Arizona Repeals Ban On Schools Promoting Homosexual Lifestyles
Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey repealed a 1991 law Thursday that prohibited teachers from promoting a “homosexual lifestyle.”
The original bill banned educators from providing information regarding HIV/AIDS, including portraying “homosexuality as a positive alternative lifestyle.”
Ducey repealed the bill after receiving bipartisan support from the state House and Senate, according to Tucson.com.
Democrats were quick to champion the bill a victory for the LGBTQ community.
“For the past 18 years, this law has amounted to an official state-sanctioned climate of discrimination,” House Democratic Leader Charlene Fernandez said in a statement on Wednesday. “I am so proud of my colleagues who voted yes today to put this chapter in the rear-view mirror and move our state forward.”
The early ’90s bill had been under scrutiny from numerous civil rights group that challenged it violated constitutional rights vested in the 14th Amendment, including discrimination and withholding education for LGBTQ students, CNN reported.
“A state law that explicitly demeaned and dismissed LGBTQ students and their relationships could not help but encourage abuse and discrimination at school,” Michael Soto, executive director of Equality Arizona, said in a statement. “We are glad to see it erased from the books and are grateful to the LGBTQ leaders and allies who made the repeal possible.”
Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman said students will “no longer be denied access to medically accurate, science-based information regarding HIV/AIDS.”
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