The writer and political activist Mike Davis said, “Fight with hope, fight without hope, but fight absolutely.”
We and our coalition partners absolutely fought last week in South Carolina’s state capital. Some days we felt a surge of hope; some days we didn’t. We were glad to see amendments and delays on some of the most harmful bills working their way through the legislature.
This week we’re back to fight again. Here’s what to watch out for in Columbia:
Another vote on denying healthcare to trans youth
On Valentine’s Day last week, so many South Carolinians showed up to testify against a proposed ban on medically necessary healthcare for transgender youth (H. 4624) that a Senate subcommittee cut us off before we all got to speak. So we set up a sound system on the State House steps and kept testifying for an hour. You can read about that here.
The good news is that the Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee did not take a vote on the bill at their meeting last week. The bad news is that they have scheduled a follow-up meeting this Wednesday, February 21, at 11 a.m. in Room 105 of the Gressette Building (1101 Pendleton St., Columbia). If the bill passes out of the subcommittee, it will still need approval from the full Senate Medical Affairs Committee before advancing to the Senate floor.
Statewide book banning policy advances
The kids, as the saying goes, are alright. Last week high school students from Lowcountry chapters of Diversity Awareness Youth Literacy Organization (DAYLO) showed up in droves at a State Board of Education meeting to speak against Superintendent Ellen Weaver and her Federalist Society friends’ proposed book censorship policy, R. 43-170. Weaver tried to lecture the students and claimed they were “misled” about the intentions of her proposal; we made a video compilation of their responses that went viral over the weekend.
The good news is that the State Board of Education made some positive changes to the proposed ordinance. One amendment capped the number of book ban requests per person at 5 per calendar month, and another amendment required book ban requests come from parents or guardians in local school districts. A clause that tied state book standards to daytime television broadcast standards was also deleted.
The proposal is still harmful as written. It depends on an overly broad definition of sexual conduct and would likely result in the removal of books ranging from Beloved to Brave New World to Everything Is Illuminated. Next stop: The state legislature.
An attack on academic freedom in higher education
Members of the South Carolina Freedom Caucus continued their attack on academic freedom last week, shifting their focus from K-12 to higher education. A House Education & Public Works subcommittee held a hearing on H. 4290, a ban on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs in public universities. The bill would ban “DEI,” defined broadly, from admissions decisions, hiring practices, programming, and even applications for federal grants.
ACLU-SC Senior Advocacy Strategist Josh Malking spoke against the bill.
“Inequalities continue to exist today, and if we don’t stop to ask why, we’ll have a much harder time devising necessary solutions,” Malkin told the subcommittee.
In another delay, the subcommittee did not take a vote on the bill. Please join us in asking lawmakers to axe this ideologically motivated bill, which would have a chilling effect on speech if signed into law. You can contact the full House EPW Committee here.
Medical marijuana (maybe)
On the fourth day of debate, the State Senate voted 24-19 on Feb. 14 to pass S. 423, which would allow doctors to prescribe medical marijuana for people living with cancer, epilepsy, and other chronic illnesses.
This is welcome news. But as the SC Daily Gazette reported last week, odds are slim that the House of Representatives will pass the bill. The Senate passed a near-identical bill two years ago, only to have it die in the House on a technicality. High-profile elected officials including Gov. Henry McMaster and Attorney General Alan Wilson have long opposed medical marijuana on dubious grounds, with Wilson even claiming marijuana is “the most dangerous drug” (it is not).
