New Parental Rights Bill Brings the “Don’t Say Gay” Debate to the Tarheel State

Protesters against the “Don’t Say Gay” bill in Florida attempting to persuade Ron De Santis to veto the bill. Source for photo: Human Rights Campaign

The North Carolina Senate has started off their new legislative session with a flurry of activity. With Republicans having gained a considerable majority in the 2022 elections, Senate Republicans have started to chip away at a long list of party objectives for the Tarheel state. One of the first things Senate Republicans brought to the floor was Senate Bill 49, better known as the Parents’ Bill of Rights. The bill was introduced and sponsored by Senators Amy Galey, Michael Lee, and Lisa Barnes hailing from Alamance, New Hanover, and Nash counties, respectively. These representatives claim the purpose of the bill is to “enumerate the rights of parents to direct the upbringing, education, healthcare, and mental health of their minor children.” Much of the bill is concerned with school transparency, including things like parents' access to curricular materials, and is already part of state law. However, most of the controversy stems from a part of the bill concerning installing guardrails on curriculum dealing with gender identity and sexual orientation. The bill ultimately passed with a vote of 29-18 on party lines and was sent to the North Carolina House of Representatives for confirmation. 

Though the bill did pass the Senate with a majority vote, it wasn’t without lively debate on the floor. Senators didn’t shy away from fiercely criticizing or defending the bill, which in summary would forcibly increase teacher transparency, allow parents to sue the school over material they believe to be inappropriate, and place strict limits on how teachers are to address LGBTQ+ issues in the classroom (which according to this bill is ideally not at all). Freshman Senator Lisa Grafstein, a Democrat from Wake County, kicked off the debate claiming that the supposed well-intent behind the bill didn’t matter, but the consequences did. Certain aspects of the bill, namely those policing references to and behavior in accordance with the LGBTQ+ community, could create a hostile school environment for LGBTQ+ students and teachers, Grafstein explained. Senator Graig Meyer, a Democrat from Orange County, also spoke out about the bill, leaning on his experiences as both a parent and former social worker. Meyer affirmed the importance of the relationship between parents and their child’s school, but expressed concern that this bill would harm that relationship by creating increased tensions and more rules teachers would be expected to follow. Senator Galey, sponsor of the bill, fiercely defended Senate Bill 49, claiming “there should be no confidential relationship between students and government employees that exclude parents.” 

The bill itself and dynamic debate surrounding it, both inside and outside the legislative building, have borne striking resemblance to the now infamous “Don’t Say Gay” bill passed in Florida in March of 2022. This Florida bill does essentially the same thing as NC Senate Bill 49: forcing transparency, allowing legal action against teachers, and compelling teachers to stay away from any LGBTQ+ content, even if it is simply mentioning their own same-sex partner. With Ron De Santis, front-runner for the 2024 Republican nominee for president, being an outspoken champion of this bill, many “copy-cat” bills have started popping up all over the nation, with North Carolina now included in this trend. The Florida bill brought with it many critics, including Disney CEO Bob Iger and Chasten Buttigieg, husband of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. 

Now that the North Carolina version of the “Don't Say Gay” bill is in the hands of the Republican-controlled North Carolina House of Representatives, many LGBTQ+ affirming and progressive education groups are preparing for the worst. If the bill does pass, Governor Roy Cooper would have the opportunity to veto the bill. However, Republicans would only need one moderate Democrat in the House of Representatives to break party lines to be able to override a gubernatorial veto. With the possibility of the bill passing very likely, educators of all levels may be in for heightened levels of surveillance and scrutiny. Jenna Nelson, Executive Director of the North Carolina Early Education Coalition, asserted, “Teachers and principles are already under such scrutiny for everything they do and schools are expected to solve all kinds of problems… and this bill could certainly add to that.” Nelson also cited an event from May of 2022, in which a Wake County preschool teacher ultimately resigned after backlash concerning LGBTQ+ inclusive flashcards she used in her classroom. Stories like this could certainly become more commonplace in North Carolina if this bill turns into state law. The teaching field will likely become even more tricky to navigate with this bill, and Nelson maintained that it could certainly become an attributing factor for the current teacher shortage, possibly sending it to critical levels. On top of the extreme strain this bill would put on the already weakened teaching field, it could have disastrous consequences for LGBTQ+ students and families who have no choice but to continue attending schools that won’t be able to provide support if this bill is passed.