LGBTQ+ advocates emphasized the positive effect displaying pride flags can have on students as a Tennessee House committee advanced a bill Wednesday that would prohibit the state’s public schools from displaying certain flags.
“Our community is not a political issue,” said Chris Sanders, executive director of the Tennessee Equality Project. “We are people first with identities that are being attacked in this state. We are not politicizing the issue. Our lives are being politicized by others. In that kind of environment, it’s very important that people feel safe … They need adults in their lives who accept them as they are.”
House Bill 1605, sponsored by Rep. Gino Bulso, R-Brentwood, would prohibit flags that “represent a political viewpoint, including, but not limited to, a partisan, racial, sexual orientation, gender or other ideological viewpoint.”
The bill applies to “employees or agents” of schools flying flags, not students.
“As amended, House Bill 1605 really addresses one issue, which is whether parents should be the ones who decide what values their children are exposed to when they go to school,” Bulso told colleagues Wednesday.