A proposal that would ban the teaching of gay issues to Tennessee elementary and middle school students is once again advancing in the state House. The "Don't Say Gay" bill passed the House Education Committee Tuesday by one vote. The legislation limits sexually related instruction to "natural human reproduction science" in kindergarten through eighth grade. The proposal had been put aside for a measure that would require abstinence-centered "family life education" curricula be taught in schools. But Republican Representative Joey Hensley says he decided to move his bill again after he found that a survey of his district showed well over 95 percent don't want homosexuality discussed in those grade levels. The companion bill passed the Senate last year.
Todd Hatton hails from Paducah, Kentucky, where he got into radio under the auspices of the late, great John Stewart of WKYX while a student at Paducah Community College. He also worked at WKMS in the reel-to-reel tape days of the early 1990s before running off first to San Francisco, then Orlando in search of something to do when he grew up. He received his MFA in Creative Writing at Murray State University. He vigorously resists adulthood and watches his wife, Angela Hatton, save the world one plastic bottle at a time.
