Idaho bill would bar LGBTQ+ pride flags in classes. What other displays would be banned?

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Mark Anderson, a music teacher at East Junior High School, has displayed a pride flag in his Boise classroom since 2019 — to him, a symbol of a safe space. He said one parent thanked him for the flag, because it meant their child had a welcoming place in the school.

“Students see me as a safe person to come to, someone that will not judge them for whatever they need to speak to me about,” said Anderson, who clarified that he wasn’t speaking on behalf of his school district. “And I attribute that very much to the pride flag that’s up in my room.”

If a bill proposed in the Idaho Legislature were to become law, he’d have to take that flag down.

The House Education committee on Friday voted to hold in committee the bill — which would restrict the flags and banners that can be displayed in K-12 public schools — after concerns from legislators and opposition from teachers and parents who testified.

Senate Bill 1362 lists nine types of flags that can be displayed on school property, such as the American flag, but forbids flags or banners that represent a political viewpoint, “including but not limited to flags or banners regarding a political party, race, sexual orientation, gender, or a political ideology.

Teachers and education stakeholders previously told the Idaho Statesman they feared the bill unfairly targets the LGBTQ+ community and takes away control from teachers.

“This is virtue signaling on the part of our Republican Legislature,” Anderson told the Statesman. “By eliminating any pride flags, or flags like that, we are isolating an already marginalized community in this state.”

Sen. Chris Trakel, R-Caldwell, who sponsored the legislation, told lawmakers that his daughter felt “extremely uncomfortable” with a pride flag at school because of her religious beliefs.

“Somebody could take offense to the LGBTQ flag, and they might. Somebody of a religious origin would find that offensive to them and they have to sit in the classroom and be offended the entire time,” he told a Senate committee. “The whole point of this isn’t to discriminate against anybody. The whole place is to make this a neutral environment conducive to education and learning.”

During the Senate debate, some lawmakers raised concerns that the list of flags isn’t exhaustive, and that lawmakers could have to amend it regularly. Others worried the language was vague and questioned whether teachers could bring in flags to show as part of their lesson plans. Trakel said the bill would only restrict displays of the flags and still allow teachers to show them for educational purposes.

Mistie DelliCarpini-Tolman, the Idaho state director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, spoke against the bill and said it was a violation of the First Amendment and would harm LGBTQ+ students. She also noted the law doesn’t define a flag or banner, and questioned whether the bill would also ban teachers from displaying flags from Washington, D.C., or Puerto Rico.

Schools should be places that celebrate diversity and teach students about different identities and perspectives, she said. This bill would hinder those efforts to create an “inclusive learning environment,” she said.

“We’re concerned that it’s going to send LGBTQ students a message that they’re not accepted, that they’re not supported, which can have a chilling effect and send fear throughout our LGBTQ student population,” she told the Statesman. “There’s so many different ways that censoring speech like this constitutes government overreach and is just going to create chaos among other consequences.”

Trakel said the bill was necessary to create an environment that’s comfortable for all students and free from partisan politics.

“This isn’t just an attack on the pride flag, this is a banning of all third-party flags,” Trakel said on the Senate floor. “It’s ridiculous how often people can get upset, and how easy people can get upset, in today’s world over the littlest things. So the best thing to do that is just to remove the capability of anybody being threatened.”

TEACHER SAYS BILL WAS STEP TO ‘LEGALIZE DISCRIMINATION’

In the past few years, some local boards have passed similar policies that would restrict what teachers can display in their classrooms. The West Ada School District passed a policy in 2022 that listed a number of flags teachers could display but maintained that the policy doesn’t limit teachers’ displays to what is on that list. The policy was an attempt to create a “content-neutral” environment in classrooms.

Teachers said they worry this bill would limit autonomy in the classroom and alienate LGBTQ students. They said the bill was an effort to dive further into the culture wars pervasive in education across the country.

“It is just another step by the Idaho Legislature to legalize discrimination against a particular group of Idahoans,” Mary Anne McGrory, a Pocatello teacher, told the Statesman.

Zach Borman, the president of the West Ada Education Association, said in an email this bill was “another useless culture war distraction” and said it would take local control away from Idaho communities.

The Idaho Education Association also opposed the bill. Spokesperson Mike Journee said it restricts free speech and could impact lesson plans that use flags or banners to demonstrate parts of history. He also pointed to the portion of the bill that listed sexual orientation as one of many factors representing a “political viewpoint.”

“The concept that sexual orientation is a political viewpoint is ridiculous,” Journee told the Statesman.

If the bill were to pass — generally speaking, once a bill is held in committee, it remains there — Anderson said that he would find other ways to make sure all students felt safe with him. He would wear a rainbow shirt or have a rainbow lanyard.

“I will be decked out. If they don’t want me having a flag in the building or in my classroom, then I am going to have it on my body in someplace that is visible for everyone,” he said. “I will go to the ends of the Earth to show that my students have a safe place to go.”