Pride flags would be largely banned in Tennessee classrooms in bill advanced by GOP lawmakers
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A bill that would largely ban the display of pride flags in public school classrooms passed the Republican Party-led Tennessee House on Monday after Republicans broke off a heated debate.
The 70-24 vote sends the legislation to the Senate, where a final vote could take place as early as this week. The motion to end debate prompted Nashville Democrats Justin Jones to shout that House Speaker Cameron Sexton was out of sorts and ignoring people’s requests to speak. Republicans in turn scolded Jones by voting him out of order, halting his immediate comments.
Previously, at least two people who opposed the bill were kicked out of the chamber for speaking up about the procedure, while Democrats and other opponents blasted the legislation as an unfair restriction on an important symbol of the LGBTQ+ community in schools.
“I am proud when I walk into my city’s public schools and see the LGBTQ flag in the classrooms, proudly flown by teachers who understand the suffering that many of their students go through,” said Rep. Jason Powell, a representative from Nashville. Democrat. “We should welcome and celebrate our students, not hate them.”
The legislation says that the “display” of a flag by a school or employee means that students “display or place the object anywhere they can see it.”
The proposal would allow certain flags to be displayed, with exceptions for some scenarios. Among those approved are the flags of the United States; Tennessee; those considered protected historical objects under state law; Native American Tribes; local government forces and prisoners of war or missing persons; other countries and their local governments; colleges or universities; or the schools themselves.
Other flags could be temporarily displayed as part of a “bona fide” course curriculum, and certain groups allowed to use school buildings could display their flags while using the grounds under the bill.
The legislation establishes an enforcement system that relies on lawsuits by parents or guardians of students who attend or are eligible to attend a public school in a district in question. The lawsuits could challenge the display of flags by a school, employee or its agents, which would not fall under the proposed criteria for what would be allowed in classrooms.
Republican Rep. Gino Bulso, the bill’s sponsor from Williamson County south of Nashville, said parents had contacted him with complaints about “political flags” in classrooms. When asked if the bill would allow the Confederate flag to be displayed in classrooms, Bulso said the bill would not change the current law on when such a symbol could be displayed. He said the bill’s exceptions could be applied to Confederate flags for approved curriculum and certain historical items that already cannot be removed without extensive state approval.
“What we do is ensure that parents are the ones who get to teach their children the values they want to teach,” Bulso says.
The proposal marks a new development in the ongoing political fight over LGBTQ+ rights in Tennessee, where the state’s conservative leaders have already taken action to limit classroom conversations about gender and sexuality, ban gender-affirming care and limit events involving certain drag artists may perform.
The Senate version of the bill would be more restrictive on who could file a flag charge, limiting it to the students at that specific school, the parents or guardians of those students or employees there.
Earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to city, school and school district officials who have implemented or are considering flag bans or other pride displays. The group warned that under First Amendment court precedent, “public schools may prohibit private speech on campus only to the extent that it substantially disrupts or disrupts the educational environment or interferes with the rights of other students.”
Bulso argued that displaying the pride flag does not constitute protected free speech for school employees.