barren.
dbmcvey
Republicans have defunded public schools to the point they can’t do the job. You, Barren, are just stupid.
Baron Wiseman
@dbmcvey
“Republicans have defunded public schools to the point they can’t do the job.”
What are you even talking about? What job? The job of “transing” the kids? As always, you provide no proof or documentation on anything you post. When I ask for it, it is NEVER provided. You just make shit up because you have a narrative to push regardless of facts, truth or logic.
I live in Los Angeles. Tell me…what Republicans have defunded Los Angeles schools? Names please. How about New York? Chicago?
Talk about “stupid.”
abfab
Barron, when you’re on the menu we could talk about stupid all night long……while you’re getting your fix under a Long Beach tanker. You sound like a crack addict. Put it down girl.
ShaverC
abfab, It’s amazing how you can’t come back with an actual rebuttal or comment so you just name call. It is so obvious you do not know what you’re talking about. Just like dbmcvey. You both (or are you the same person?) need to hone your debating skills.
Bosch
Penis removal on a child? That’s horrifying! You must have been terribly worried while you were making this up!
Bosch
“abfab, It’s amazing how you can’t come back with an actual rebuttal or comment so you just name call. It is so obvious you do not know what you’re talking about.”
It’s very telling that you don’t have this same criticism of baron dumfuk and decraps.
dbmcvey
Why should anyone have to refute something that isn’t happening?
When people like Barren and Shaver make these ridiculous claims, ridicule is all they deserve.
abfab
Not the same person @ShaverC. You’ve tried that approach a few times before.
Move along now, little princess.
decrans
“It’s very telling that you don’t have this same criticism of baron dumfuk and decraps.’
I’m just gonna do the same thing I accuse others of and adopt a holier-than-thou attitude while engaging in the hypocrisy. Durka-durka-duh. Ol Robot bones. He thinks kids can generate bones after puberty blockers. A certified dumbass through and through.
decrans
And Los Angeles has some of the worst public schools in the country. Don’t tell Dickvaney. His corporate Democrat paymasters are always right.
decrans
Izumi said the poor performance of California’s public schools is so bad that students are just not showing up for class. “The Los Angeles Times has reported that California parents are pulling their children out of school ‘because they’ve lost confidence in the education system’s ability to meet their needs.’
Those Trump fascist Latino writers at the Los Angeles Times, I tell ya. It’s a few steps below The Epoch Times. (Sarcasm, snort, And scene.)
decrans
From the neutral CalMatters: ‘One reason money doesn’t solve the problem is that the state provides very little oversight on how the money is spent, including the extra funds that local school systems receive specifically to close the achievement gap.”
Gee. That’s the same problem with homelessness. It’s almost as if flushing money down the toilet to solve social problems is a recurring theme in Gavin Newsom’s California. I’ll be damned.
abfab
I love it when the Log Cabin haks are in the news. Great fun.
Ronbo
What? Did they mention Graham Gremore, editor at Queerty?
abfab
Yes, they did. Happy? Cretin.
monty clift
Because you recognize your own kind?
abfab
Yes, Monty. You’re doing very well with this!
Ronbo
Abfab rarely provides insight; but, posts quite often – far beyond common sense. The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people with limited competence in a particular domain overestimate their abilities.
bachy
Extreme body mutilation seems to be the latest adolescent rebellion craze. Some call it ‘transitioning.’ I agree that “issues of gender identity, queer theory, gender ideology or gender transition” are debatable, controversial subjects that should not be taught to children.
Leave it to their parents, or psychotherapists. Children are generally not ready for confusing and contestable sex and gender-oriented concepts.
dbmcvey
Oh bachy, what a stupid person you are.
bachy
And what a surprisingly short-sighted person you are, DB.
dbmcvey
It’s not happening becky, you mad it up. You’re saying something ridiculous that isn’t happening. All you deserve is derision.
abfab
Really, bachy. You’re wasted.
Fname Optional Lname
Children who know they are different and fear they will get the wrath of mom and dad are more than ready for the support they deserve.
abfab
Thank you, Fname. Kids who are different have been thrown out of the family (the moral majority family, which is neither) and many kill themselves.
It’s the parents who should be in therapy, not the kids. Tell that to the Log Cabin Queer himself, Mr. Jeff Cleghorn of Georgia.
Mister P
Texas public schools have been starved by republicans wanting to fund private Christian schools and their overall hate for taxes.
abfab
Texas is and has been f ucked for years.
inbama
Interesting title, but writer David Hudson presents not a single reason to call Jeff Cleghorn “self-hating.”
If anything, Cleghorn is protecting gay rights from the backlash that trans extremism has caused. While activists could successfully brand DeSantis’s effort as “Don’t Say Gay” (which Queerty makes sure to repeat ad nausum in any article mentioning DeSantos), this legislation is aimed specifically at Queer Theory/Gender Studies.
