Who does Tennesse's proposed "Classroom Protection Act" actually protect?


ChakatBlackstar's avatar
Tennessee's "Don't say gay" bill is back, but this time it's the “Classroom Protection Act" and now it would force teachers and guidance counselors to tell parents if they suspect students of being gay. What this "protection act" is actually protecting is a total mystery.

This proposal will discourage LGBT youth from actually seeking help if they know their counselors and teachers won't keep it confidential. There's a reason gay youth keep their orientation a secret. Family rejection is a serious risk for LGBT youth. Kids who are LGBT often face alienation, if not outright abandonment, because they come out. Forty percent of homeless youth are LGBT, and many of them report that the reason they left home was to escape an environment hostile to their sexual orientation. LGBT youth who experience family rejection are at high risk for depression and suicide.

So, who does this act protect? How does it help anyone by outing LGBT youth who may have conservative parents who will disown them? And how can the GOP keep calling itself the party of small government when it keeps proposing laws that interfere with people's lives?
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macker33's avatar
Anything that discourages gays must be a good thing.
angelxxuan's avatar
well Tennessee is in the bible belt, which sees so many things they are against to be sort of, well, "bad", "evil" and so forth. I'm not the least surprised by such an act, a state which brings about the act for children to pull up their pants and wear pants, other odd/awkward bills are going to come about as well.

but there are other therapists out there, have to pay for them, so just because one comes out and people can't accept it, it's best to keep it in the closet and come out to those who you trust. school is the bad place, especially in the younger years, bullies are everywhere and are worse in these years, well, bullies will be with us for the rest of our lives, but one should trust who they are coming out to first and take it slowly, it's still a touchy subject and new, it's the new civil rights thing, so the news has mentioned.
Cenaris's avatar
The reputation and votes of its creators.
Juliabohemian's avatar
Republicans think you can catch the gay from talking about it.
macker33's avatar
You be suprised at just how right they are.
Temporal-Lizardo's avatar
It protects good God-fearing students from the evilness of homosexuality. It protects their beautiful little flower of ignorance. We need this bill for the safety of this land as a whole. WE NEED THIS FOR THE CHILDREN.
MURRICA.

</sarcasm>
IncandescentInsanity's avatar
Right wing politicians are getting scared and panicky because equal rights for all people is being more accepted

so they propose bullshit as a defense mechanism
Thornbrier's avatar
The wording of the actual bill seems innocent enough: [link]

All it states TO happen is that sexual things not directly related to reproduction will be removed from the classroom (I disagree with that, but that's another discussion).

It then goes on to say what the bill DOES NOT lot them do, implying that these are things they can already do.

But I do wonder how some of the wording will be interpreted by the legal system and the schools. I can definitely see how some school administrator could interpret this just as BlackStar has stated it and start getting students outed, viewing this bill as evidence that they not only can, but should do such.
Raenafyn's avatar
God damn conservative states. That's one more state I will never live in!
mgonzales041090's avatar
I'm in Texas. Take me with you! T_T
EbolaSparkleBear's avatar
No, stay. 2020, Texas will be Blue.
Krylanna's avatar
Pah. In 2020 we're going to have a single blue Congressional district connecting south Dallas, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio with spindly little lines along I-35 and US-290, and another one in the Rio Grande valley.

Barring that, our electoral college will be split.
mgonzales041090's avatar
Supposedly. I wouldn't count on it. Even liberal San Antonio is chalked full of reddies. The demographics aren't going to change that much.
EbolaSparkleBear's avatar
Nuh uh.
Latinos are growing in population. They're going to swing the State blue by 2020.
The same thing that's happening with California was predicted a while ago. The same holds true for Texas and I think New Mexico.
mgonzales041090's avatar
New Mexico already is a swing state. Texas has been solid red for forever. You saying in 2016 it'll be "leaning red", and by 2020, it'll be solid blue?
EbolaSparkleBear's avatar
Demographics are changing and if the trend holds Texas will be swing or Blue by 2020.
New Mexico will not be a swing State, it'll be a Blue State.
California is looking to be almost solid Blue for at least a few decades unless Democrats fuck up their Latino base there.
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Raenafyn's avatar
LOL, I feel bad for you XD I imagine the younger generation in Texas is probably going nuts over the people there, at least the ones who don't follow that closely in their parents' beliefs >.>
MEET ME IN CALIFORNIA!
dadona777's avatar
I am also in texas :crying:
cake-fiend's avatar
It doesn't force them to tell parents if they suspect a student is gay, it forces them to tell parents if they counsel students regarding homosexuality, or what Campfield likes to call "immediate and urgent safety issues involving human sexuality". They are allowed to but are not required to give such counseling, it's up to their own discretion.
It's still a fucked up bill, but I wish people would at least read the damn thing before talking about it.
Rhichter's avatar
Its about giving the teachers more power to 'out' kids to their parents. Which is a horrible authority to give to a teacher, who is, in america, most likely anti-gay themselves.
cake-fiend's avatar
It is a horrible authority to give them, but Americans are not mostly anti-gay anymore.
Rhichter's avatar
[link]

America is the most anti-gay first world country in the world.