We Are Under Attack: A Look at Some of the 16 Anti-LGBT & “Don’t Say Gay Bills” Up for Legislation in America

Make no mistake, and let’s not mince words here: we are under attack and the LGBT youth of America are under attack. As of print, there are currently at least 16 “Don’t Say Gay Bills” up for legislature around America. These bills tell children that the only normal love—the only acceptable love—is heterosexual. My Gay ass has a few things to say about that. First, fuck off. Second…well, second is also fuck off. But third and fourth? Actually, thinking it over, one through 10 are all fuck off. But some of these hate bills even take it a step further into suggesting the government takes action against parents of Queer kids. Let’s take a look at 5 of the most harmful bills out there.

Let’s just start with some really cool new stats. According to a recent Gallup poll, “the percentage of U.S. adults who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual has increased to a new high of 7.1%, which is double the percentage from 2012, when Gallup first measured it.” That’s amazing when you factor in sample size and how many people may not have felt comfortable to answer those questions. Then you learn one in six adults in Generation Z identifies as LGBT, so our numbers are growing as the newer generations come to sexual consciousness. And yet these bills seek to say that any other love other than straight love can not be talked about in class rooms.

First, we have Kansas who has a bill up for passing in their legislature. They’re trying to amend the state’s obscenity law to make the use of any materials in a classroom that depict ‘homosexuality’ a Class B misdemeanor. Kansas, listen up. Fucking come for us. We endured laws for long enough and fought our way to equal rights under the law for you to think your dumbfuck legislature can make our kids’ or our families' existences illegal. It would be illegal to discuss a child's same sex parents or have them represented during holidays or Father's Day or any of that school stuff.

Then there is Oklahomo. Oklahoma has a bill in their Senate up for debate that will prevent any public school from hiring a person that “promotes positions in the classroom or at any function of the public school that is in opposition to closely held religious beliefs of students.” Oklahoma is fucking with the wrong gaytheist on this one. Keep your religious beliefs the out of any public setting period. People’s religious beliefs should have no bearing on the scientific fact that Queer people, Queer love, and Queer sex are all things that exist in every day life. Gay guys exist. Lesbians exist. Trans people exist. The spectrum of gender is nonbinary. This is reality. That’s what we’re dealing with. So when you say that those people who are LGBTQ+ shouldn’t be hired because it could go against religious beliefs in a country where church and state are allegedly separate is fucking asinine for essentially every reason.

A House Bill in Tennessee wants to just use any old script from a 1950s fearmonger campaign, saying that it was to ban all textbooks that “promote, normalize, support, or address lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) lifestyles” in any K-12 public schools. The world is in color, Tennessee, and you need to get the fuck onboard. Stop being such an obvious joke on yourself, and stop clinging to the ideals of the past.

Of course, then there has been the most headline-capturing legislation from our country’s most annoying growth, Florida. On Monday, Florida’s infamous “Don’t Say Gay Bill” passed its final Senate committee by a margin of 12-8. The bill, which is formally–and decidedly more obnoxiously–known as the “Parental Rights in Education Bill” will now go to vote on the Senate floor. Florida really is a caricature of America, and the way any caricature also showcases the worst of features, Florida’s pushing of this bill is a highlighting of some of the blemishes on the soul of this country.

Finally, we have one of the biggest threats given the voice of power issuing it, even if it’s not a specific “Don’t Say Gay Bill.” Piece of shit Texas Governor Greg Abbott took it another step further and, in a letter he wrote to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Service, tried to instruct them (a State agency mind you) to investigate gender-affirming healthcare as child abuse by the parents. No one can deny that the discussion of gender affirming youth is a layered one, but suggesting the parents of those families that go that approach should be sent to jail is absolute madness. The bill failed in the Texas House and Senate, so Abbott decided to pass it through Executive Order. Now parents and civil rights organizations will sue the state to stop this harmful directive.

There are so many miserable problems called into the picture with these bills. Issues like queerphobia, intolerance, religious fearmongering, blurring of church and state…the list goes on. And all of them are being entertained regardless of the fact that they are flying directly in the face of one decided truth: We exist. We exist, and we are going to fight back with every resource and every ounce of fight. We’ve continued to win these battles, and trust we will this war.

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