The sooner we are not aligned with extremists and the Gender Industry that want to chemically castrate gay kids and lop the breasts off teenage lesbians and autistic girls, the better for us – and the chance for the Democratic Party to keep the presidency and retake the House.
dbmcvey
Anyone who isn’t deranged wouldn’t need it explained.
inbama
@dbmcvey
You are such a pathetic homophobe.
You need a good shrink to deal with YOUR self-hatred.
abfab
Just not your shrink inbamma….an obvious quack. Get lost and find a right wing nazi site where you’ll fit in. If they’ll have you.
abfab
Ask Jeff to let you back into the Log Cabin.
decrans
Tell that to the autistic lesbians with lopped off tits during their next lawsuit that will further erode the transgender healthcare industrial complex with high premiums, Dickvaney. “You just need it explained! You really do, though.”
monty clift
They’re not very bright if they think continually attacking gay men is going to reel us back in. In fact, it’s having the opposite effect. More and more gay men and women are speaking out against it every day.
abfab
And with you Monty, twice a day.
Baron Wiseman
A new curriculum being considered at a North Carolina police academy would teach cops in training that there are 68 different terms for gender identity.
Hmmm…..why only 68?
dbmcvey
Sure, Barren.
abfab
”Consider” putting yourself into a home, Barron.
decrans
Last week, it was 200. It’s almost as if they are pulling stuff out of their asses and expecting the rest of us to play along.
Diplomat
The sooner a full disconnect the better. They them, birther people instead of woman, men in girls showers and locker rooms, I’m a man but call me a woman. To a 3rd grader: you can be a boy or a girl. It’s not woke, it’s wak, and it’s imploding. Their nazi style aggressiveness make republicans look like Mother Teresa. They are belligerent insane zealots pushing a sexual dictatorship. They were DOA at their own hands. There’s alot of good ones that pay dearly for their tyrants tom foolery that run their movement. Very unfortunate.
Bosch
“men in girls showers and locker rooms”
You want Buck Angel in girl’s showers and locker rooms? That’ll make them comfortable?
Diplomat
If the trans community were actually rational and organized, they’d be securing legislation for their own bathrooms locker rooms sports teams etc. However since they prefer to make negative spectacles of themselves such is not the case. Hence, they lose.
Bosch
“they’d be securing legislation for their own bathrooms locker rooms sports teams etc”
Trans people and gender affirming care have been a normal part of the social landscape in my country since the 90s. Guess how many problems that’s caused.
Trans athletes have been participating in the Olympics for 20 years. Guess how many gold medals they’ve won. Guess how many problems they’ve caused.
abfab
Tom Foolery. Wow.
Mister P
Because 69 means something else.
Ronbo
This story reminds me of multiple anti-gay pieces posted right here at Queerty by Queerty’s editor-in-chief Graham Gremore. New readers here may not know why Graham Gremore presented multiple false stories against progressive gay politician Alex Morse. However, it was a multi-story coordinated hit-piece that destroyed a blossoming career and got a very, very conservative candidate elected.
Many people are unaware of how such media campaigns are coordinated against progressives and individuals who buck the establishment. To learn the foundation of media manipulation research “project mockingbird” and “correct the record” (astroturfing).
We’ve all heard of a “memory hole”. How many people know that search engine algorithms are regularly manipulated to censor information, prioritize AND de-prioritize results? Censorship is NOT our friend. Consider the never-ending wars that benefit the rich and kill the poor.
Mainstream or “Access journalism” is often false propaganda. For example: The NYTimes first reported WMD lies from secret sources (Cheney and Condoleezza) and subsequently Cheney and Condoleezza went on Meet the Press saying that the NYTimes confirmed WMDs. PS – No WMD’s were found and 280,190 innocent civilians died.
If you seek minimally censored news, I suggest independent sources like Democracy Now!, Ryan Grimm, Breaking Points, the Intercept and ProPublica. Question Authority and ALWAYS try to understand issues – not spoon-fed half-truths.
abfab
This has to be the 50th time you’ve pushed this story and like all of your stories, Ronbo, they go no where.
Oh and yeah right….thank you for turning us on to Amy Goodman. Where WOULD we be with out you.
Ronbo
Not everyone gets paid to repeat the company line, like you, abfab. Some new people come here and aren’t familiar with the Log Cabin Republican at the helm. I keep hoping that you start to understand and connect the dots. Obviously, you can’t. But, that doesn’t mean that others should ignore corruption.
abfab
Yes, all-seeing-Master Ronbo. The all-knowing. ”The People Come Here”….and you assume the Log Cabin isn’t in thier list of failed political organizations.
Only you know about them and how big the failure was and still is.
Ronbo
abfab, the more you post the better we know you. The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people with limited competence in a particular domain overestimate their abilities and post, and post and post.
