Lawmakers in Virginia removed the term “homosexuality” from the state’s definition of “sexual conduct” that is used in a number of laws, including the law that requires schools to inform parents of sexually explicit materials used in classrooms.
Last summer, Gov. Glenn Youngkin enacted a measure requiring the Virginia Department of Education to publish guidance for how sexually explicit material should be handled and how parents should be informed about it — so they could opt their children out of learning it.
This year, a number of lawmakers introduced bills to update the definition and strike the term “homosexuality.” None of the these was successful. But in a last-minute move, state Sen. Scott A. Surovell said he struck a compromise to get the code changed.State Sen. William M. Stanley Jr. had written a law to require age verification on online pornography sites. The measure won bipartisan support.
“Defining sexual conduct as including an open display of homosexuality, to me, reflected a very sort of archaic and prejudiced view as to what homosexuality is,” Surovell said.Narissa Rahaman, executive director of Equality Virginia, said in a statement that the organization was happy to see the move from the legislature this year.
Other states have passed similar laws that ban sexually explicit materials from classrooms or require parental notification. It’s part of a national wave of restrictions on teaching race, sex and gender andA Washington Post analysis of book challenges found that 61 percent referenced this concern about “sexual content,” and 43 percent targeted titles with LGBTQ+ characters or themes.
“Spotsylvania’s school board is basing their heavy-handed policies on a misinterpretation of Virginia code. No school board — and especially not a single superintendent — should be able to ban books on the basis of whether they personally find them to be ‘sexually explicit,’” ACLU of Virginia Policy Director Ashna KhannaState Sen. Siobhan S.
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