There’s a reason the "don’t say gay" bills don’t say what they mean

My reader was technically correct. You won’t find a single mention of the word “gay” or “lesbian” or “transgender” or “nonbinary” in these bills. Instead you will find “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” which are, taken at face value, nondiscriminatory. Everyone has a gender identity, after all. Everyone has a sexual orientation. “Gay” and “bisexual” are sexual orientations, but so is “straight.” “Transgender” and “nonbinary” are gender identities, but so are “man” and “woman.” Technically the bills are banning all discussion of all sexual orientations or gender identities.

But does anyone believe it would be considered an inappropriate indoctrination into heterosexuality for a first-grade class to read about a family that included a mom and a dad? What about a spelling exercise in which Savannah shopped for a S-K-I-R-T and E-A-R-R-I-N-G-S?

Now what about a story in which the family included a dad and a dad — or a parent who used to be known as “Mom” but now went by “Papa”? What if Savannah wasn’t looking for a skirt, but Samuel was?

These laws are written as though they will be equally applied to all discussions of gender and sexuality. But the people advocating for them are not idiots, I don’t think, and neither are the rest of us.