Texas Republican Legislators Advance Bill To Ban LGBTQ Clubs In Schools

Senate Bill 12, a Texas bill that will ban the existence of LGBTQ clubs in schools, is currently making its way to Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas). LGBTQ clubs, including GSAs (Gay-Straight Alliances), would no longer be allowed to operate within schools.

State Rep. Jeff Leach (R) was one of the legislators who pushed for the bill. “We do not need to have school-sponsored and school-sanctioned sex clubs, period,” Leach said.

The majority of clubs, similar to GSA, are designed to be a welcoming space for LGBTQ individuals who can’t come out to their families or want to be surrounded by fellow members of the community. Senate Bill 12 explicitly bans schools from promoting “student clubs based on sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Since the bill is close to being passed, many schools in Texas are trying to figure out how to adapt to it, as well as finding ways for clubs similar to the GSA to operate if they are still permitted to do so.

Following President Donald Trump’s reelection, many LGBTQ students in Texas and other Republican-controlled states have been concerned about how far the Trump administration and the GOP are planning to push anti-LGBTQ agendas. In North Texas, some school boards have already removed literature that contains LGBTQ characters, imposing policies limiting which bathrooms transgender students have access to and creating rules on name changes and pronouns.

Before the bill was passed on to the governor, Democrats debated and attempted to convince Republican lawmakers to modify the bill. Texas Rep. Rafael Anchía (D) criticized Leach for his usage of the phrase “sex club” to describe LGBTQ clubs, “Why would you say ‘sex club’ like it was some perverted place in Amsterdam?” Leach later apologized for his word choice, citing it to be a “word blunder,” but continued to push for the bill’s passage, “to have a club that is based on that, on sexual orientation, is not something that I think needs to be taking place in our public schools.”