DEFEND THE TEACHING PROFESSION AND LGBTQIA+ EDUCATORS AND STUDENTS AGAINST PROLIFERATING ANTI-LGBTQIA+ MEASURES

WHEREAS, on March 8, 2022, Florida's Senate passed legislation that would severely curtail classroom instruction about the reality of human sexual and gender diversity; and

WHEREAS, in February 2022, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed state agencies to treat gender-affirming care for transgender youth as "child abuse” and required teachers and nurses to report parents who aid their child in receiving such care to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services; and

WHEREAS, these measures join 300 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills currently under consideration by state legislators across the U.S., according to the Human Rights Campaign, including legislation passed by Idaho’s House of Representatives on March 8 that would make the provision of gender-affirming healthcare to transgender youth a felony and punish providers with life in prison; and

WHEREAS, this wave of anti-LGBTQIA+—and often specifically anti-transgender—action villainizes individuals in the LGBTQIA+ community, putting a target on the back of every member of the LGBTQIA+ community and anyone assumed to belong to that community, including the many LGBTQIA+ educators and students in our schools; and

WHEREAS, this pervasive villainization increases anti-LGBTQIA+ violence and bullying in and out of schools; and

WHEREAS, laws like those in Florida are a direct attack on the teaching profession, preventing educators from teaching basic facts about human existence and fostering a chilling environment in the classroom that may deter teachers from the profession:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers will condemn these measures as an attempt to indoctrinate young people in anti-LGBTQIA+ ideology and conscript educators as enforcers in this effort; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will implore its members to support the state and local organizations fighting these bills, like Equality Texas and the Florida chapter of Lambda Legal, as well as labor efforts to empower local educators against these measures.

Adopted 9/29/2022