'Parents Bill Of Rights:' Bill Introduced At State Capitol

A bill has been introduced at the state capitol to require parents to opt into sexual education classes for their children.

The legislation would also prohibit certain things like gender identity from being taught in public schools.

The bill sparked bipartisan debate in the House’s General Government Committee Tuesday morning.

Right now, parents can choose for their kids to opt out of sex education classes if they don’t feel that the language is appropriate. However, the legislation would require parents to opt into those classes if they want their child to be taught any kind of sexual education.

House Bill 3120 is being called the “Parents Bill of Rights.” “Putting the responsibility in the hands of the parents, making them aware. They need to know what they're opting into,” said Rep. Danny Williams, ( R) Seminole.

The bill’s author, Representative Danny Williams says his goal is to make parents more aware of what their kids are learning at school. “It's also designed for parents to decide on what kind of education - in this arena their student is going to get,” said Rep. Williams.

The legislation would prohibit instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity. It would also require any sex ed classes to classify gender based on biological sex, emphasize abstinence outside of marriage, and prohibit the use of pronouns that do not correspond to a person's sex. “It's the parent and guardians responsibility how that's going to be dealt with, whether that be in their home or their church, then whether or not the school should be involved,” said Rep. Williams.

Democrats push back on the bill, saying not every child has a parent teaching them these things at home.

“You're putting into statute your ideas of what you think should be taught,” said Rep. Jared Deck, (D) Tulsa. “This particular bill may line up with the values of your district, however it does not line up with the values of my district and you're mandating this statewide.”

The bill was highly debated by both Republicans and Democrats on the committee, who mainly discussed their concerns with language that would strike “consent” from the statute.

“I am concerned that you are uninterested in teachers teaching what consent is to young people who I think need to know,” said Rep. Cyndi Munson, (D) OKC.

After an hour of questions, Williams said he was willing to adjust the language if needed. “I intend that the consent issues need to be a parental involvement issue and whether or not they decide that should be addressed in the child curriculum should be a parents choice - not a district's choice,” said Rep. Williams.

The bill passed out of committee Tuesday with three no votes, and will now head to the house floor for consideration.