Please contribute to the discussion rather than attempting to derail it with third-grade insults and name-calling. Learn about more than just one side of an issue in order to better comprehend and understand it. Understand that others have different perspectives from which we can learn.
Bosch
Dumb dumb dumb dumb. When the american conservatives feel they’ve won against the trans population, they’ll come for us instead. “I didn’t think the leopards would eat MY face!”
Ronbo
Trans people will always be trans, unless they are not trans. Bringing PROFESSIONAL therapists into the mix might be a good thing for minors and children.
There is no such a thing as ‘winning’ BECAUSE adults own their own body. To say otherwise is fascist OR a parent/guardian (luckily mine were not fascist). Each state has their own legal age. Too bad that lethal weapons are not tied to that age. THAT would actually save lives.
Bosch
“Too bad that lethal weapons are not tied to that age.”
Of course, none of this is about protecting children. It’s about giving the conservatives an easy target against whom they can unite.
inbama
@Bosch
Androphilic transwomen are primarily gay men – the gender industry is transing gay kids claiming that exploratory therapy is “conversion therapy.”
If you think only conservatives are against this, why in hell would liberal Scandinavia and Britain put a stop to chemically castrating minors?
Stop repeating BIg Pharma’s lies. Look what they did to Jazz Jennings!
abfab
Liberal Scandanavia? Read a newspaper and catch up.
monty clift
That analogy doesn’t work when “the leopards eating our faces” right now are the transgender community. Coming for us next? Lol Sweetie, Maybe you should learn a little gay history because conservatives have always been coming for gay people, yet we still managed to fight our own battles and come out on top. Just because the trans community is going down doesn’t mean we are going with them.
abfab
Alhough it would be swell if you went with them, Monty. Watch your step and don’t stand too close to the edge. They will suck your tiny little white ass into the chasms of hell with them.
You’re a p ussy.
abfab
Ronbo’s famous quotes and cliches, con’t.
”Trans people will always be trans, unless they are not trans.”
And Ronbo will always be Ronbo….a bigot.
decrans
And Little Trumpy McAbs will always be a misogynistic illiterate half-breed. Get hooked on Phonics, Little Trumpy!
Ronbo
abfab does not understand that some gay men/women may not be trans. Professional counseling may prevent them from transitioning. Harm reduction is ALWAYS a good solution. ”Trans people will always be trans, unless they are not trans.”
The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people with limited competence in a particular domain overestimate their abilities. “Think”, as much (or even more), than you post, abfab. Education may hurt your feelings; but, in the long run, you will be happier. It’s obvious that you are in pain.
DHT
When I was in 4th grade a public school teacher told us she had been reading an article about kids having sex. She told us to close our eyes and raise our hands if we had had sex. I had been molested the previous summer and I was having a hard time with processing it, and I really didn’t know anything about sex at all. So I closed my eyes and raised my hand, thinking this was an opportunity to get help. The next thing I knew she told me to open my eyes. Everyone in the class was looking at me. She then called me a liar. I doubt my fourth grade teacher was an anomaly. As far as I am concerned public school teachers probably shouldn’t even talk to each other about sex and they certainly shouldn’t be talking to children about it. These people aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed.
abfab
What curriculums do you teach….we’ll wait. You sound like a nazi, aka one more common, right wing nutcase.
All teachers are bad!….sure Adolf
ps your story was boring and lame
Ronbo
Re-read that abfab; you jump to silly nazi accusations much too quickly. Rather than having teachers attempt counseling, maybe a professional counselor should be utilized. Do you think that ALL teachers should act as irresponsibly as DHTs?
Stay in your lane abfab, the slow lane seems right for you. The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people with limited competence in a particular domain overestimate their abilities.
abfab
Join our friend and gay rights activist (LOL) Jeff Cleghorn for a discussion about the harms of gender ideology and what can be done to counter it on Sat, Oct 14th with the @fultoncountyrepublicanparty in Johns Creek, Georgia.
RSVP at the Breakfast of Champions link in the @fultoncountyrepublicanparty profile.
And there he is. The Troll Leader, himself . Hello Jeff.
inbama
When trolls like you attack anyone who speaks the truth, psychologists, neurologists, evolutionary biologists, and defenders of lesbians and gays are forced to seek to find audiences to get the word out regardless of their politics.
I still hope that the Democratic Party will come to its senses and stop taking its cues about LGBT issues from the greedy Gender Industry that is no better than the quacks who used to “cure” us with lobotomies and shock therapy. If the New York Times can come around – and they are – there is hope for the LGBT civil rights movement.
abfab
Whatever you say, Jeff! You’re our hero!
Ronbo
When will abfab learn that immature comments, personal attacks and extremism hurts OUR cause. Let the conservatives be children so that mature thoughts can be heard. When you must speak up, add to the conversation rather than blowing it up.