Tennessee Republican lawmakers continue the tired tradition of making the state a loathsome laughingstock:
Like a homophobic phoenix, the "Don’t Say Gay" bill has risen from the ashes to "protect the youth of Tennessee" — and it includes a provision requiring teachers out gay students to their parents.
Now that we have one party rule with a super-majority, it can only get even more bizarre:
The bill, SB 234, still bars Tennessee teachers from discussing any facet of “non-heterosexual” sexuality with children in grades K-8. But the newest iteration also includes a provision requiring teachers or counselors to inform the parents of some students who identify themselves as LGBT. State Sen. Stacey Campfield (R), who authored the bill the first time around and again introduced it this time, calls out students who might be “at risk,” but leaves the interpretation of that behavior to the teacher:
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.
Much of the credit goes to Stacy Campfield for leading this state into the status of stupider than Mississippi:
