West Virginia GOP majority pushes contentious bills arming teachers, restricting bathrooms, books
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s Republican-dominated Legislature on Wednesday introduced a series of controversial bills that would arm teachers, allow people to sue libraries over books that offend them and limit where transgender children can use school bathrooms.
Described by conservatives as efforts to protect children while they learn, the legislation comes at a time when GOP-led state legislatures across the country are embracing bills that expand gun rights and restrict LGBTQ+ rights.
“This is really the only way I see to defend these students,” said Republican Del. Bill Ridenour before lawmakers on the House Education Committee greenlighted the bill that would allow K-12 public school staff with concealed carry permits to voluntarily carry firearms. campuses.
All three bills are opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia. The state’s only LGBTQ+ advocacy group has rejected the toilet and book proposals.
The bills that would allow teachers to carry guns in schools and ban transgender children from using bathrooms that match their gender identity easily passed a House legislative committee and had to get approval from another committee before moving to the House floor. entire room could be brought.
During the debate over the bathroom bill, Republicans rejected a Democrat’s amendment that would have allowed students to use the bathroom that corresponds to the gender on their most recent birth certificate.
No Republican lawmakers provided a detailed explanation of why they supported the measure, but lead sponsor and school teacher Del. Dave Foggin said people at his school have complained about students using the bathroom. Democratic Rep. Mike Pushkin, chairman of the state’s minority party, said he didn’t believe it.
“It is not just a harmless legislation about red meat in the election year, because it has the potential to harm children,” Pushkin said, adding that transgender youth are more likely to be bullied in a public toilet. At least 10 other states have laws restricting transgender students’ use of the bathroom.
In 2020, the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a Virginia school board’s ban on transgender bathrooms was unconstitutional. West Virginia falls under the jurisdiction of the 4th Circuit.
At a public hearing hosted by the House Judiciary Committee, librarians, parents and teachers expressed fear and concern about the book bill, which has yet to be submitted to lawmakers for a vote. It would make schools, public libraries and museums criminally liable for distributing or showing “obscene” material to children.
Eli Baumwell, interim director of the ACLU of West Virginia, said existing legal precedent provides a narrow definition for proving obscenity that prohibits banning material that has cultural, educational or historical value.
Over the years, conservative officials across the country have increasingly tried to limit the types of books children are exposed to, including those that address systemic racism and LGBTQ+ issues. Last year alone, more than 120 different proposals were introduced in state legislatures targeting libraries, librarians, educators and access to materials, according to EveryLibrary, a national political action committee.
People who spoke in favor of the proposed policy said that children are exposed to immoral content in libraries and schools, and that they read passages and are shown photos in books checked out in the young adult section of their local or school library, containing depictions of sexual actions and sexual anatomy.
Carol Butler described a passage from “Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out,” a critically acclaimed book that has been banned in several U.S. school districts, where it is considered anti-family and inappropriate for children.
“We must return to a God-fearing country,” she said. “Do you think God is happy with this?”
Other supporters bristled at accusations that they are trying to ban books. Carol Miley, a former elementary school librarian who retired in 2011, said the proposal is really about “protecting our minor students from abuse.”
She said that in recent years, when she visits libraries, she has noticed books with “vulgar descriptions of sexual acts, filthy language and pornographic images,” many of them in “books describing homosexual acts and relationships.”
“Many of the offensive titles are even award winners,” she said. “Community norms against obscenity are openly mocked and challenged.”
Opponents called the policy unconstitutional, citing descriptions of rape, sexual assault and other violent acts recorded in the Bible, and calling supporters who relied on religious justification for the policy hypocritical. Librarians say they are working with limited resources and are concerned about increased costs associated with insurance and legal representation.
Megan Tarbett, president of the West Virginia Library Association, said that “presenting the threat of incarceration to our staff” when selecting books “does not promote the spirit of cooperation between staff and patrons.”
Educator Mickey Blackwell holds up the books “Hoot” and “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” – novels written in America in the early 2000s and 1880s respectively that have been the subject of obscenity charges.
Parents are responsible for deciding what their children can or cannot read, said Blackwell, executive director of the West Virginia Association of Middle and Elementary School Principals. “Throw a few in jail and see how it goes,” he joked as he concluded his remarks.
Andrew Schneider, executive director of LGBTQ advocacy nonprofit Fairness West Virginia, said: “LGBTQ-plus people are not obscene. The stories and books about our lives are not obscene” and nothing in the bill changes that.
“But let’s be clear,” Schneider said. “This is a bad bill. It’s clear that some lawmakers want to eliminate any mention of LGBTQ-plus people in our schools’ museums and libraries, and while this bill won’t achieve that goal, it could have a chilling effect on free speech.
Barbara Steinke said she fears a book like “Heather Has Two Moms” could be considered obscene because it depicts a child with two mothers, just like her son.
“There are many age-appropriate books and art that relate to different types of families. If it’s not a traditional family, is it obscene? Who decides?”