As a supplement to the original 2022 legislative summary promulgated by Louisiana Citizen Advocacy Group (LACAG), Louisiana citizens should be aware of House Bill 837, authored by Representative Dodie Horton.

HB 837 prohibited any Louisiana public school teacher or administrator from discussing the topics of “gender identity” or sexual orientation, including their own, with any students between kindergarten and 8^th grade. The bill was urgently warranted and necessary due to the evidence of radical sexual ideology being presented to American public-school children, against the wishes of the students’ parents, and often without the parents’ knowledge.

It is worthy of note that Louisiana law currently prohibits the teaching of any sex education concepts until the 7^th grade, so Horton’s bill prohibiting the teaching of a radical sexual ideology between kindergarten and 8^th grade was far from extreme and should have met with full support among Republicans.

Shockingly, Republican representatives Lance Harris (Rapides Parish), Vincent St. Blanc (St. Martin and St. Mary Parishes), Barbara Freiberg (East Baton Rouge Parish), and Stephanie Hilferty (Jefferson and Orleans Parishes), killed this vital legislation in the House Education Committee.

Harris, the Republican Chairman of the Committee, was too cowardly to cast a vote, and St. Blanc, Freiberg, and HIlferty all voted against the bill.

If these 4 Republicans had voted for the Bill, it would have gotten out of Committee to the House Floor for a full vote, where it likely would have passed.

The bill did manage to make it to the floor in any event, as a majority of House members signed a petition to discharge it from the committee. But there it died without a vote thanks to the inattention, or worse, of Speaker Clay Schexnayder and the House leadership.

These Republicans’ failure to support this vital legislation, embraced by a substantial majority of Louisiana citizens, including the constituents in these Republicans’ districts, invites further indoctrination of Louisiana public school students in a sexual ideology that is both harmful and false.

It also constitutes a stunning failure on the part of the named Republican leaders to faithfully represent the values of Louisiana citizens, and disqualifies them from further service in elected office in Louisiana. But for the efforts of LACAG, the demise of this important legislation, and the circumstances in which it occurred, would have never reached the light of day. These Republican representatives must be made to explain to their constituents why they killed this legislation.

Best,

Chris Alexander, LACAG