The latest legislative moves have students and teachers fired up. Here is a look at a few recent bills passed by the Indiana State Legislature and Governor Eric Holcomb.

On May 5, 2023, Governor Eric Holcomb signed House Bill 1608, a controversial bill mandating that Indiana schools notify parents when a student requests a name or pronoun change. HB 1608 will limit the freedom of youth and potentially jeopardize the well-being of specifically trans youth, who are already vulnerable to negative mental health outcomes. Studies show that more than 50% of trans and non-binary youth have considered attempting suicide and we’re now allowing teachers to potentially out students to their parents? 

HB 1608 also bans any instruction of “human sexuality” within grades Pre K-3. This intentionally vague phrase insinuates the removal of acknowledgment towards the LGBTQIA+ community and relationships due to the lack of clarity within the bill. The unclear language of this bill puts teachers in a position of not knowing if they can refer to same-sex families. This undoubtedly sends a message to young children that LGBTQ relationships are to be not spoken of and therefore maintain less value than that of their peers’ cis, straight relationships. It is completely ridiculous that this would be enforced, especially considering there are no rules regarding straight relationships.  

Building on the absurd bills recently added, Senate Bill 12 was passed. To be frank, SB 12 just unnecessarily burdens and threatens librarians. The bill references that if librarians were to be in possession of a “harmful” book in their school collection, they are eligible for a felony charge. Possibly forcing librarians to spend thousands of hours listing each book from their collection, it will take away from the work that the librarians do that actually benefits students. As the legislature cautiously tiptoes around their word choice, one must imply this (yet another) vague term of “harmful” refers to limiting exposure to the subject of parents’ complaints, like gender expression, LGBTQ representation, people of color, etc. I am not disagreeing that parents should have the right to restrict their children from certain content and literature, but this in no way should result in other students being limited in their exposure and education. 

To conclude on a positive note, Indiana (being one of the last states to do so) has finally waived textbook fees for families of grades K-12. Senate Bill 395 will begin in the upcoming 2023-2024 school year.