It was a chaotic scene in the Louisiana House Education committee hearing on April 26 after members voted to make it illegal for schools to hide gender transitions from parents.
The proposed bill, HB81, was voted out of the committee and will now be considered by the House floor.
The decision sparked an immediate outcry from members of the LGBTQ community, one of whom was removed from the hearing after calling the committee ignorant.
“You know nothing of my name. You will remove me from this room because you choose ignorance and you choose not to call me by my name,” the individual declared before security came to remove her from the room.
The vote also passed another bill, HB466, into consideration. Dubbed a ‘Don’t Say Gay Bill’, it would prevent the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in K-12 classes and also prohibit teachers from talking about their own sexuality with students.
Both bills passed along party lines with a 7-5 vote and will now be advanced to the House floor for consideration.
Amid the chaos, one brave individual stood out and made an impassioned plea to the committee. Dubbed “Big Gay Baby”, the blue-faced drag queen declared, “I am big gay baby. I believe we are all here for the same reason, which is to make schools a safe place for students and faculty to thrive.”
He’s blue, trans, gay, and apparently a ‘baby’. My God…
Big Gay Baby continued by urging the committee to vote no on the HB466 measure for “the wounded child that still feels closeted inside me.” The plea was echoed by “Mrs. T”, a teacher in the district, who explained how her 4th grade students had asked her if she identified as a boy or a girl.
“Should I really have shut that conversation down?” she asked the committee. Mrs. T added that after that conversation, five of the students in the class “came out” and that they knew they could come to her for acceptance and love.
The committee also moved another bill to the floor that bans classroom discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation from K-12th graders.
One of the people who testified against it was a drag queen with a blue face who called himself "big gay baby." pic.twitter.com/8mY87xQ7LJ
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) April 26, 2023
At the end of the hearing, it was clear that the committee had made a decision that was met with dissent and disagreement. As the announcement came that the bill would move to the House floor for consideration, screaming, grunting and an audible, screeched “fuck” could be heard before the feed to the committee hearing cut out.
