Skip to content Skip to search

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/
Sign up for our newsletter

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • 1 in 4 parents report being fired for work interruptions due to child care breakdowns

        Chabeli Carrazana · February 2
      • Washington, D.C., offers financial relief to local child care workers

        Orion Rummler · September 20
      • As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

        Jessica Kutz · May 5
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Can Cheri Beasley build a winning coalition in North Carolina?

        Candice Norwood · October 11
      • Los Angeles has never elected a woman mayor. Karen Bass hopes to change that.

        Nadra Nittle · September 8
      • Judge J. Michelle Childs is confirmed to D.C. appeals court

        Candice Norwood · July 20
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
      • Few incarcerated women were released during COVID. The ones who remain have struggled.

        Candice Norwood · August 17
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: What we know about Brittney Griner’s case and what it took to get her home

        Candice Norwood, Katherine Gilyard · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why the Respect for Marriage Act doesn’t codify same-sex marriage rights

        Kate Sosin · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why baby formula is still hard to find months after the shortage

        Mariel Padilla · December 1
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • Stepping in after tragedy: How political wives became widow lawmakers

        Mariel Padilla · May 24
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • From ballroom dancing to bloodshed, the older AAPI community grapples with gun control

        Nadra Nittle, Mariel Padilla · January 27
      • 'I'm planning on working until the day I die': Older women voters are worried about the future

        Mariel Padilla · June 3
      • Climate change is forcing care workers to act as first responders

        Jessica Kutz · May 31
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Connecticut voters approved early voting. Here’s how their new secretary of state wants to make it happen.

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 13
      • Women lawmakers in Minnesota are in the vanguard of the democracy movement

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 3
      • Election workers believe in our system — and want everyone else to, too

        Barbara Rodriguez, Jennifer Gerson · November 8

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • 19th Polling
    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Election 2022
    • Election 2024
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Military
    • Politics
    • Press Release
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th Represents Summit

Don’t miss our biggest event of 2023!

Register Today

Become a member

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Rep. Mike Johnson speaks at a press conference in front of the U.S. Capitol.
Rep. Mike Johnson (center) speaks at a press conference on Capitol Hill in November 2021. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

LGBTQ+

More than ‘Don’t Say Gay’: Proposed national bill is latest move in fight over LGBTQ+ rights

Over 30 House Republicans seek to ban federally funded institutions from promoting information about LGBTQ+ people that could reach children.

Orion Rummler

LGBTQ+ Reporter

Orion Rummler headshot

Published

2022-10-26 05:00
5:00
October 26, 2022
am

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Over 30 House Republicans are backing a bill that seeks to ban federally funded institutions from promoting material acknowledging gender identity, gender dysphoria, transgender people and sexual orientation when such topics would reach children under 10 years old. 

The bill labels such information about LGBTQ+ people as “sexually-oriented material,” grouping depictions of 7 percent of the country’s population in the same category as pornography and other lewd content. The bill, which is unlikely to advance through a Democrat-controlled House, would affect public schools, state library systems, museums and national parks, as well as educational material across federal agencies. 

LGBTQ+ experts are worried that the bill will spark copycat legislation in states where similar bans on information about LGBTQ+ people could actually become law — especially in the next legislative session. The bill is a notable escalation of efforts to restrict classroom discussion of gender and sexuality, efforts that have passed in Florida and Alabama, advocates say.

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

“This isn’t just a ‘national Don’t Say Gay bill,’” said Logan Casey, senior policy researcher and adviser for the Movement Advancement Project, which tracks LGBTQ+ policy. ”I’ve seen that headline a lot. It goes dramatically farther beyond that.”

That description undersells and misrepresents the extent to which this bill, which was introduced last week by Republican Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, would apply to various areas of life supported by federal funding, Casey said. 

Multiple LGBTQ+ researchers and policy experts told The 19th that they had never seen a bill like this one at the state level, introduced in the current Congress, or passed into law in recent memory. A bill that so overtly depicts LGBTQ+ people as sexually inappropriate, especially around children, is a significant escalation — even if it’s all part of the same rhetoric, advocates say. 

In state-level anti-LGBTQ+ bills, that argument usually appears as part of the rhetoric surrounding legislation, instead of being part of the legislation itself, said Human Rights Campaign legal director Sarah Warbelow. 

