A bill filed this session places a new target on the back of LGBTQ students and teachers in Texas public schools. Senate Bill 762, filed by Sen. Donna Campbell, a Republican from New Braunfels, would prohibit employees, students, volunteers or agents from displaying any flags, aside from 12 exemptions. The acceptable flags are the star-spangled banner, the Texas flag, the Prisoner of War or Missing In Action flag, a political subdivision’s flag, a military flag, the flag of a foreign country and a college flag among others.
The bill is seen by some LGBTQ advocates as a direct attack on the Pride flag and its many modified versions relating to a variety of LGBTQ identities without explicitly saying it. The flag has been a beacon of hope and a symbol of allyship and acceptance for the queer community since it debuted at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade in 1978. Even in Texas, finding one of the recognizable flags does not take too long. Boutiques, bars, churches, health centers and Dallas City Hall (for the month of June) keep their Pride flags at full mast.
“The Pride flag obviously began as kind of a symbol of resilience for the queer community and kind of a way for us to stand out and be seen,” said Sister O.M. Gee, a nun with the DFW Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. “However, if you take that into today's context, especially with schools, having the ability to have Pride flags on school campuses gives queer youth and queer young adults, whether it be high school, college, middle school or even elementary, it gives them the identity that they exist.”
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is a national philanthropic non-profit organization that uses drag performances satirizing Catholic nuns to promote social justice. Like real nuns, they take vows, but theirs are to the community instead of the church. Sister O.M. Gee says a major project for the DFW Sisters is fundraising for local schools and teachers.
“Removing [the Pride flag] doesn't actually protect anyone because the Pride flag has never been a symbol of hate or discrimination towards any community, even the straight community,” said the sister. “Having a Pride flag up as an ally is a symbol of strength and community.”
She says allyship and safe spaces are especially important within schools for students who are not out, and especially for those who are.
“LGBT youth already has a higher rate of bullying, depression, mental health disorders from [that] bullying, and we have a higher suicide rate than any other group. So I think taking that flag away, it doesn't protect anyone. By removing the Pride flag, all it does is isolate kids who are already vulnerable to these kinds of hatred. Removing it endangers our community because it silences those kids' voices.”
Dallas Area Teacher Fired Over Pride Flag
Just three years ago, an Irving Independent School District educator was removed from her classroom and placed on suspension after posting rainbow stickers in it. The district claimed the stickers would make straight students feel unsafe, according to a report from KERA News. The English teacher, Rachel Stonecipher, did not have her contract extended following her suspension, and according to her LinkedIn page, she is still looking for a new job.“Those stickers were not endangering students,” she said to KERA News in a 2022 interview. “We have no evidence ever that they endangered or made students feel unsafe, ever. What did feel unsafe was when they came down.”
Irving ISD claimed in a statement that the protocol required classroom decor to stay “viewpoint neutral.” But, according to Sister O.M. Gee, the Pride flag isn’t indicative of a viewpoint or political affiliation.
“The Pride flag has never been a political symbol,” she said. “It has been a social symbol. And I think a lot of our different cities and organizations have blurred the lines between what is social and what is political. They're two different things, and one does influence the other. However, the Pride Flag has never been a political statement.”
While Campbell attempts to keep Pride flags out of classrooms, state Sen. Phil King, a North Texas Republican, is attempting to get framed copies of the Ten Commandments into them. The piece of legislation, Senate Bill 10, which is sponsored by Campbell, soared through the Republican majority Senate. Campbell did not respond to our request for comment.
LGBTQ+ Outreach
In uncertain times, when drag bans are plentiful and "biological sex" is on the tip of Republicans' tongue, Sister O.M. Gee says it’s important for the queer community to unite and find new ways to be prideful in spite of targeted legislation.“It's really all about broadening our horizons and reaching out to the community in times when, unfortunately, when our legislators are preventing it,” she said. “We have to find new and inventive ways to reach our community so that we don't lose that support for our youth because they are already vulnerable.”
She said the bill, rather than an attack, is a challenge to the queer community to “step up their game.”
“The fact that this bill is even being introduced is a call to action because we do need to pay attention,” she said. “The queer flag is a sign to youth that we see you, and we love you and we acknowledge your existence. If they're having that stripped away, we are going to have to fill in that feeling. We are going to have to reassure them with that feeling and that emotional and physical support.”
