Lawmakers lay out plans to address gender ideology in Alabama schools in upcoming session
PRATTVILLE — A few dozen residents gathered at the St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Prattville Monday to hear lawmakers and a representative from Attorney General Steve Marshall's office discuss ongoing and upcoming legislative efforts to address gender ideology in Alabama schools.
The town hall drew several residents, most of whom were sympathetic to the issue of sexually explicit or LGBTQ material in libraries and schools. Many attendees have been involved in fighting back against specific materials in schools and libraries since the controversy started in Prattville just over a year ago.
Prattville served as the epicenter of the now-statewide debate over sexually explicit books in public libraries. That debate spawned the statewide organization Clean Up Alabama, one of the town hall hosts. Moms for Liberty and Local Alabama also helped stage the town hall and helped moderate the question-and-answer portion.
State Reps. Mack Butler (R-Rainbow City) and Susan DuBose (R-Hoover) joined Attorney General Steve Marshall's chief council, Katherine Robertson, at the town hall to discuss issues.
The conversation mainly focused on upcoming bills DuBose and Butler are dropping in the 2025 legislative session. However, Robertson also spoke on the AG's office and its role in defending the laws passed by the legislature and described victories Marshall's office has had against the federal government.
Robertson praised the state for its recent victory in defending against the Biden administration's attempted rewrite of Title IX.
The proposed changes add gender identity and sexual orientation to the list of federally protected groups. Alabama was one of several Republican-led states to receive a federal injunction, stopping the proposed changes from going into effect while the issue is decided in a higher court.
"When we're not [defending the legislature] on the civil side, we are very frequently suing the federal government; that's the best part of our job right now," Robertson said. "When Trump was in office, we filed lawsuits to defend what he was doing, but then that flipped around, and now we file a lot of lawsuits to try to stop what they're doing, and it's very effective."
Butler championed his upcoming legislation to ban classroom instruction or discuss gender identity or sexual orientation in public schools. A similar bill passed the House last session but failed to receive Senate consideration before time ran out.
The bill initially restricted K-12 schools. However, it was amended last at the request of the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) to apply to kindergarten through eighth grade due to the state's high school health curriculum. Butler told attendees that the 2025 version of the bill would revert to its original, applying to K-12 classroom instruction. He claimed to have unsuccessfully tried to reach out to ALSDE to reach a compromise but has yet to hear back.
"I don't understand why people are so offended when we say, 'Let's leave that discussion out of the classroom and let the parents have it," Butler said.