Tennessee lawmaker Stacey Campfield has spent the better part of the last seven years in the Tennessee legislature fighting for the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, a law aimed at prohibiting teachers from discussing homosexuality in kindergarten through 8th grade classrooms.
Stacey Campfield
On Friday, the Tennessee state Senate approved an amended version of Campfield’s controversial bill, which would now restrict the teaching of sexuality issues to natural human reproduction only.
Campfield, a 42-year-old confirmed bachelor with no kids of his own, said the bill was necessary because homosexuality is a “learned behavior.”
“If I can take one thing away and say, hey, you don’t have to teach about homosexuality to your second-graders, you can spend more time on arithmetic,” said Campfield, suggesting that homosexuality was part of the elementary school curriculum — which it is not.
Now Campfield (R-Knoxville), has another bill making its way through the legislature, SB 426, which originally called for school systems to send home a list of clubs and organizations on each campus, so that parents could veto some in advance.
Opponents have claimed Campfield is targeting gay-straight alliance groups, since many students who are out to their peers are still struggling to come out to their parents.
But when the Senate was expected to vote on the bill Monday, Campfield amended it to be even more restrictive — the new “opt-in” version would require a parent to send a separate permission slip for any and all extracurricular activities:
“Some parents may not want kids to be involved in clubs, for whatever reasons. They may say, Hey, Johnny or Billy is doing poor in school, I don’t want him doing chess club, or dance club or whoever knows what club. We may want him to be studying, instead. This is just to give those parents that approval power, similar to what we do for sports.”
Some Senators called Campfield’s “opt-in” version overkill. They spun stories of their own children’s involvement with the school system -– a not-so-subtle dig at the Campfield, who’s not exactly an authority on parenting.
But Campfield ignored the digs and continued to argue for increased parental controls.
Eventually, Republican Senators sent the bill back to the Senate Education Committee for more study, where an “opt-out” amendment prevailed.
In the “opt-out” version, which the committee has now sent back to the full Senate, schools would be required to print notification within student handbooks of a parent’s right to opt their child out of school clubs.
The Tennessee Equality Project said the “opt out” version of the bill would preserve gay-straight alliances in Tennessee schools, and it advocating that Senators approve it without any additional amendments. A petition has been launched at Change.org.
The Senate could vote on the bill anytime this week while in session.
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Tennessee lawmaker: Homosexuality is a 'learned behavior'
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and he keeps getting elected… GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRr
This is stupid.There are better things to do than lobbying for this bill and probably shutting GSAs in that state.
probally trying to hide his boyfriend in the closet.
Bullying: Legislators are guilty, too.
I don’t get it? Obviously Stacey has a personal vendetta against gay people! Is this what we pay our taxes for? Is there nothing more important going on in our state that he should be focusing on! This is outrageous! would someone in our government please stop this homophobic idiot!
& why do they keep electing this idiot?
ok, he’s 42, confirmed bachelor, no kids, and thinks he can decide and enforce ciriculum? Now, take a good look at his picture. Can you say “Closet Case”?
This is the south people…I grew up there ..they are 50 years behind everyone else and believe anything they are told….
I know how that is I live in NC.
has probably been picked on for having a girl’s name all his life and is out to prove something…
The lady doth protest too much, methinks
I know what his problem is. He needs a good penis in his life. Only then when he will stop being so uptight.
What an effing douchebag! After forcing homosexuality deeper in the closet it’s ever been, now he’s out to break all the bonds gay and hetero students have built together. Keep electing that pile of shit, Tenessee and you’ll soon find yourselves in a fucking theocracy right from the XIX’th Century.
Deosn’t anybody have pictures of this moron paying for sexual services from minor boys? I smell that one coming. He’s too effing radical against gays not to have dead bodies in his own closet.
This man is an embarrassment. I find it distressing that he wants to give gay and lesbian youth absolutely no recourse — whether it be to images and speech about themselves or, now, access, without parental interference, to GSAs. But in his little mind there really is no such thing as a gay youth — just pure, innocent straight children who will be corrupted by the “learned behaviour” that is homosexuality. Sorry, but it doesn’t work that way. My heart breaks for the kids who are left with little but isolation and despair that his legislation creates. Particularly the ones who are being raised in an anti-gay household. If there is a hell, I hope he rots there.
Fucking prick!!
Makes me so very glad to live in Canada
Such a douche
Hell the fuck no.
All politicians in the US who have focused their attention solely on gay issues have been found to be gay themselves. It’s happened a dozen times in the last decade alone. It’s called projection. They’re just trying to distract your attention from themselves because they love power more than truth.
Yeah me too Adrian, me too…
there are so many problems with the schools. teachers spending all their time discussing homosexuality with their students and parents not having enough control over the clubs their kids are not some of them. so unnecessary and a huge waste of time and money