Slideshow of the SB 1346 press conference
The Arizona Legislature and Gov. Doug Ducey repealed Thursday a 28-year-old law that prohibited discussing homosexuality during public schools’ HIV/AIDS instruction.
This comes after Equality Arizona filed a lawsuit in March that challenged the previous law’s constitutionality and named the Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction as a defendant.
Senate Bill 1346 was originally drafted to delay the implementation of the Menu of Assessments for grades 3-8, but a strike-everything amendment and then floor amendment sponsored by House Speaker Pro Tempore T. J. Shope changed that. The bill was approved 55-5 in the House on Wednesday, the Senate passed it 19-10 on Thursday and Gov. Doug Ducey signed it into law soon after.
Rep. Shope’s amendment removed a clause in the law enacted in 1991 that allows school districts to develop grade-appropriate, medically-accurate instruction on HIV/AIDS, but prohibited instruction that “promotes a homosexual lifestyle, portrays homosexuality as a positive alternative lifestyle, or suggests that some methods of sex are safe methods of homosexual sex.”
Slideshow: SB 1346 Press Conference at the Capitol by Lisa Irish/AZEdNews
