Senate Education Committee advances bill requiring schools to bar classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity

The Idaho Senate Education Committee voted to send House Bill 352 to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation after a hearing that included competing testimony from teachers’ groups, parents and advocacy organizations.

Representative Dale Hawkins, the bill sponsor, told the committee the bill “requires public schools to adopt procedures and policies that prohibit classroom instruction by public school personnel on orientation or gender identity from kindergarten through grade 12, or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”

Committee members and witnesses debated what the bill would mean in practice. Chris Perry of the Idaho Education Association testified against the bill, saying it would…