SisterLove, Inc Statements: Don’t Say Gay Bill Introduced in Georgia

The legislative assault on LGBTQ+ rights continues. This time, the State of Georgia is the latest frontline.

Explaining the "Don't Say Gay" Bill

Legislation dubbed as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill has been filed in the Georgia General Assembly. This legislation, SB 613, filed by Senator Carden Summers, targets the LGBTQ+ communities, as well as critical race theory teachings.

The bill suggests that educators have “inappropriately discussed gender identity with children who have not yet reached the age of discretion”. As children, we played house. We played cops and robbers. We played games exploring the worlds of possibilities open to us before an age of “discretion”, and this playing is not seen as inappropriate.

This bill is just the latest attempt by lawmakers to target minority groups with specious legislation.

An Attack on LGBTQ+ Identity

This legislation is problematic because it silences queer stories and experiences in favor of heteronormative ideals. LGBTQ+ youth deserve to play, experience, discuss and feel just like other children. They should not be raised in an oppressive society before they even get the opportunity to understand or discover themselves.

Queer youth exist. Queer people exist, and their lives, narratives, and representation matters.

School is a place for children to go and learn about themselves, those around them and prepare them for the world after school-age. Denying the opportunity for children to learn about gender identity presents the problem for children to have unhealthy ideas about gender, including gender roles and forcing children to define themselves within the parameters of patriarchal and misogynistic frameworks that deny children the freedom to define themselves.

Webinar: 'Queer Identity, Sexuality, and Reproductive Justice'

Erasing History

The bill also discusses that a focus on racial and gender identity and their related discrimination is destructive to the fabric of American society.

The United States was a country founded on stolen land. The Indigenous people who lived here before European settlers arrived were murdered, ambushed, and forcibly removed. Black people who were brought here were stolen from their land. America’s tapestry has been created off the backs of Black people and stolen from the hands of the Indigenous people.

To deny this truth is to deny the real truth about America and its fabric.

The truth is oppression exists. Oppressive systems exist and denying them through policy, rhetoric, and institutionalized victim-blaming does not eliminate their existence. It would be a better use of legislators’ time if they dismantled the very systems of inequality their constituents react to rather than cementing discrimination into laws that gaslight minority communities and their issues.

It’s manipulative and abusive.

If this bill passes it will only reinforce the harms that have been done by Americans on American soil. As it stands, children are not being taught true American history. Black history is taught as an elective while 'American history' is a course in which many Americans cannot find a person that looks like them.

To be American is to understand the egregious harms that have been committed in the name of 'liberty and justice for all'. To be American is knowing that all you do as a woman, as queer, as Black, as an immigrant (unless you’re White or of European descent) will always have an asterisk by it, that you are merely a footnote in history.

These issues are ones that cause feelings to stir. The indignant hope it arouses should incite people to vote with venom in their hearts during the general election, but the methods are tone deaf because politicians are silencing the voices of many integral pieces of their constituency.

Take Action

Georgia primaries take place on May 24th. We ask that you make sure you get out and vote, show these politicians that you will not be silenced!

Register to vote and find your polling place now.

To contact your legislators and voice your opinions on SB 613, click here.

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SisterLove stands with LGBTQ+ organizations and communities in being vehemently against legislation like this. A bill that bans discussions of LGBTQ+ people, race, and the lived experiences of Queer folks and BIPOC goes against what we advocate for at SisterLove.

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