Tennessee Senate to consider banning ‘gay’ mentions in K-8

The Tennessee Senate is set to vote next week on a bill that would criminalize teaching about homosexuality in schools enrolling students from kindergarten through the eighth grade

Teachers could be charged with a misdemeanor if they talked about homosexuality. There's already a law in the state forbidding teachers from straying at all from the state's abstinence-focused curriculum governing family-life instruction in the classroom.

The bill's sponsor, GOP Sen. Stacey Campfield, has been pushing the measure for six years without success--until the legislation cleared the education panel in the Senate. Campfield told CNN he thinks discussions of homosexuality should be left to parents, and that he doesn't approve of young children being taught that some people are gay. "Schools shouldn't be advocating for or against homosexuality," he told Fox News.

A gay rights group in Tennessee told Fox the bill also prevents guidance counselors from talking about homosexuality--a move that would effectively prevent kids with questions about their sexuality from talking to any authority figures in school. Gay-rights opponents of the measure have dubbed it the "Don't say gay" bill. Campfield counters that the bill only prevents teachers from integrating discussions of homosexuality into their curricula, not from saying the word altogether. (Campfield has also recently faced controversy for asking for a $1,000 retainer for debating the bill in Texas, which critics said was inappropriate.)

There have been some signs of protest against the move. Today, teachers, students, parents and other members of the community announced they would rally against the bill in Oak Ridge. Another woman wrote in to the Tennessean about her own experience growing up gay in a small town.

"Sexual orientation is one thing that can't be legislated out of anyone, not even state Sen. Stacey Campfield," she wrote. "Even with laws, even with the threat of a misdemeanor, there will still be gay people, gay kids, gay siblings, gay friends, gay parents and gay celebrities. Kids will talk about it, even if they don't tell their teachers."

There's also an online petition against the bill organized by high school students (via BoingBoing).

(Campfield screenshot from CNN)