Bills that would change Alabama’s sex education standards and restrict certain LGBTQ topics in the classroom are advancing in the state legislature once again.

House and Senate committees approved Senate Bill 277, an abstinence-only sex ed bill, and House Bill 244, which aims to expand Alabama’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, after public hearings this month. They will head to their respective chambers for a full vote.

Alabama already emphasizes abstinence in sex ed classes, but the new legislation would clarify what educators are allowed to talk about and outlaw any discussion of how students can obtain abortion services.

Similar partisan legislation fizzled out during last year’s session, but Alabama Republicans say they hope the new efforts can align with federal directives.

“We’re trying to get as close as we could to President Trump’s executive order,” Rep. Tracy Estes, R-Winfield, said during a vote on HB244 Wednesday.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January saying that the government would only recognize two genders, male and female. More recently, the White House has threatened funding of schools that provide bathroom accommodations for transgender students and allow students to use pronouns that do not match their sex assigned at birth.

The administration also has worked to expand abstinence-only education and has recently axed dozens of grants focused on LGBTQ health.

Both topics have been top priorities for budding conservative advocacy organizations in the state, who claim the efforts are meant to “protect Alabama’s children.”

Expanding ‘Don’t Say Gay’

HB244, sponsored by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, is an expansion of a 2022 law, sometimes called “Don’t Say Gay,” to include all grades in K-12. The bill also prevents school employees from displaying Pride flags or other LGBTQ-affirming signage.

“Clearly there’s a dissatisfaction of what we’re doing with public education, and this will actually help,” Butler said on the floor Wednesday, referring to the thousands of families who have signed up for the state’s newest school choice program.

After debate and some pushback from education officials, the bill will no longer ban education employees from using pronouns that do not correspond to a student’s gender at birth. A new amendment also clarifies that topics about gender identity may be discussed, but only in a manner that is age appropriate and aligned with state standards.

A House committee approved the changes on a voice vote Wednesday.

In a hearing last week, various speakers argued that the bill, and similar legislation, HB246, were needed checks on school employees — or that they were an overreach that could harm people.

“I didn’t become gay because I saw a Pride flag or somebody taught me something,” said Patricia Todd, the state’s first openly gay legislator. “It was a feeling of the heart. And when you look at bills in Alabama that you all are dealing with, it’s like the queer community is the enemy. I mean, we just want to live our lives. We want to pay our taxes, mow our grass, be with our families, raise our children without government interference.”

Abstinence-only sex education

Also on Wednesday, a Senate committee approved SB277, sponsored by Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville. The bill requires schools to exclusively teach “sexual risk avoidance” and emphasize abstinence as the only effective protection against unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease.

At a public hearing, which was announced just hours before Wednesday’s committee meeting, speakers contrasted “risk-avoidant” curricula with comprehensive sex education, which aims to reduce the risk of unsafe sex and emphasizes other relationship skills. Proponents said comprehensive sex education “normalizes teen sex” and sends students on a path to poverty and risky behaviors.

“Rather than educating about healthy behavior, comprehensive sex ed indoctrinates youth with the idea that sexual promiscuity is normal for teens,” said Eagle Forum President Becky Gerritson, who read aloud passages about masturbation and how to make condoms pleasurable.

The bill allows discussion of contraception, but further defines what sexual education content is age appropriate and medically accurate. It outlaws any discussion of how to obtain abortion services and prevents providers that are not “aligned with the exclusive message of sexual risk avoidance,” from teaching the topic in public schools.

The bill also makes it easier for parents to review sex ed materials or opt their child out of lessons.

One educator, Joi Wasill, said risk-avoidance models teach “critical life skills,” like delayed gratification, self regulation and focusing on the future.

Khandi Wagner, a program director at First Choice Women’s Medical Center, a Christian pregnancy clinic in Montgomery, said she often emphasizes sexual avoidance when she visits local schools.

“I think we can all agree as adults that kids should not be having sex. We should be telling them it’s healthy to wait,” she said. “Our students are lost, our babies are lost.”

The vote came a day after a group of college students and sex ed advocates urged lawmakers to drop the bill.

Alabama has the fifth highest teen pregnancy rate in the country, despite a decrease in high school students who said they have had sex. In 2023, 12% of sexually active teens in Alabama said they did not use any form of birth control, according to the CDC’s most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

In a statement to AL.com, Christina Clark Okarmus of the Alabama Campaign for Adolescent Sexual Health said the bill’s emphasis on risk avoidance “deceives youth, parents and the public.”

Comprehensive sex education, she said, is based on “rigorous, evidence-based national standards and is designed to help all students live healthy lives.”

The model, which is supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association, is proven to reduce rates of teen pregnancy and sexual risk behaviors, especially among marginalized groups.

Abstinence-only programs, by contrast, “have been shown in numerous studies to be ineffective and even harmful to the mental health and wellbeing of youth,” Clark Okarmus told AL.com. They also aren’t widely supported by parents, she added.

A 2017 study by the University of South Alabama found that about 98% of Alabama parents believe it is somewhat or very important that their children learn to talk with a partner about birth control and STIs, as well as learn about the use of condoms.

“The current sex education law allows schools to choose the approach that works best for their students,” she said. “Our position is that the Alabama Legislature should not be dictating what kind of sex education is taught in Alabama schools – this should be left to local control.”