Tennessee's State Of Denial

With all the problem facing Americans at the state level, you would think state legislatures would be focused on tackling fiscal and employment problems.  Not in Tennessee, anyway.  The top agenda item this week?  Keeping kids from finding out gay people exist, or something.

A bill popularly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill advanced yesterday out of the Tennessee Senate Education Committee. The bill would prohibit teachers from discussing of any sexuality except heterosexuality in grades K-8,” even with students who may be gay or have gay family,” according to Ben Byers of the Tennessee Equality Council (TEP). The committee amended the bill to require the Board of Education to study whether homosexuality is actually being taught in schools, but it will still institute a ban in February of next year.


Sen. Stacey Campfield (R) is passionate about this legislation, which he previously sponsored unsuccessfully in the state House for six years. In 2009, Campfield explained that he’s not homophobic; it’s just that the issue is “complex.” He clarified this past September that he supports promoting tolerance, but not acceptance:

You can talk about TEA and NEA resolutions talking about how they think there should be not just tolerance of the lifestyle, but acceptance of it. That flies completely in the face of a lot of people. A lot of people say, hey, I understand tolerance. I’m all for tolerance. I’ve co-sponsored the anti-bullying bill. But to say we have to go to acceptance, that’s something completely different.

He also thinks teachers don’t have enough time to teach core subjects:

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.

Lord knows kids in the Volunteer State find out about gay people.  It might destroy Tennessee or something.  And even on the chance that you actually agree with this (and Tennessee law already prohibits teachers from teaching any sexuality courses to any kids between Kindergarten and 8th grade, so it's not like this law is even needed other than to persecute the LGBT community)  don't you think the state has bigger problems to worry about?