A bill introduced in the Tennessee General Assembly in November would allow teachers only to hang the Tennessee and United States flags in their classrooms.
HB 1605 “prohibits [Local Education Associations] and public charter schools from displaying in public schools flags other than the official United States flag and the official Tennessee state flag,” according to the summary of the bill’s text.
The bill was introduced by State Representative Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood), and would prevent teachers from flying political flags – like the LGBT or Black Lives Matter flags – in their classrooms.
A representative from Bulso’s office told The Tennessee Star that Bulso was unavailable for comment on Tuesday, but he previously said that “school[s] should be a place where a child goes to learn, not a place where a child goes to be indoctrinated,” and that the purpose of the bill is to prevent “authority figures from injecting into the classroom these political statements.”
LGBT symbols in public schools have been a hot topic of debate over the past few years, and such symbols have even crept into Tennessee’s elementary schools.
In August, a concerned Nashville parent sent photos of an LGBT pride flag printout hanging on a wall for students as young as four at Dan Mills Elementary School to The Star.
“The pride flag has been displayed at Dan Mills Elementary since our daughter started in kindergarten,” the source told The Star. “She is now in 2nd grade. Actually one of the first interactions we had with the school was a virtual tour of sorts (due to covid) … the canned video gave each teacher a few mins to speak. When the school counselor came on, I was surprised to see the ‘new intersex inclusive’ LGBT flag in the background. [It] didn’t make me feel like this was a normal or safe place for my kindergartener.”
“I personally accept everyone and every lifestyle but these are adult issues,” the source said. “If a student asks a teacher about one of these posters, are the teachers discussing what gay means, [or] what bisexual means? There are four-year-olds that walk by this sign everyday. There is no reason I can think of that this is an appropriate place for these types of materials.”
Elsewhere across the country, parents and activists have been battling LGBT-themed and pornographic books in school libraries.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter/X.
Photo “Tennessee and American Flags” by DoD News. CC BY 2.0.
