North Carolina’s Republican-controlled Senate has passed a bill requiring teachers to alert parents in most circumstances before calling a student by a different name or pronoun.
Sponsors say the bill is needed to keep parents informed about what their children are being taught in public schools. Critics say it would make schools unsafe spaces for LGBTQ and questioning children to explore their identities, likening the bill to Flordia's "Don't Say Gay" bill that passed last year.
The proposal passed the Senate 29-18 on Tuesday. It would also prohibit instruction about gender identity and sexuality in Kindergarten through 4th grade classrooms. It now heads to the state House, where Republicans likely would need some Democratic support to push it through.