State Rep. Mack Butler (R-Rainbow City) has reintroduced a bill to prohibit discussing gender identity and sexual orientation in K-12 public school classrooms.
A similar version of House Bill 244 passed the House last session but failed to clear the Senate.
"We're going to take pre-K to 12, basically ban gender identity, sexual orientation, pronouns, and as you say, like pride flags, that I had no clue till people across the state started sending me pictures from the children's classrooms in Alabama. … These are adults that are making a conscious decision to sexualize children. And not in a healthy way," Butler said Monday on WVNN's "Rightside Radio."
He continued, "You're talking about a doctor cutting off body parts of children. We know their brains are not developed to really 27 years of age. … It's far too young for these children to be making these lifelong decisions. But it's just that they're adults that are making decisions to sexualize our children. And we have got to stand up."
Butler said he was thankful for President Donald Trump's leadership on the issue at the federal level and that his bill would essentially match Trump's executive order.
Butler said House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) is a big supporter of the bill, which he expects to come up for a vote sometime in March. State Sen. Keith Kelley (R-Anniston) will carry the bill in the Senate, Butler said.
"He [Ledbetter] was appalled last time when he saw what was actually happening with, you know, that some of these assignments are plain pornographic. Some of this stuff is for elementary school, kindergartners," Butler said.
In a related issue, Butler said the legislature has plans to address Homewood's Magic City Acceptance Academy over its overtly pro-LGBTQ agenda.
SEE: Magic City Acceptance Academy offers platform for drag queens, Interfaith Alliance
"We as a legislature are going to have to exercise our authority with the power of the purse. Because nothing else is getting their attention, but I guarantee, we impact dollars and cents, we will get their attention," he said.
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