“I certainly haven’t seen anything like it in the modern era, to my mind,” Casey said.

  • More from The 19th
    A teacher holds a letter from a former student that reads
  • The national teacher shortage is growing. In Florida, controversial laws are making it worse.
  • What is ‘soft’ censorship? When school districts don’t ban books, they still limit student access
  • ‘I see myself in her’: Brittney Griner’s Russia trial resonates with queer Black women and nonbinary people

Chris Erchull, staff attorney at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), said he would expect a bill like this — if it were ever passed into law — to be challenged as unconstitutional, since it aims to prevent LGBTQ+ people from being equal under the law and is too broad to be carried out by institutions affected by it. 

How the bill defines “sexually-oriented material,” specifically, calls into question how a mandate so broadly defined could actually be applied, he said. In singling out drag queen story hours and literature about gender transition being available in state library systems as reasons to restrict federal funding, the bill shows that it specifically targets LGBTQ+ people, Erchull said. 

“This is targeted at a class of people based on gender identity and based on sexual orientation,” he said. He added that it was likely to violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

A bill like this at the national level reminded several advocates of LGBTQ+ censorship of the past — the “no promo homo” laws enacted in the 1980s and 1990s banning LGBTQ+ topics in education during the HIV/AIDS epidemic. 

“At the time, and I think now, it’s an attempt to undermine acceptance of LGBTQ people,” said David Stacy, government affairs director for the Human Rights Campaign. What’s changed since then is a much more widespread acceptance of LGBTQ+ people, he said, as a record number of Americans back same-sex marriage, and most Americans favor protecting transgender people from discrimination. 

Other efforts targeting trans people have been introduced in Congress in the past, Stacy said, although none of them have moved forward. The Senate last year voted against an amendment added onto $1.9 trillion in COVID-19 relief that would have banned federal education funds for schools allowing trans girls to play sports with other girls, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced a bill this August that aimed to make gender-affirming care for minors a felony. 

The newly introduced bill was brought by Johnson, who is the vice chairman of the House Republican Conference, someone involved in official party messaging. Johnson’s sponsorship signals to Stacy that anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric is becoming more mainstream for Republicans in the lower chamber. 

Tiffany Tran, senior legislative manager at the National LGBTQ Task Force, agreed that the bill coming from Johnson signals a more formal embrace of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric within the GOP.

Stories by experienced reporters you can trust and relate to.

Delivered directly to your inbox every weekday.

Please check your email to confirm your subscription!

Submitting…

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

While advocates expect this bill to fail, several said they worry states will use it to model their own legislation. Some also worry that rhetoric insinuating children are in danger from exposure to LGBTQ+ people will provoke in-person threats and attacks. Just this year, a handful of hospitals across the country have received social media threats and, in one case, a fake bomb threat, over gender-affirming care for trans youth. 

“There’s a real danger out here, and the fact that this is continuing to feed that rhetoric and ratchet it up as opposed to trying to defuse it, which is what elected officials should be doing, is something that is definitely very concerning for us,” Stacy said. 

Watching this rhetoric play out among lawmakers can also harm mental health among LGBTQ+ youth, Warbelow said, regardless of whether the bill goes anywhere. High stress and sadness among LGBTQ+ youth last year was attributed to widespread anti-LGBTQ+ bills, which have already set a new record this year. 

When reached for comment on LGBTQ+ experts saying his bill aims to prevent LGBTQ+ people from being equal under the law and escalates anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric that would harm queer youth, Johnson’s office said in an emailed statement that his bill is being mischaracterized by “those who support the sexualization of our culture.” 

“Federal grants should be used to keep our country healthy and safe, not to stage drag queen shows for children,” Johnson said in a statement. “Your tax dollars should not fund government programs or private organizations that intentionally expose children under 10 years of age to any sexual materials or programs, regardless of orientation.”

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

The 19th Represents Summit

Don’t miss our biggest event of 2023!

Register Today

Become a member

Up Next

Election 2022

Where top abortion-focused super PACs are spending in the fight to control Congress

These groups have put around $6 million into key battlegrounds in October, according to an analysis by The 19th, indicating where they think their messaging can mobilize the most voters.

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Search
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram