Alabama Bill Would Extend ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law To K-12

State Rep. Mack Butler (R) has refiled a bill that would expand the state’s current “don’t say gay” law from grades K-5 to all public school grades.

Because god forbid high school students find out queer people exist…

From the Alabama Reflector:

HB 23, sponsored by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, would prohibit classroom instruction or discussion about gender identity and sexual orientation and stop teachers from hanging up rainbow flags in their classrooms.

The bill would also prevent teachers from calling students by pronouns other than the ones aligned with biological sex at birth.

Butler introduced a similar version of the bill in the 2025 legislative session last spring, but the bill failed to be passed by the Senate. 

Former Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, who was the first openly gay member of the Alabama House of Representatives, said Wednesday that LGBTQ issues should be discussed in schools because the community could be intertwined in students’ daily life.

“All parents should be talking to their kids about LGBTQ issues, because probably sometime in their lifetime, they’re going to encounter that, and they might have friends who have same-sex parents,” she said.

The Reflector adds that while teachers would not be allowed to include sexual orientation or gender identity in classroom instruction, “age appropriate” conversations between students and teachers would be allowed, but only because the State Department of Education specifically asked for the clause.

School Enrollment Is Declining in Alabama. The GOP’s Answer? “Don’t Say Gay” Laws!https://t.co/GBZwQ5uADh

— Them (@them) October 24, 2025