House Committee votes 9-4 to move divisive legislation limiting the teaching of human sexuality in schools

Indianapolis, Indiana – Before sending it to the full House, Indiana legislators made substantial amendments to a bill that would have limited school instruction on specific subjects for young pupils.

House Bill 1608’s original draft made it illegal for kindergarten through third graders to learn in school about subjects like sexual orientation and gender identity.

During a Monday hearing before the House Education Committee, the bill underwent amendments. To send the bill to the House floor, the committee finally voted 9-4 along party lines, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed.

Rep. Michelle Davis, the bill’s author, changed the language during the hearing to strike references to sexual orientation and gender identity and instead prohibit discussion of “human sexuality” in kindergarten through third grade.

Rep. Jake Teshka’s second amendment would require parental notification if a kid sought a member of the faculty to change their name or pronouns. Along party lines, the amendment was approved.

A protest against the law was taking place as the hearing was taking place on Monday. They claimed the policy was anti-LGBTQ and that it misinformed impressionable young people.

The bill’s proponents claimed that its goal is to guarantee that parents are in charge of critical conversations with their children.

Despite the fact that lawmakers heard testimony from all sides of the argument, it was clear during the hearing on Monday that the majority of people who spoke in front of the committee were against the proposed legislation.

The law is being compared to one in Florida that caused a national issue and was similar to this one.