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INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s state Senate passed a House bill that would notify parents if a child requests a name or pronoun change in school.

Monday, House Bill 1608 passed the Senate with a vote of 37-12, voted along party lines.

The bill aims to create a limit where schools “may not provide any instruction to a student in prekindergarten through grade 3 on human sexuality.” If a student asks to be referred to with a different “pronoun, title, or word to identify the student” then the school has five days to notify their parent in writing.

Hoosier Democrats say that the bill, authored by Republicans, echoes Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill and other pushes nationwide to target LGBTQ+ youth.

“I’m incredibly disappointed that HB 1608 passed out of the Senate,” Democratic Minority Leader Sen. Greg Taylor said, “This bill seeks to ban discussion of LGBTQ+ people and will unnecessarily harm children by forcing teachers to out them to their parents. What a shameful effort by this body to alienate and humiliate LGBTQ+ kids.

“As my colleague State Senator J.D. Ford said, if we want to protect kids we can do things like pass gun safely legislation or work to ensure no child goes to bed hungry in Indiana. Attacking the LGBTQ+ community isn’t the way to do it. All HB 1608 will do is further endanger already-vulnerable lives.”

HB 1608 clarifies that it does not prohibit teachers from answering questions asked by students. Only that teachers cannot bring up the subjects themselves to teach.

Republicans say that the law is needed to keep parents involved in school with how their children are raised. “We know parents’ rights are important, and they need to know what’s going on in their child’s life at school,” one of the HB 1608’s authors Republican Sen. Stacey Donato said.

While the bill was passed by both the House and Senate, an amendment was added which requires the HB 1608 to be seen again in the House before moving to the Governor’s Desk.