Pennsylvania’s Commission on LGBTQ Affairs along with education and youth advocates are speaking out against a proposed senate bill which is what they are calling a “copy and paste” version of Florida’s controversial law concerning gender identity in education.
In a news release, the Commission announced their opposition of Senate Bill 1278, introduced last Friday and approved along party lines by the Senate Education Committee and will head to the full senate for consideration. The bill would prohibit education on gender identity and sexual orientation for pre-kindergarten through fifth grade students, saying that it would put it consistent with academic standards on when general sex education begins, which is in sixth grade.
In a statement released this morning, LGBTQ Executive Affairs Commission Executive Director Rafael Alvarez Febo said that the bill, introduced in the middle of Pride month, “is a cruel attempt to politicize LGBTQ people and deny their humanity in order to score cheap political points.” He said that saying the topics are not age appropriate is “fear-mongering” and would cause LGBTQ teachers to conceal their identities and strip any resources available to LGBTQ youth out of schools.
We’ve reached out to Senator Joe Pittman for comment and have not heard back yet.
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