A wave of anti-LGBTQ laws for schools in red states has Biden administration weighing a responsehttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-wave-of-anti-lgbtq-laws-for-schools-in-red-states-has-biden-administration-weighing-a-response/ar-AA16NNM7?cvid=41bf434d888d459587225ee3faf4e141Story by Savannah Kuchar, USA TODAY (27 Jan 2023)
KATY, Texas — It was late in the fall semester a few years ago when the yearbook staff of a suburban Houston high school finished putting together the project, including a full-page feature on the high school's Pride club, a support group for LGBTQ students.
The 2018-19 yearbook made its way to the administration for final review, which was when the principal saw the addition and made a controversial decision: parents of every student on that page would need to sign a permission slip.
The slips, sent to parents without students’ consent and for no other school club, caused an uproar, recalled Cameron Samuels, club member and then a freshman.
Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.
"That forcibly outed those students to their families, and the Pride club disbanded because of that controversy and just the sheer impact that it had on the members of the club," Samuels told USA TODAY.
Samuels, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, was not in any photos on the page and was spared that trauma. But they saw how it shook and disturbed some classmates, they said.