April 29, 2022 (Atlanta, GA) — Jeff Graham (he/him), executive director of Georgia Equality, Georgia’s largest LGBTQ+ advocacy group, released the following statement in response Gov. Kemp’s signing of HB 1084:

“Yesterday, Gov. Kemp continued efforts to rally his political base by signing into law a bill that is both harmful and ill conceived. HB 1084 aims to keep ‘divisive concepts’ out of Georgia classrooms by restricting discussions of race from kindergarten through 12th grade and creates additional state bureaucracy to oversee school sports.

“All students in Georgia, without exception, should have access to the highest quality education and extracurricular activities, and that should be the Governor’s priority. His actions today to insert himself in classrooms across the state and to stifle teaching will degrade the quality of a Georgia education for years to come. By limiting training on diversity and inclusion for school personnel, students who come from marginalized communities, including those from minority religious backgrounds, will face additional barriers to a quality education. The great diversity of those who call Georgia home should be seen as a strength to be embraced.  This new law stifles that concept and could set the state back depending upon how it is implemented.

“The legislation also reinforces the status quo that the Georgia High School Association has the authority to determine eligibility for participation in high school sports in our state and creates an athletics oversight committee that could consider eligibility for transgender athletes. Our own Speaker of the House, David Ralston, has said he hopes trans kids won’t be targeted or singled out, and we’re committed to working with the association and committee to ensure all Georgia students have the opportunity to participate in school sports. I don’t know what impact his actions today will have on his future political ambitions, but his work to garner votes will have harmful, lasting effects on all Georgia’s students. 

Founded in 1995, Georgia Equality is the state’s largest advocacy organization working to advance fairness, safety and opportunity for Georgia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, and our allies.

Georgia Equality members and supporters in DeKalb County, 

On April 14th, our board voted to endorse Michelle Long Spears in the Dekalb County District Two Commissioner race, and subsequently released that endorsement decision publicly on April 22.  In the intervening days, on April 19th at a candidate forum, Ms. Spears chose to refer to the civil rights and civil liberties demonstrations that rocked and educated the nation and the world in 2020 by using the words “racial uprising” several times. Ms. Spears, in reference to those statements, apologized after being confronted. 

As a board, we agree with our colleagues at Georgia Conservation Voters in their statement to rescinded their endorsement of Ms. Spears. “We believe that demands for justice and equity should never be demeaned. Language matters, and Ms. Spears’ statements regarding the BLM movement and the racial inequality in our communities is insensitive and damaging to the work we do…” 

We aim to endorse candidates who share our commitment to acknowledging our LGBTQIA community as a valuable component of an inclusive and equitable Georgia, which necessarily includes a commitment to racial equity. Ms. Spears’ words do not demonstrate that commitment, and as a result, the board has voted to rescind our endorsement of Ms. Spears in the DeKalb County District Two Commissioner race. 

Patricia Lassiter, Board Chair
Georgia Equality

published by the Atlanta Journal Constitution on April 19, 2022

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