The Tennessee House has passed a bill that will ban Pride flags from being displayed in classrooms.
House Bill 1605 passed on Monday with a 70-24 vote.
The bill does not specifically mention Pride flags but prohibits school staff and teachers from displaying flags other than the United States, Tennessee, or official school flags. It explicitly prohibits displaying flags that "represent a political viewpoint, including but not limited to, a partisan, racial, sexual orientation, gender or ideological viewpoint."
The law would also apply to Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and all other ideological flags. Tennessee House passes a bill that would ban pride flags from being displayed in school classrooms.
HB 1605 states schools 'shall not display any flag other than the US flag and the official Tennessee state flag on or in a public school.' pic.twitter.com/9Dy0Oggh2z
— Kory Yeshua (@KoryYeshua) February 27, 2024
However, Republican State Rep. Gino Bulso, who drafted the measure, did so after receiving parents' complaints about Pride flags.
Before the vote, a heated debate took place — featuring a lot of yelling and outbursts from people in the gallery.
"Do parents have the right to instill values in their own children that they agree with?" Bulso asked during the debate. "If you have parents across the state who want to instill in their children values represented by the pride flag, they are certainly entitled to do that. On the other hand, if you have parents who want to instill values in their children that are not consistent with the values represented by the pride flag, they have the ability to do that."
"Everyone is entitled to mutual respect. Everyone is entitled to mutual dignity. Everyone is entitled to tolerance," Bulso continued. "What this bill does is it preserves tolerance across the board for all parents and all school children."
Democrat state Rep. Jason Powell of Nashville implied that the bill was "hating on" students.
"I am proud when I walk into the public schools in my city to see the LGBTQ flag in the classrooms, proudly put up by teachers who understand the suffering that many of their students go through," Powell said. "We should be welcoming and celebrating our students, not hating on them."
The State Senate, which has a Republican majority, is also expected to pass the bill. That vote could come as soon as Tuesday.
