Action Alert | Anti-LGBT bills in the House Education Committee
Join a growing consensus in Arizona against discriminatory and divisive legislation.
This Tuesday, January 25 at 2 PM, the House Education Committee will hear two anti-LGBT bills. Both bills would stifle LGBT expression and identity and diminish Arizona’s schools.
About the Bills
HB 2161: sponsored by Representative Kaiser, this bill treats a child’s gender identity or desire to transition as something volatile and concerning, and would make it an illegal violation of parental rights to affirm or support a trans child without immediately outing them. While the focus of this bill is ostensibly parental access to school records, its real impact wouldn’t be more transparency, but an erosion of the trust children feel they can put in the adults in their lives.
HB 2495: sponsored by Representative Hoffman and 11 other members of the state house, this bill would prohibit public schools from using any “textual, visual or audio materials” that depict “sexual conduct” or even just “homosexuality.” This would scrub any reference to gay people from our school libraries and history classes, make sex education effectively impossible, and ban huge swaths of literature – including most of Shakespeare and the bible.
What you can do right now
Call and email the members of the House Education Committee to encourage them to vote no on anti-LGBT bills that would hurt Arizona’s schools.
Lupe Diaz: ldiaz@azleg.gov | (602) 926-3276
John M. Fillmore: jfillmore@azleg.gov | (602) 926-3187
Daniel Hernandez, Jr.: dhernandez@azleg.gov | (602) 926-4840
Joel John: jjohn@azleg.gov | (602) 926-3276
Quang H. Nguyen: qnguyen@azleg.gov | (602) 926-3258
Jennifer Pawlik: jpawlik@azleg.gov | (602) 926-3193
Beverly Pingerelli (Vice-Chairman): bpingerelli@azleg.gov | (602) 926-3396
Judy Schwiebert: jschwiebert@azleg.gov | (602) 926-3390
Myron Tsosie: mtsosie@azleg.gov | (602) 926-3157
Michelle Udall (Chairman): mudall@azleg.gov | (602) 926-4856
Before Tuesday’s committee meeting, log in with your Request to Speak account to register your position on these bills; if you don’t have an account yet, or need yours activated, use this tool from Civic Engagement Beyond Voting to get started. There’s no option for remote testimony, but you can watch a livestream to follow along from home. If you plan to give testimony at the capitol, remember to address your comments to the chair of the committee and to speak directly to the problems of these bills.
Next Steps for SB 1165
After passing the senate judiciary committee last Thursday, SB 1165 will be heard in the senate rules committee this Monday, January 24. This bill specifically excludes trans girls in Arizona schools from participation in girls’ sports. Now that it’s moving through the senate, we need you to contact your senator personally to tell them to vote no on discriminatory legislation.
Over 150 Arizona Leaders Sign onto Letter Against Discriminatory and Divisive Legislation
(Phoenix, Ariz. January 20th, 2022) - Over 150 Arizona business, community and faith leaders have signed onto an open letter encouraging leaders at the Arizona State Legislature to focus on issues that unite Arizonans and grow our economy rather than divide our communities this session. Since the session began on January 10th, 2022, 9 discriminatory LGBTQ bills have been filed. These bills are a distraction from the real problems every day Arizona face including jobs, education and hardships brought on by the Covid 19 pandemic.
“Our state’s diverse leaders have come together to urge the Legislature to fight for Arizonans, not against Arizonans,” said Michael Soto, Executive Director of Equality Arizona.
“Discriminatory and hateful legislation will not help us grow, attract talent, or sustain our economy,” said Angela Hughey, Co-Founder and President of ONE Community. “Our leaders should be looking forward to how we can create opportunity for all Arizonans rather than backwards at measures that limit opportunities,” concluded Hughey.
The letter can be found here: https://www.onecommunity.co/its-time-to-unite-not-divide.