By Sushila Rao
Sponsors of a Bill seeking to ban the teaching of gay issues to elementary and middle school students have delayed the measure in the Tennessee House of Representatives, ostensibly to allow consideration of a more comprehensive bill that would place restrictions on “family life education” curricula.
The amended version of the controversial “Don’t Say Gay Bill,” House Bill 229, would limit all sexually related instruction to “natural human reproduction science” in kindergarten through eighth grade. The precise meaning of these terms has been left undefined. The original Bill would have simply prohibited public elementary and middle schools from providing “any instruction or material that discusses sexual orientation other than heterosexuality.” Supporters of the Bill see it as a vindication of the rights of parents to teach their children about sexuality as they see fit, in accordance with their beliefs.
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