Every year the Austin, Texas, school district holds a Pride Week “to celebrate LGBTQIA+ students, staff, and families by highlighting the district’s commitment to creating a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment.”
The Austin Independent School District states on its webpage,
“Each campus will receive an inspiration guide of suggested activities for PRIDE Week. Campuses are encouraged to plan activities that engage, educate and inspire. If you have any questions regarding planning activities or for assistance in selecting resources that best fit your school community, please contact your campus GSA coordinator or campus counselor.”
However, this year, because of the new anti-Gay laws in that state, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has said that the school district is breaking state law.
The week-long celebration and education this past week had each day covering a particular theme such as “know your rights” and Gay History and ended with a “PRIDE OUT!” party. This year the Pride Week came during National LGBTQ Health Awareness Week.
However, two days in, Paxton notified the Superintendent of the district that
“The Texas Legislature has made it clear that when it comes to sex education, parents—not school districts—are in charge.”
The use of the phrase “sex Education” clearly shows he did not bother to actually look at the event and that he knows the word “sex” will disturb some people, most likely his conservative base.
“By hosting ‘Pride Week,’ your district has, at best, undertaken a week-long instructional effort in human sexuality without parental consent. Or, worse, your district is cynically pushing a week-long indoctrination of your students that not only fails to obtain parental consent, but subtly cuts parents out of the loop. Either way, you are breaking state law.”
In another subtle reveal of his prejudice and the need to use loaded terms to win support, Paxton, in justifying his claim that there should have been parental consent, does not describe the Pride Week events as what they actually were but, instead, purposely mislabels them instruction regarding human sexuality.
He let the public know that parents can file complaints against the school district with the school board and the Texas Education Agency.
In response, the superintendent released a statement that said,
“Here at Austin ISD, we celebrate Pride during every school year so our LGBTQIA+ students know how much they are valued and loved. This year, it’s important to me personally that they know they are respected and safe, too, and lest anyone have any doubt, that absolutely goes for our trans kids. We are ALL Austin ISD. We embrace diversity.”
The statement on Tuesday by the Attorney General did not stop Pride week that continued to the end.
Good Lord, what will Paxton do if a high school in Texas puts on a play with two people falling in love and talking about it.
The deaths of Romeo and Juliet will not be from suicide, but Texas bigotry.
By calling the Affordable Care Act “Obama Care” so that conservatives would reject good health care because they so identified the act with that Obama, racism and rank , political partisanship had them rejecting Obama Care while praising the ACA. They had no idea they were the same thing, and some preferred the ACA to Obamacare, even as they were one in the same. They did want or need the actual facts the name was enough to influence them.
Call addressing the needs of Gay students “instruction in human sexuality”, and you have people opposing what, if properly informed, they would support.
Texas, a place where at agricultural schools or in the classes of schools that have that in the curriculum along with animal husbandry, students will have questions about the similarities between humans and farm animals and may threaten the teacher’s career and financial standing if the questions are asked.
Ripples in the pond are going to start forming and being noticed.
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