A bill that seeks to repeal a Utah law
that prohibits talk about homosexuality in sex-education classes
cleared a Senate committee on Tuesday.
Members of the Senate Education
Committee voted unanimously in favor of Republican Senator J. Stuart
Adams' bill, Senate Bill 196.
Utah's so-called “no promo homo”
law bars “advocacy of homosexuality.” Adams' bill strikes out
the restriction while adding a restriction on the “advocacy of
premarital or extramarital sexual activity.”
Debra Coe, a member of the Utah
Commission on LGBT Suicide Awareness and Prevention, said that the
law left educators feeling like they could not “say anything
positive” about LGBT rights.
“It's OK to say negative things, but
nothing positive,” Coe told The
Salt Lake Tribune.
The measure now heads to the full
Senate.
Equality Utah, the state's largest LGBT
rights advocate, filed a challenge to the law in October.