Tag: Representative Debra Moody

Tennessee Now Requires Parental Notification, Consent for Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity Curriculum

Corinne Murdock

Tennessee will now require schools to notify parents and allow them to opt their student out before implementing sexual orientation or gender identity curriculum. The legislation went into effect on Monday, when Governor Bill Lee signed it into law. Essentially, this legislation serves as a notification and opt-out system concerning sexual orientation and gender identity curriculum. 

Schools are now required to notify parents at least 30 days before imposing any curriculum dealing with sexual orientation or gender identity. The law also specifies that parents have the right to examine the curriculum materials and discuss them with their student’s instructor, school counselor, or principal. 

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General Assembly Considering Bill to Require Parental Notification and Consent of Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity Curriculum

Corinne Murdock

The General Assembly is considering whether schools should notify parents about sexual orientation or gender identity curriculum. HB0529/SB1229 would require this. It would also allow parents to opt their children out of that curriculum, review the materials, and confer with school officials about the curriculum or materials.

Schools would have to notify parents about the curriculum 30 days in advance, at minimum. It wouldn’t require any notification about responses to in-class questions from students, or about references to the sexual orientation or gender identity of historic figures. It also wouldn’t require schools to adopt this type of curriculum.

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State Legislators Propose Bill to Expand Criteria for Removing Child Custody, Visitation, and Inheritance Rights from Rapists

Corinne Murdock

Companion bills State Representative Debra Moody (R-Covington) and State Senator Paul Rose (R-Covington) introduced the companion bills. These bills propose to remove custody, visitation, and inheritance rights for a parent convicted of statutory rape, aggravated statutory rape, or lesser included offenses of rape from which crime the child was conceived.

Current Tennessee Code prohibits custody, visitation, and inheritance rights for these types of rape: § 39-13-502, § 39-13-503, and § 39-13-522. If the companion bills are passed, the Code would also prohibit those rights for a parent who is convicted of aggravated statutory rape as outlined in § 39-13-506 or statutory rape by an authority figure as outlined in § 39-13-532. The legislation would also apply those same restrictions on a parent who is convicted of or pleads guilty or no contest to a lesser included offense.

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The Pro-Life Heartbeat Bill Passes the Tennessee House, Despite Protests From Planned Parenthood and Democrats

Laura Baigert

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – The majority of State House members voted for a pro-life Heartbeat Bill that bans abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, although the bill’s passage wasn’t without protests from Planned Parenthood and opposition by House Democrats. As reported by The Tennessee Star, the Heartbeat Bill, sponsored by Representative Micah Van Huss (R-Jonesborough) as HB 0077 passed in the House on Thursday by a vote of 65 Ayes, 21 Nays and 7 Present Not Voting. But, before the bill was presented and voted on, legislators were met with Planned Parenthood protesters in the rotunda of the Capitol outside the House chambers. Pro-life supporters were overwhelmed by pro-abortion protesters in both numbers and volume. Pro-abortionists, organized by Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood’s Executive Director Francie Hunt and Community Organizer Elizabeth Thomas as a “Healthcare not Hangers” event, numbered about two dozen. All presented hand-written signs with disturbing messages describing supposed methods a woman would take if she were denied the right to a legal abortion. One pro-life supporter, Brenda Catanach, pointed out to The Star that the signs represented actions that are all self-inflicted by a woman’s own choice and not imposed upon her against her will. In addition…

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