The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT) announced June 23 that they plan to sue over unconstitutional parts of Senate Bill 12, wrote Kristi Gross from the ACLU of Texas.
“Gov. Greg Abbott signed S.B. 12 into law Friday, June 20. It is scheduled to take effect Sept. 1 and be implemented in the 2025-26 school year,” Gross wrote. “The law bars all programs and activities that mention race, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation in K-12 public schools in Texas, including charter schools.”
The bill also bans Gender and Sexuality Alliances and makes it difficult for teachers to support transgender students, Gross said.
“The prohibitions also apply to after-school programs, field trips, and informal guidance provided by parents, volunteers, and school employees,” she added.
S.B. 12 harms Texas schools, tries to punish kids for being themselves, and bans teachers from supporting students, said Brian Klosterboer, ACLU of Texas senior staff attorney, in the article.
Klosterboer added, “It sends the false message that Black, Brown, LGBTQIA+, and other students don’t belong in the classroom or in our state.”
The bill aims to “erase students’ identities and make it impossible for teachers, parents, and volunteers to tell the truth about the history and diversity of our state,” said Cameron Samuels, executive director for SEAT.
Samuels explained that rather than solving students’ problems, state leaders have focused on creating new ones by, for instance, “stoking fear” about diversity, equity and inclusion.
Preventing student organizations and teachers from supporting LGBTQIA+ kids, particularly young trans and nonbinary people, makes schools “unsafe and unjust,” Samuels added.
“We’re taking legal action to challenge this discriminatory law and reaffirm that all students should have access to a safe, inclusive education that prepares them for their futures in our diverse state, no exceptions,” Klosterboer said.
“Florida has agreed to narrow key aspects of a similar ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law during settlement negotiations and a federal court blocked multiple aspects of anti-LGBTQIA+ school speech restrictions in Iowa,” Gross wrote.
She added that federal courts have blocked the Trump administration’s attempts to ban DEI education in K-12 schools.
“We are here to ensure that inclusive public education is a cornerstone to our state’s pluralistic and multicultural democracy,” Samuels said.
Gross concluded, “The ACLU of Texas and SEAT plan to challenge S.B. 12 alongside a coalition of Texans whose constitutional rights are harmed by this new law. Anyone impacted by S.B. 12 should reach out at https://intake.aclutx.org/.”
