UNC Charlotte LGBTQ+ STAFF AND FACULTY CAUCUS STATEMENT ON HB 755

UNC Charlotte LGBTQ+ STAFF AND FACULTY CAUCUS STATEMENT ON HB 755

On Monday, May 23, 2023, the Republican leadership of the North Carolina state legislature
introduced House Bill 755, which bears the short title “Parents’ Bill of Rights.” Among
provisions that seek to facilitate parental knowledge of school curricula, programming, and
services as well as to foster parent-teacher cooperation with the aim of securing student success
are provisions that will endanger LGBTQIA+ youth. As educators; as employees of an
educational institution; as students; as LGBTQIA+ people; as scholars of gender and sexuality,
we express our concern about how this bill’s mandatory disclosure requirements and curricular
content prohibitions distort the mission of public education, threaten the safety of LGBTQIA+
youth, and diminish the spirit of inclusion and open inquiry that should define public education. 

As members of the UNC Charlotte LGBTQ+ Staff and Faculty Caucus, we stand in solidarity with other
public school employees in the state and with students in public school institutions. We express
our desire that public schools be places of inclusion and respect and our longing for a day when
LGBTQIA+ students, teachers, and employees will feel safe and seen—and have their well-
being, value, and presence understood as a priority for and contribution to educational and
institutional excellence. We call upon our colleagues and the University leadership to join us in
lifting their voices against the damage HB 755 will do to the mission of public schools in North
Carolina.