Proposed Texas bill could force schools to 'out' LGBT students to their parents

A new Texas law may require public school teachers and counselors to "out" LGBT students to their parents. The proposed "right to know" law would compel schools to tell parents any information about students' "psychological or emotional well-being," The Dallas Observer reports.

Republican state senator Konni Burton filed the bill in response to a local school district creating regulations that bar faculty from disclosing a student's transgender identity to their parents. "My legislation will make it expressly against state law for a district to adopt policies designed to undermine a parent's right to know," Burton said in a statement.

Critics claim the law would hurt vulnerable kids. "If your kid is gay and can tell his teacher, but hasn't told you, then you are the problem," said LGBT activist Steve Rudner.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Burton, meanwhile, claims the bill has nothing to do with LGBT rights, saying it's merely about ensuring parents have total access to information about their children. But the apparent confusion over the "broad language" of the bill could lead to potentially unnecessary or intrusive disclosures, says Stephen Young at The Observer. That extends beyond just issues of gender and sexuality: "Imagine a child who's an atheist, but has fundamentalist parents. That student's parents would have the full right to get the teacher to report that, too."